Topic: Why Sony is not releasing a new portable recorder with Phantom Power?

[Napo]

interesting discussion, indeed (especially for a newbie like me)

fmaderjr,  a bit off-topic but how do you rate your PMD661 Ambient mod? It is all in one, two-inputs, picking up instrumental jazz well I suppose  -  just what I need. And I would save a few bucks over the 702.

[page]

nope, the ADC in the 722 is the same as in the 788. it is the preamp control that changed, they went from a manual to a digital control.

I thought it was the entire pre amp stage that was improved over the older 7xx units not just the gain control.

thats a question for SD then as I thought it was just pot controls (which in theory would affect the sound, but whether that's audible is a different question).

[RichT]

In my view, the next big jump in A/D converters will be when 32 bit recording becomes the new standard. I don't know what sonic advantage 32 bit has over 24 bit recording, as I have never heard a 32 bit recording. I would not expect significant advances in 24 bit converters in the future, however.  I also have no idea when 32 bit recording will be all that popular, as it would take additional storage space at all levels of the chain to make it practical for its wide usage.

In the past, getting a good 16 bit A/D was important because the technology was still fairly new and better 16 bit A/Ds came out with some regularity.  With 24 bit A/D converters, there is a sense, at least in my view, that the technology has matured and the differences between these converters are not as pronounced as with the 16 bit ones.  Going from the stock A/D in the Sony D8 to an outboard Apogee unit was a huge jump in quality.  The jump isn't as large when going from a D50 to a Sound Devices unit, for example, especially when factoring in cost.

I doubt there'd be any audible difference between a 24bit and 32bit recording, it'll just be a marketing thing- only the highest end converters get analogue s/n figures over 20bit (120dB). 24bit will cover 144dB s/n (that's close to a jet engine loud, to nothing) and 16bit is 96dB.  If you're getting 16bits worth you're doing well.