Topic: optical in/out? What does it mean?

[ozarkbilly]

I'm a noob, obviously, and just about to pull the trigger on an Iriver h320.  I understand that the h1x0 series has optical in/out and the h3x0 does not, but what exactly does that mean in layman's terms?  I'm still fully capable of recording with the h320 correct?  Any other material differences that might make me change my mind?  There seems to be a big premium on the h1x0 series, and I'm wondering why.  I've been reading and searching posts for days, and I found many references to the optical in/out, but not an explanation of what it means.  Any help?

[DSatz]

o, "optical in/out" describes a pair of small sockets on a recording device. They send and receive light rather than electricity to convey a digital bitstream (a digital audio signal, in other words). So they're a kind of "digital input and output" for the unit.

Using the optical input you can send a digital bitstream into the recorder (as an alternative to, say, connecting a microphone directly to the recorder's mike input); the optical output provides a digital bitstream that you could use for playback, or for "looping through" the recorder (i.e. getting an output that you use for something else at the same time as you're recording through the input).

If you intend to use the mike preamp built into the recorder, or an external mike preamp that doesn't have a built-in analog-to-digital converter, then the input may not interest you so much. The output may not interest you very much either, when you consider that it only delivers the audio "in real time"--if you hope to transfer a digital recording (say) to a computer for editing or other processing, you will almost certainly want a faster way to do that, such as USB or FireWire--or just taking the memory card out of the recorder and putting it into a card reader on your computer.

Does that answer your question, or was there more to it?

--best regards

[ozarkbilly]

so I could buy, say the Church Audio BAT-2B battery box & STC-11 mics and an Iriver h-320 and possibly get a listenable recording?

[ozarkbilly]

well, finding this recording has convinced me that I'll be able to get decent sound.  This is Core Sound Cardioids > iRiver H340, and that sounds fine enough for me. 

http://www.archive.org/details/jbt2005-12-21.flac

[petur]

well, finding this recording has convinced me that I'll be able to get decent sound.  This is Core Sound Cardioids > iRiver H340, and that sounds fine enough for me. 

http://www.archive.org/details/jbt2005-12-21.flac

It all depends on what you plan to record.

- loud stuff => get at least a batt box
- silent stuff => get a pre-amp
- both => a pre-amp should handle both

the Church-Audio gear is very nice

[ozarkbilly]

point taken on both suggestions.  That's the way I'm leaning, because I go to a wide range of shows, from bluegrass to rock to country/alt-country. 

[Kush]

so I could buy, say the Church Audio BAT-2B battery box & STC-11 mics and an Iriver h-320 and possibly get a listenable recording?

If you are planning to go with the rig in your quote: Church Audio STC-11 > BAT-2B > Iriver h-320, then you don't have to worry about having a digital-in on your recorder since the signal being passed into your recorder will be an analog signal converted into digital by the recorder itself.

The reason folks need a digital-in on recorders is when they are using an external analog to digital converter (many of which are also pre-amps) such as: Grace V3, digi-mod UA-5, etc., and are feeding a digital signal into their recorders.

[ozarkbilly]

just to update, I've now got an iriver h120 on its way to me.  Still shopping for mics & pre though