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Author Topic: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?  (Read 10954 times)

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Offline coolrat33

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How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« on: May 29, 2008, 04:45:59 AM »
Hi

I'm quite new to this,
I'm doing interviews- mainly voice interviews, and I'm trying to assemble a good set of cheap equipment.

a) Pansonic SJMR100 minidisk with line-in.
b) iAudio X5 with Rockbox and using line-in
c) Marantz 620 using line-in
d) soon to be adding an iRiver H140

I have a iRiver H140 on the way (i purchased it new 1 years ago, but it broke instantly and iRiver dragged their feet for a year before finally replacing it- long story, but essentially they are incompetent)

I suspect that the 1.8 harddrive will die in a year or so and I'll upgrade it to a CF card. 
What is the hardware like in the recorder?  Are its preamps any good?
What about line-in recording on this unit using Rockbox?
Will it match or come close to the recording quality of my Marantz PMD620?

So I guess what I'm wondering is, if I use my CA-11 cardiod mics and a Chuch preamp with the H140, how would it compare to:

a) Marantz PMD620 with built-in mics?
b) Marantz PMD620 using CA-11 cardiod mics and a Church preamp?

If its a good recorder, I'll think about buying another H140 or H120 unit. 
Or should I just give up on this old stuff and go for another Marantz or an Olympus LS-10

Thanks a lot for any advice!
« Last Edit: June 03, 2008, 11:33:40 PM by coolrat33 »

Offline DisturbedPyro

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2008, 10:52:16 AM »
i dont know about how it compares with the other rig, i have no idea. all i know is that i got into taping pretty recently and i got an iriver h320 (with rockbox obviously,) Church-Audio STC-11 Cardioid Mics and a BAT-2B and im very happy with the quality.
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Offline coolrat33

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2008, 11:27:38 PM »
Hm..... I thought there might be flurry of replies to this question!
Isnt' the H140 quite commonly used by tapers and various other recording experts?  :D

Offline DisturbedPyro

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2008, 11:33:43 PM »
frankly, im surprised no one else has responded also. the iriver is a pretty popular choice for a recorder. but so is the edirol and a variety of mini discs
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Offline SmokinJoe

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2008, 11:36:18 PM »
We use them a lot for recording loud rock concerts.  Never heard of anyone using one for a voice recorder.  I don't think anyone is ignoring you, we just don't have much experience to offer.

An R-09 is probably another good choice if you can pick one up cheap, even with the built in mics.
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Offline shaggy

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2008, 11:50:35 PM »
I tell you something that will work and will run you less than $40! 

A rockboxed Sansa c200 series mp3 player.  I have been recording voices for the past week....mainly when I cannot pronounce a new japanese word and I want an example to listen to later ad nauseum.  I will record it with the c250 I have at 56kbps/mono mp3.  Completely acceptable quality.  Rockbox will allow you to change the gain manually on the fly!  There is a bit of noise, but as far as a unit to slip into the pocket for a quick interview, it is pretty impressive!  Built in mic, a dedicated rec button - it takes two pushes and you are recording....even if you are listening to music!  Oh, yeah...the thing is micro...nothing will beat it for what it does at that size....though I have to say it is a bit cheap feeling.  You can expand the memory with micro SD cards, including SDHC (with Rockbox).

I think woot and slickdeals had the c250 (2GB version) as low as $25 delivered via buy.com.

Offline jeromejello

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2008, 12:04:41 AM »
i have a couple ihp-120's.  i use them primarily in stealth situations and use an external preamp (SD mp-2).  for me, they are perfect for what i need.  would i like better a/d in the unit, sure - but when small form factor is a consideration, i am fine with the status quo.

if the r-09 (which i have as well) had a remote as awesome as the ihp-120 and inputs that i would feel better about using in stealth situations, i wouldn't be using my iriver.

btw, i wouldnt even consider using the internal (mono) mic in the iriver.  i also wouldnt consider using the iriver mic/line in with a pre in front of it.  if you can find the modAD-20 that powers the mics as well as providing a/d (and gain) i would look into that for a small footprint unit.  I also wouldnt recommend swapping out the harddrive for a cf unless you were skilled, had a bunk hard drive, or planned on using the device in the most extreme circumstances.

i have no experience with the 620 or the church gear so i can't give you any insight there.

you asked - my 2cents - get a r-09 or r-1 and a AT822 for a nice compact interviewing recorder that will allow you to capture ambient and music.
open: mbho 603a (ka200n/ka500hn) > SD MP-2 > PCM-M10
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Offline petur

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2008, 03:37:40 AM »
iriver h120/h140/320/340 are nice little recorders (with rockbox of course).
If you mod them with a CF card the internal mic becomes usable (no hdd noise)
Or use a small external mic (the line-in port has 3.7V mic-power)

A word of caution about the sansa: rockbox only supports v1 versions of it (so far), and its recording capabilities are not very good (low bitrate and DC offset) - we've had some users in our forum complain about it

Offline Kindguy

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2008, 03:41:35 AM »
Works great for a 16 bit bucket.
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Offline HarpDoc

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2008, 12:54:12 PM »
I'm rather perplexed by the statement above about not using an H1** with a pre in front of it. I, and many others around here, use it with a pre (in my case, a CA9100) with very good results. The beauty of the H1** is Rockbox and the Safety feature, which automatically lowers gain if you clip.

Offline petur

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2008, 07:19:49 PM »
I think he meant that if you go for an external amp, you might be better off going digital than going through line-in.
I can only assume that using a good quality ADC in front of the h1x0 spdif will yield a better noise floor than attaching a pre in front of the line-in

the above has never been tried/verified by me, it is pure theoretical speculation ;)

Offline rastasean

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #11 on: June 06, 2008, 05:58:04 PM »
Well I don't own the pre-amp 9100 yet but I should have it in the next two to four weeks.

Right now I love my h120 rockboxed version. Did you know you can set a pre-record buffer all the way up to 30 seconds?! the fostex fr-2le only has a two second record buffer. Quite honestly, I don't know about the others but I think thirty full seconds is pretty great. When I get my 9100, I think my mics will start to work a little better since I won't have to have the damn gain so high but other than that, no complaints and I've only had it for about five weeks now.
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Offline petur

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #12 on: June 07, 2008, 08:41:42 PM »
the 9100 is very nice, good choice ;)

Offline rsimms3

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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2008, 10:37:04 AM »
Yes it is.  I run my 9100 full bore with the 4.7k switch on, H120 set to 0.  I have NEVER clipped on music, just once and a while with clapping.  That yields a full sounding recording that need anywhere from a 5-10db increase in post which I am fine with.  Easier to set it and forget it than worry about making all the settings for automatic volume adjustment.  Yeah, I could learn it and it would be all good, but I prefer to start and finish the show at the same volume.  Also, no gain on the H120.  No idea if that saves from extra noise or not, but I don't know I could ever tell because I always tape rather loud rock concerts.  The 9100 really can handle the bass with my AT853s.  I have devolved into talking about the 9100.

Here is a clip from The Breeders in Chicago last week.

http://home.comcast.net/~simms3/happy.mp3
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Re: How good is iRiver H120 or H140 as a recorder?
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2008, 12:39:13 PM »
Yes it is.  I run my 9100 full bore with the 4.7k switch on, H120 set to 0.  I have NEVER clipped on music, just once and a while with clapping.  That yields a full sounding recording that need anywhere from a 5-10db increase in post which I am fine with.  Easier to set it and forget it than worry about making all the settings for automatic volume adjustment.  Yeah, I could learn it and it would be all good, but I prefer to start and finish the show at the same volume.  Also, no gain on the H120.  No idea if that saves from extra noise or not, but I don't know I could ever tell because I always tape rather loud rock concerts.  The 9100 really can handle the bass with my AT853s.  I have devolved into talking about the 9100.

Here is a clip from The Breeders in Chicago last week.

http://home.comcast.net/~simms3/happy.mp3


I am very glad to hear I made the right decision with the pre-amp. Next purchase I make will be the CA-14s or CA-11s. What do you recommend?

-sean



Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

 

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