Aim:To compare the internal microphone preamplifiers of the Edirol R09, R09HR and R44 digital recorders using a pair of low noise stereo microphones (Audio Technica AT3032), recording in a quiet environment (indoors) so background noise levels of the systems can be easily compared.
Methods:Using the following...
Notes: The ART Phantom II (shown above) was used to provide Phantom power to the AT3032 microphones as the R09 and R09HR do not have 48V phantom power. This power-supply (2 x 9V batteries) does
not add any significant noise to the throughput signal. The ART Phantom II was also used with the R44, rather than use the R44's phantom power, to make comparisons and signal chains as equivalent as possible. However, rather than the adapter cable shown connected to the R09HR in the shot above, the short black XLR connections were used. This means the R44 was receiving a balanced signal while the R09 and R09HR
were not.
1. LevelsI attempted to match all recorders so that the peak-meters hit the same max levels = -12 dB. The recorder settings used were:
AT3032 Mics --> ART Phantom II --> R44 = -50 dB (2nd highest gain)
AT3032 Mics --> ART Phantom II --> R09HR = High-gain @ 50/80 (62%)
AT3032 Mics --> ART Phantom II --> R09 = High-gain @ 20/30 (66%)
2. Other settingsAll recorders: Low cut off, plugin power off, screens minimum brightness, 44.1 kHz @ 24 bit.
3. SourceI recorded a test file of layered Sampled Piano and Synthesiser notes on my lounge HiFi
Here's what the perfect recorder (and microphones) would look like as this is the source audio file spectrograph...in particular look at the background, it's black, this means there is no noise. Recorded information shows as colored bands, that's OK, you want that
download the original here (2.8 Meg wav file)Results:Here is the spectrographs of all the recordings. In particular look at the decreasing contrast between the background and the recorded sounds as you move from top (best) to bottom (worst) below...
You can download them here (wav and mp3 versions)...
R44R44 Recording (2.8Meg wav)R44 Recording (740k mp3)R09HRR09HR Recording (2.8Meg wav)R09HR Recording (740k mp3)R09R09 Recording (2.8Meg wav)R09 Recording (740k mp3)More detail?In this recording I located the mechanical sounds of the CD player starting up at the beginning of the recording...
Download the CD Player noise here (800 k wav file).Conclusions:I am surprised, the internal mic-pre on the R09HR is, from an audible noise perspective, very similar to the R44 (the R09HR perhaps being just a tiny bit worse, or it could be level differences), the R09 is a distant third.
The R44 does perform better than the R09 or R09HR in terms of digital noise perspective (
follow this link to see the R44 vs R09HR digi-noise), but that is not audible.
Given that this is the TapersSection and not 'Bird-Stalkers-Anonymous', all three would be very good for recording live bands. The R09HR and R44 would even be good for unplugged sessions
I will post up the MixPre --> Line in vs the above next.
Enjoy!
The internal microphones for these recorders are compared here...http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,108779.msg1452098.html#msg1452098digifish