Just posted the preliminary technical review of this great deck at: www.sonicstudios.com/r09hrrev.htm
For starters, the HR's MIC input is at least 10 dB quieter than R-09 version as graph shows below.
Nice, thanks for that. BTW: I noticed in my own test the noise floor for 96 kHz was significantly worse than 44.1 kHz, did you see the same thing?
digifish
Also noticed this. Figure cause is all the highest frequency noise spikes being added when in wider bandwidth 88.2/96k recording modes.
Many thanks. This and the LS-10 review posted in two days -- It must be
raining in Oregon!
What's with the 6dB to 10dB spikes in self-noise every 1000 Hz above 8000 Hz?
Some sort of digital signal processing issue? It looks like the R-09 had similar
spikes, but not as great an amplitude.
One correction -- in the blue box at the bottom of the review where you talk
about which memory cards to use, the text reads, "External LS-10 SDHC memory..."
Must be a cut-and-paste error.
Flintstone
Noise spikes seem to be analog related noise pollution
maybe from the switching power supply or digital flash storage operations. Using LINE input with an external preamp eliminates recording the audio quality effects of this noise.
Thank you for proof reading to find the paste error.
Wow. Thanks for all the technical details.
Any explanation for the multiples of 1kHz on the mic inputs? Both the R09 and the HR??? I haven't noticed this, but others have reported it. Seems suspicious to me. Why can't manufacturers get this right .
Richard
Sony is one manufacturer with both the experience and motivation to go the extra mile eliminating this type of noise in final production/shipped decks.
While the noise is at a fairly low level, and mainly at high enough frequencies so not to be audible, it can audibly affect certain audio sound aspects when mixed-recorded into (harmonically rich) acoustic music and other critical natural sounds.
Eliminating this type of noise takes post design engineering proto-production efforts as its being caused (most times) by PCB circuit trace routing/shielding usually needing a refined redesign of some very critical analog circuit board ground paths, and sometimes insufficient power supply capacitor decoupling of low level mic amplifier first stages.
If proto-production engineering misses seeing this issue, or if engineering decides it's not worth the trouble to fix, OR if proto-production evaluation is completely missing in a rush to get main production in full swing, these noise issues get passed on to the buyer to solve or live with.
In this case the noise is not terrible, and
unlike some other decks with same type issues, can be
completely eliminated using the LINE input with a quality low impedance output preamplifier.