Sony's new flash players

Dave Largent · March 14th, 2005, 11:07 PM

I took a listen to mine today.
Just a few thoughts. Mine worked in mono mode.
I really don't think you need a pre-amp
with this unit. I didn't bring anything into the
computer -- this is just based on
headphone listening. The mic recordings were
quieter than expected. There was some hiss
at the max record level of 64. The 50 to 60
range wasn't bad. The levels that seemed
good for an ME64 (sensitive condenser) were
around 35 to 40 for speech. I tried a Radio
Shack powered lav, and also a dynamic
handheld and 55 to 60 seemed alright for these.
Tried recording the 64 in line-in mode, with
the levels cranked. Seemed to me like line-in
has more hiss than mic-in, and I don't see
any reason to use it over mic-in when not using
a pre-amp. (I didn't try a pre going line-in.)
Seems you can't change record levels during
recording. Not really that hard to operate
after you've played around with it for awhile.
Used Jack's tutorial above to get started.
Remembers settings when the battery is removed.
Mic-in and line-in are manual levels only, but
the on-board mic has an auto gain control (AGC)
option. (Couldn't figure out how to set manual
gain for the on-board mic.) Tested the on-board mic
from about 15 feet away. You could make out the
words okay -- might work out okay for a classroom
lecture -- but would maybe look at a miniature powered
mic such as what concert tapers use for better
volume. My 256 meg unit says it will get me
1 hour 36 minutes at max quality (it counts it down)
44/320 MP3.
The phone jack output to my 7506 headphones was
plenty loud with some to spare.

March 14th, 2005, 11:07 PM	#16
Dave Largent Trustee Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,483	I took a listen to mine today. Just a few thoughts. Mine worked in mono mode. I really don't think you need a pre-amp with this unit. I didn't bring anything into the computer -- this is just based on headphone listening. The mic recordings were quieter than expected. There was some hiss at the max record level of 64. The 50 to 60 range wasn't bad. The levels that seemed good for an ME64 (sensitive condenser) were around 35 to 40 for speech. I tried a Radio Shack powered lav, and also a dynamic handheld and 55 to 60 seemed alright for these. Tried recording the 64 in line-in mode, with the levels cranked. Seemed to me like line-in has more hiss than mic-in, and I don't see any reason to use it over mic-in when not using a pre-amp. (I didn't try a pre going line-in.) Seems you can't change record levels during recording. Not really that hard to operate after you've played around with it for awhile. Used Jack's tutorial above to get started. Remembers settings when the battery is removed. Mic-in and line-in are manual levels only, but the on-board mic has an auto gain control (AGC) option. (Couldn't figure out how to set manual gain for the on-board mic.) Tested the on-board mic from about 15 feet away. You could make out the words okay -- might work out okay for a classroom lecture -- but would maybe look at a miniature powered mic such as what concert tapers use for better volume. My 256 meg unit says it will get me 1 hour 36 minutes at max quality (it counts it down) 44/320 MP3. The phone jack output to my 7506 headphones was plenty loud with some to spare.