Topic: newbee asking for recorder recommendation

[SunWizard]

I had seen the schematics of the 3 wired battery box, but how about a 2 wired one? Sould be easy to be made by oneself, or could that lower the gain again? What would I have to be careful about that it would not lower the gain?

You could make a 2 wire battery box, just need to connect the correct wires and it would not lower the gain.

The iRiver doesn't have a mic input, you must go line in, so you need hot mics like the AT-853 with batt. box, or an external pre.

petur said it: the iriver does supply plug in power, but I can imagine that an external preamp and going line in could enhance quality.

To clarify: the input on the iRiver labeled Line-in can be used with mics as can any line level inputs if your mics output a high enough signal.  But its self noise is a problem if you add much gain so thats why Brian recommended using the AD-20.  The mic in jack on the R-09 provides much more gain than line in so the battery box is not as needed.

[SunWizard]

I ran some tests to better answer some of your questions, and put up a new post about it here: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=68447.0

[kuuan]

To clarify: the input on the iRiver labeled Line-in can be used with mics as can any line level inputs if your mics output a high enough signal.  But its self noise is a problem if you add much gain so thats why Brian recommended using the AD-20.  The mic in jack on the R-09 provides much more gain than line in so the battery box is not as needed.

Yes, I was aware of this, and this why I never doubted Brian's recommendation,  I even liked it a lot! since I always liked the idea of being able to use a HD player to be my recorder, and pariticularily find the iriver/Rockbox story very attractive.
But I am a bit weary of the bulk of the AD-20, so in case the preamp and A/D of the R-09 are as or almost as quiet as those of the AD-20 I'd prefer the R-09 for being smaller, lighter and easier to use.

I am very surprised that you attest your sample recordings SP-CMC4 > battery box > iriver to create 'inaudible noise even at max gain'. That makes me very excited and I can't wait for the H120 to arrive to try it out with my AT822.

You could make a 2 wire battery box, just need to connect the correct wires and it would not lower the gain.

I will have to find out just how to connect them correctly...
But I may not be able to use a battery box with my mic. though.. In the specs of the AT822, it says:

Warning: The AT822 is designed for battery operation only. Do not attempt to use when phantom power is present. Possible damage to the microphone may result.

hm..any way around? Would 9 Volts really harm the AT822 or should I give it a try? Has anybody done that before?

Of course the AD-20 would ensure very low noise, but you even give me hope that the iriver, if using a battery box, could be 'quiet' enough. I suppose that using an external preamp should even be better, though it must be small, inexpensive or self made, otherwise the AD-20 really would make more sense after all.

[SunWizard]

Whataboutbob in this thread http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=65932.0 mentions he has an iriver and at853 and ad-20 and lots more and has run hundreds of tests.  He would be a good one to contact about how the ad-20 compares to other devices.

[kuuan]

Whataboutbob in this thread http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=65932.0 mentions he has an iriver and at853 and ad-20 and lots more and has run hundreds of tests.  He would be a good one to contact about how the ad-20 compares to other devices.

thank you very much for your tip.
I had PMed too much lately though, and became shy about it

[kuuan]

thank you very much for all of you help.

Here my report on how it turned out...so far:

Got an iRiver H120 and SP-CMC4s with an SP-SPSB-10  battery box + roll off from the Yard Sale
( the mics + BB won't be with me until october though ).

I did not get the AD-20 because I had two PMs telling they did not like it's sound.
I also had a PM of a very respected and helpful member telling me not to loose time with the iRiver, to resell it and to get an R-09 instead.
For now I want to give the iRiver H120 full justice:
I will have use for it as an mp3 player, I like Rockbox and the rugged body of the iRiver.
Now I only can use AT822 > H1xx and I don't find the result great, too noisy. Therefore I still wonder if CMC4 > BB > H1xx will give satisfactory result, or if a preamp, even the AD-20 is required. But as jpsalt says: 'I Luvs it.'

I will continue to watch the reports on the Edirol R-09.
I still wonder if an R-09 'alone' rivals the recording quality if an ext. preamp < H120, even AD-20 < H1xx.
Though overall reports are very positive it does have a weak build and it seems to have reliability issues depending on which SD card used.
( I played around with an R-09 in a shop, even made sample recordings with my mic to my SD card - the one the shop used resulted in faulty recordings - and could not stop wondering how easy this machine could get broken, as did drewloo's. A worry I don't have with the iRiver, even though SunWizard would see that differently. )

I don't know yet if I will invest in an ext. preamp or the AD-20 or will get an R-09 as well. If so not now but later when hopefully it will be cheaper and record to 4 GB SD cards ( or even bigger ones, they should be issued soon since Panasonic's newest AVCHD High Definition videocameras will record to SD )

[kuuan]

In the meantime I got a small but able 9 Volt powered preamp which also powers the mic which works fine and makes me a happy iHP120 owner.