Topic: V3 > HD-P2 Analog in question

[AlexG]

If you were to run a V3 analog into to the P2 would you use the XLR in or the RCA in?  I gave it a shot using the RCA in and the recording sounded fine.  Would there be any advantage, besides the connector being more secure, to using the XLR in ?

[doubled]

i would go into the deck via the coax in

why would you ever want to use the ad in the hdp2
the v3 is slicker

dave

[AlexG]

i would go into the deck via the coax in

why would you ever want to use the ad in the hdp2
the v3 is slicker

dave

I do have reasons. 
1) I would like to see if the AD in the P2 is better than the V3 AD.  There are a bunch of V3 AD comparisons on here that shows people prefer the sound of an external AD over the V3.
2) There are times when I want to clock sync my aud recording to another device I cannot do this since the V3 doesn't have a clock in. 

[doubled]

id go with the pre and a/d of the v3
over the tascam

the hdp2 is a workhorse
but the pre and ad are similar
to those of the old dap1

as for the internal clock of the tascam
i think its clocked regardless of what input source
whether digital or analog

[AlexG]

id go with the pre and a/d of the v3
over the tascam

the hdp2 is a workhorse
but the pre and ad are similar
to those of the old dap1

as for the internal clock of the tascam
i think its clocked regardless of what input source
whether digital or analog

I understand what you are saying but if you take the coaxial in on the tascam I cannot keep the clocks in sync to another device unless that device is clocked to me.  Lets take the last show I taped where I needed this.  I have my mics going to the V3 which fed my tascam via the RCA and a fellow taper is taking the soundboard feed right next to me.  I want to be able to use his soundboard feed in post to make a matrix and not have to worry about drift.  I set the tascam to use spdif as the word clock, hooked up the spdif coaxial to the spdif output of his A/D, and now our sources are in sync. 

[ehren]

id go with the pre and a/d of the v3
over the tascam

the hdp2 is a workhorse
but the pre and ad are similar
to those of the old dap1

as for the internal clock of the tascam
i think its clocked regardless of what input source
whether digital or analog

Actually my conversations with Doug have led me to believe that the ad section of the hdp2 is the finest availale in an all-in-one in that price range. I personally feel the ad stage in the v3 is quite weak and hence the reason I got rid of the box. Not trying to flame, but there have been a lot of instances where people feel the same way. I also feel the ad section of the 671 is better sounding than the v3's, all IMO of course.

[AlexG]

id go with the pre and a/d of the v3
over the tascam

the hdp2 is a workhorse
but the pre and ad are similar
to those of the old dap1

as for the internal clock of the tascam
i think its clocked regardless of what input source
whether digital or analog

Actually my conversations with Doug have led me to believe that the ad section of the hdp2 is the finest availale in an all-in-one in that price range. I personally feel the ad stage in the v3 is quite weak and hence the reason I got rid of the box. Not trying to flame, but there have been a lot of instances where people feel the same way. I also feel the ad section of the 671 is better sounding than the v3's, all IMO of course.

Exactly, that is part of my motivation too.  So back to the original question, would you chose RCA in or XLR in or does it not matter.

[JasonSobel]

I would use RCA when going Line-in from a pre, and not XLR in with the -20 dB pad.
actually come to think of it, my friend recently got an HD-P2.  this thread has piqued my interest.  although I've been very happy with the V3's A/D at 24 bit, I'd be interested in a direct comp.  I may be able to do one tomorrow night.  V3 > S/PDIF > HD-P2 and V3 > analog > HD-P2 (with clock synced to V3).  I'll report back if we can get that comp going...

[AlexG]

I would use RCA when going Line-in from a pre, and not XLR in with the -20 dB pad.
actually come to think of it, my friend recently got an HD-P2.  this thread has piqued my interest.  although I've been very happy with the V3's A/D at 24 bit, I'd be interested in a direct comp.  I may be able to do one tomorrow night.  V3 > S/PDIF > HD-P2 and V3 > analog > HD-P2 (with clock synced to V3).  I'll report back if we can get that comp going...

Cool I am very interested to hear it.  +T

[JasonSobel]

sorry guys, no comp yet.  we had it all set up, with V3 > analog > my HD-P2, and V3 > digi > Rob's HD-P2.
but the +19 dBu the unbalanced analog output (with XLR > RCA cables) when the V3's 0dBfs light went on was too much for the HD-P2 too handle.  without the attenuators, either I would have been clipping all over place, or Rob's V3 > digi > HD-P2 levels would have been very low.  so, I think we need to figure out what the max analog signal is to clip the HD-P2 when running line in.  and then get some appropriate attenuators to run between the V3 and the HD-P2, so we can do an accurate comp...

[AlexG]

sorry guys, no comp yet.  we had it all set up, with V3 > analog > my HD-P2, and V3 > digi > Rob's HD-P2.
but the +19 dBu the unbalanced analog output (with XLR > RCA cables) when the V3's 0dBfs light went on was too much for the HD-P2 too handle.  without the attenuators, either I would have been clipping all over place, or Rob's V3 > digi > HD-P2 levels would have been very low.  so, I think we need to figure out what the max analog signal is to clip the HD-P2 when running line in.  and then get some appropriate attenuators to run between the V3 and the HD-P2, so we can do an accurate comp...

Interesting I did not have this problem when I went XLR-> RCA in.  I just had one light blinking on the V3 and the levels were fine on the P2.

[JasonSobel]

sorry guys, no comp yet.  we had it all set up, with V3 > analog > my HD-P2, and V3 > digi > Rob's HD-P2.
but the +19 dBu the unbalanced analog output (with XLR > RCA cables) when the V3's 0dBfs light went on was too much for the HD-P2 too handle.  without the attenuators, either I would have been clipping all over place, or Rob's V3 > digi > HD-P2 levels would have been very low.  so, I think we need to figure out what the max analog signal is to clip the HD-P2 when running line in.  and then get some appropriate attenuators to run between the V3 and the HD-P2, so we can do an accurate comp...

Interesting I did not have this problem when I went XLR-> RCA in.  I just had one light blinking on the V3 and the levels were fine on the P2.

were you running another deck from the digital output on the V3 ??  I could have lowered the gain on the V3 and I would have been fine on the HD-P2 (analog out from the V3).  but then the other HD-P2 (V3 > S/PDIF out > HD-P2) would have had much lower levels.

[Dutchman1101]

id go with the pre and a/d of the v3
over the tascam

the hdp2 is a workhorse
but the pre and ad are similar
to those of the old dap1

as for the internal clock of the tascam
i think its clocked regardless of what input source
whether digital or analog

Actually my conversations with Doug have led me to believe that the ad section of the hdp2 is the finest availale in an all-in-one in that price range. I personally feel the ad stage in the v3 is quite weak and hence the reason I got rid of the box. Not trying to flame, but there have been a lot of instances where people feel the same way. I also feel the ad section of the 671 is better sounding than the v3's, all IMO of course.

Hence also why Doug feels the need to mod them now The V3's a/d is weak and way over rated IMO. 

[Brian Skalinder]

Hence also why Doug feels the need to mod them now The V3's a/d is weak and way over rated IMO.

As I've heard the story, he's tried and tried and tried to improve the V3, but only very recently identified the tweak and components that improve the ADC, as opposed to simply changing it one way or another.  I think that speaks to its strength, as he usually comes out with mods very quickly for gear that <1> is lacking in one way or another, and <2> he's willing to work on.

Personally, I believe he could modify and improve each and every piece of gear we run - 722, the new Korg units, Mini-MP/ME, etc....you name it.  The fact that he's modifying the V3 doesn't necessarily speak to the V3's weakness, since all the gear we run in the field has weaknesses.  Rather, it indicates the V3 already sounds mighty fine and has superb design and construction that allows for easy tweaking (finally) to achieve his "signature" sound.

The V3's ADC is better than any other field ADC I've heard and is way under rated, IMO.  Fortunately, there's a whole range of reasonably affordable, quality gear available that achieves superb results, so we may all choose what sounds best to our ears. 

[JasonSobel]

Hence also why Doug feels the need to mod them now The V3's a/d is weak and way over rated IMO. 

The V3's ADC is better than any other field ADC I've heard and is way under rated, IMO.  Fortunately, there's a whole range of reasonably affordable, quality gear available that achieves superb results, so we may all choose what sounds best to our ears. 

since this therad is veering a little towards a discussion of the V3 A/D, I'll chime in with my thoughts.  I've been running the V3 since May of '03.  first at 16 bit into my old D8, and then at 24 bit into my MT and now HD-P2.  in short, I concur with Brian.  the V3's A/D (@ 24 bit) is very smooth and natural.  at first, its a bit underwhelming.  and then you realize why its underwhelming is because it's not adding anything (or taking anything away) from the signal.  just a very accurate representation of the original signal.

anyway, that said, I'm still going to figure out a way to do this comp.