Topic: iriver h120 recording at 96k?

[pdastoor]

Im kinda new to iriver h120, I have rockbox on it but under recording options I cannot find an option to set the recording settings at 96k? I only see 44k.

I have owned an iriver h10 for years and can record at 96k/16 bit on that using rockbox, how come doesn't work on the h120? Is there a way to record @ 96k on the h120?

One last question. iRiver h10 doesn't support an external microphone unless you buy a cradle, but it gives me an option to choose 'line in'. What is line in? Can you record line in with a microphone?

[jbell]

It only records 16/44.1 even with rockbox

[pdastoor]

but on the iriver thread on this site under recording gear, it mentions you can record at 96k with spdif or something like that

[page]

I swear I've gotten 16/96 before as well. I'm pretty sure I had to feed it a digital signal to do it through, it wouldn't do it analog-in. It's a nuance in how the internal data routing works IIRC. 24/44.1 isn't doable because of a bitdepth issue, but 16/96 is... 

[jbell]

When I had one it only gave me the 16/44.1 option, but maybe it was the Rockbox build?? 

[page]

When I had one it only gave me the 16/44.1 option, but maybe it was the Rockbox build??

I can't remember which rockbox build I used, but I remember it was with rockbox (I refused to record with the stock firmware). it's been over two years now since I last used an H120 in taping.

[SmokinJoe]

I read about 4 years ago that an H120 would record digi-in at 44.1 or 48, but not 88.2 or 96k, and that has proven to be accurate.  It locks in nicely at 44.1 or 48.  If you try to record at 88.2 or 96k the thing won't be able to keep up, and you'll end up with "slow disk" or a stutter, or it just locks or something.  I can't remember that actual failure mode I experienced.   It did see the incoming signal as 96k, but when you try to actually record it fails miserably.

I've used a few different versions of Rockbox over the years on a few different iRivers (H120 and iHP-120).  I think they all only allowed analog in at 44k or less, but one of them might have allowed 48k, I can't remember.  When you run optical it will sync to whatever source it sees (assuming you plug in in BEFORE you turn it on).  On at least one of them if you boot the iRiver into the recording screen without the UA-5 running and attached it will default to 64k.  Then if you plug in the UA-5 and record 44k data you will have "chipmunk sounding" music and you have to go through the "fix file header" routine.

If the H10 allows 16/96 that's interesting.  Perhaps it's newer hardware with a faster processor that can actually keep up.  Realistically, I don't see it as a huge advantage because I doubt the analog preamp and A/D is good enough to actually capture much data above what 44.1k will capture.

On an H120, yes you can plug a microphone into the Line-in jack and it work.  And it will provide about 3V plug-in-power for small mics.  If you run mics without a preamp you will probably have to crank the gain.  It's been said that setting the gain above +15 is "too noisy".  Likewise if you have a signal hot enough that you have to go below 0, you will brickwall... even if it looks good on the screen it will sound like shit afterwards.   I've always used an external pre, and I like to use the Auto AGC option.  I set the H120 gain to +8 and adjust the external pre such that the H120 meter looks good and if it gets louder by a few dB's the auto-AGC will crank it down accordingly.

Hope that helps. 

[pdastoor]

hey man do you know which version of rockbox allows you to record at 96/16 on the iriver h120? It records at that rate on the iriver h10.

The only difference is that the h10 does not support external microphone, where as the h120 does, but h120 doesn't do 96k/16bit (atleast until I find that version of rockbox)

[page]

hey man do you know which version of rockbox allows you to record at 96/16 on the iriver h120? It records at that rate on the iriver h10.

The only difference is that the h10 does not support external microphone, where as the h120 does, but h120 doesn't do 96k/16bit (atleast until I find that version of rockbox)

if I had the appropriate optical adaptor, I'd test it for you as I dug my unit out this evening and powered it up to see. I do know the setting is digital only though, the documentation on rockbox says that much. As for how stable it is, that's up for debate, I can't find any evidence that I did an entire show at 16/96 so I don't think I did anymore more then a number of seconds or a minute with it.

[sunjan]

SmokinJoe is right. In theory, you could feed it with a 96kHz digital signal, but IIUC the hardware won't cope with the amount of data fed above 44.1kHz.
It's got nothing to do with Rockbox or which version you're running. It will stutter, lose the signal and eventually shut off the recording.
The way rockbox is developed, the most recent stable build is always the best. There were a few features in the past (the unoffical REP build) that added some visual functionality but were proven unstable or caused other errors. Irrespectively of that, Rockbox won't be able to provide 96kHz recording on the H1x0 series in the future either,

[Barry Shoop]

You would do better to stick to 48khz and go 24 bit than looking at 96khz. The bit size has a LOT more to do with sound quality than the sample size. In theory 96 / 24 IS better BUT since the human ear cannot detect the difference between 48khz / 24 bit and 96khz / 24 bit it is essentially a waste of storage space unless you plan to slow the recording WAY down for some fancy project like voice analysis (and for THAT you'd already be a law enforcement uber-geek or other seriously demented individual and know this already.)