Microphone Input Noise Comparison – Avisoft Bioacoustics

Summary

Microphone Input Noise Comparison The various manufacturers of portable audio recorders often use different and confusing specifications for their products that might prevent an reliable and objective evaluation of their capabilities for recording soft animal sounds in the field. This page provides more homogeneous specifications across the different recorder models. Details on the relevant properties of a recorder in conjunction with a specific microphone are available on the page Understanding microphone and recorder/preamplifier noise specifications. Other details on the properties of the recorders are available in the tutorial on Sound Recording in the Field. Noise levels at the maximum available gain settings (except where indicated otherwise) Equivalent Input Noise (EIN)impedance: 150 ohms Input Clipping Level [2]corresponding to 0 dBFS Dynamic Range at max gain! [3] A-weighted unweighted20Hz – 20kHz dBu mVrms A-weighted SoundDevices 722 -130dBu(-130dBu) -128dBu(-128dBu) -46dBu 3.8mV 84dB SoundDevices MixPre-3M -129dBu(-128dBu) -127dBu Fostex FR-2LE -129dBu -125dBu -45dBu 4.3mV 84dB(85dB) CEntrance MixerFace R4R -129dBu -127dBu -46dBu 2.8mV 82dB Tascam DR-701D -128dBu -126dBu -50dBu 2.4mV 78dB Zoom F3 -128dBu(-127dBu) -126dBu Zoom F6 -128dBu(-127dBu) -126dBu -58dBu 0.95mV 70dB TASCAM Portacapture X6 TASCAM Portacapture X8 TASCAM FR-AV2 (16bit, 24bit and 32bit float) -127dBu(-127dBu) -125dBu -54dBu 1.6mV 73dB Tascam HD-P2 -127dBu -125dBu -40dBu 7.7mV 87dB Tascam DR-680Tascam DR-680MKII(MIC GAIN : HIGH) -127dBu -125dBu -58dBu 0.95mV 69dB SONY PCM-D100 -127dBu -125dBu -60dBu 0.7mV 68dB * SONY PCM-D100(REC LEVEL 5, S/N100, 24 bit) -127dBu -125dBu -27dBu 35mV 100dB* not max gain! Tascam DR-70D (GAIN : HIGH) -126dBu -124dBu -51dBu 2.1mV 75dB Tascam DR-100MKIII -126dBu -124dBu -53dBu 1.8mV 73dB SONY PCM-D50 -126dBu -124dBu -58dBu 0.95mV 68dB * Tascam DR-70D (GAIN : MID) -125dBu -123dBu -36dBu 4.3mV 90dB Marantz PMD661 -125dBu -124dBu -52dBu 1.9mV(1.2mV) 73dB(65dB) Ma...