Topic: R-44 Oade Mod vs. Busman Mod (opinions sought)

[colors]

only these mics were used.  I do have the whole set of improvised music. 

I also preferred B.  My roommate and I noticed a more well defined image, especially when paying attention to the snare and tenor sax. 

I'll get another sample up soon.

[illconditioned]

There is no one sound-altering treatment that always makes things sound better, or else you could route your signals through it an infinite number of times and each time, the result would keep sounding better and better--an obviously absurd situation. But if a circuit modification actually helps a recorder to perform better (i.e. make its output more nearly equal to its input), then that can be determined on a test bench far more easily and reliably than by ear, where there are so many other factors that can't be controlled.

--best regards

I suggest that there are noticeable differences.  Certainly if you compare two mic capsules, like Panasonic WM60 vs. Countryman B3, both have similar frequency response, but the B3 sounds much more "detailed", "rich", "warm", "natural", etc.  What is the measureable difference? I would really like to know.  There must be something you can measure with audio processing,  but what is it?


It seems there is some notion of "transparency" or "realism".  I think the classical recording people are the ones to ask.  Some people use a 1/2" metal diaphragm "measurement"  mics, like B&K, or ACO-Pacific, both of which are sold in retail channels (DPA and others).  Furthermore, the clear output of these capsules will challenge the preamp and ADC stages to be as transparent as possible.


In my own experience, the most transparent mic I have is the Countryman B3.  Both the Edirol R09 and Sony PCM M10/D50 are sufficient to reveal the detail of this mic (at least to show a significant improvement over a lesser mic, like Sennheiser MKE2 or Tram TR50).  I felt that (my) Edirol R4 mod improved the detail when using the B3 mics.  Why is that?  I suspect it is because the opamps are run at too low voltage (+/-5V = 10V total swing).  Replacing these improved the sound to my ears.  I don't know about other rigs though.


  Richard

[Chadfish]

These files are actually the first I've come across with mod/unmod r-44 comparison. Thank you for that! It's hard for me to tell a difference between the two recordings. First I thought I liked the "A" recording better, then others said "B" and at that point I couldn't tell. Are these uncompressed? Where can we get the key to the test? PM me?

Personally I'm stuck, money in hand, trying to decide between a mixed-mod R-44 (Super on 1-2, Concert on 3-4), and a stock DR-680. If I go r-44 it will definitely be modded.
Looking for input:  I have a wider range of needs than the usual taper. I'm a videographer that does record live music shows and plays sometimes.  For that I like the idea of concert mod for a board feed, and super mod for stereo mic to do matrix recording. But the real reason I want the super mod is for dialogue and nature recordings. My thinking is that these mods would cut the noise mostly, which isn't really a factor recording a band, but when recording nature, where you undoubtedly want to turn up in post to hear distant birds, or when recording dialogue for film - to turn up a line someone delivered quietly the quieter pres should help me out in post. I do have an SD MixPre, but that covers only 2 channels.

Then... In comes the DR-680. Many are singing it's praises, and saying the pres are nice and clean. But how clean? There is no Oade mod. Doug Oade says he isn't fond of the DR series of recorders and doesn't think he'll be doing a mod any time soon. I love the idea of more tracks as that can certainly come in handy for me, but can it deliver as quietly as an Oade R-44? There is on guy on the DR-680 part IV who says the 680 pres are better than the R-44 according to specs, but specs are just numbers written by the manufacturer. This is getting long so I'll wrap it up.

Simple test that would help me. Mono or stereo mic(s) plugged straight , at a decent stereo system. A-B-C between R-44 stock, R-44 modded, DR-680 stock. Play the same musical passage for each. Play the passage at loud volume, and at a very very quiet volume so we can normalize(same gain increase on each rather than normalize each) and assess the noise.

I know most likely nobody has all 3, or even just a modded R-44 and a 680, but if so please...  Aside from that, can anyone speak to the quality of a 680 compared to a modded R-44? That's where I'm at. The extra tracks would be wonderful, but quiet pres trump that for me.