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Old 07-31-2011, 01:23 PM
Fran Guidry Fran Guidry is offline
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Location: Walnut Creek, CA
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Here's a comparison of the H4n and a fairly pricey recording chain consisting of a Shure KSM141 mic ($350 or so), John Hardy M-1 preamp ($1600 or so), LynxTwo a/d ($800 or so):

H4n: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/1-3-h4n.mp3
$$$: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/1-4-jh.mp3

Those were recorded at a distance of 3 feet, so you're hearing both chains stressed to the max.

Here's the H4n with the Shure mic, compared to the $$$ chain:

H4n: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/3-1-h4n.mp3
$$$: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/3-2-jh.mp3

These were recorded a little under 2 feet distant, to minimize proximity.

There was a time not too long ago when there was a huge and obvious difference in audio quality between pro stuff and amateur stuff. Back when pros had Studers and amateurs had 4 track cassette Portastudios moving from a Portastudio to a Teac 4430 was a noticeable improvement.

But these days transparency is cheap. Even in low cost consumer devices, frequency response is wide, distortion is low, noise is inaudible at realistic playback levels. Because modern low cost recording systems start off with such excellent audible quality, incremental improvements are very expensive and quickly exceed the real perceptual limits of human hearing.

Fran
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