My understanding is that any mic with this mod should be used with a pre amp. A bb is not enough. Plus, to my ears, the Rec input is way too noisy. I'd go with a pre amp and Line input all the way. File sounds great, but IMO would sound even better using Line In.
I do not know how it is supposed to be used, but it works just fine for me through line-in on my Hi-MD and I assume it would be the same on any gear. YMMV
the R09 accepts higher levels WITHOUT preamp-distortion on MIC-in than (HI)-MD .
thus it´s no problem to record loud amplified rockshows on mic-in.
With a normal sens mic as the HLSC or unmodded SP-mics line-in would have been possible but not with this low-sens-modded SP-CMC-4U mic, because max. gain of 30(lots of preamp noise) wouldn´t have been sufficient on line-in to reach upper levelmeter ranges(-6db).
I´m, totally satisfied with the mic-in results
.
of course we are all conditioned using LINE-in +bbox for loud stuff from our MD-experiences
.
That changed with the r09.
SO why take "big" preamps to a stealth show when they are really not needed?
The noise on my sample from gain 20 on mic-in is NOT audible on my stereo.
For silent stuff I use my MM-HLSO omni which has standard sensitivity...about +12dB HOTTER than the modded, of ocurse also on mic-in.