Rode NT1a vs ADK A6

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by pete12string

PM'd my listening experience.

Key sent via PM.

Fran

[ombudsman]

I like R the best, then S, but they're both nice and I could go either way. I would guess S is the EV and R the Schoeps. Didn't care much for T or U, guessing those are the Rode and ADK (neither of which I have worked with or heard in person).

[ombudsman]

Actually T is starting to grow on me now.

[Scott Whigham]

Originally Posted by ombudsman

I like R the best, then S, but they're both nice and I could go either way. I would guess S is the xxx and R the yyyy . Didn't care much for T or U, guessing those are the aaa and zzz (neither of which I have worked with or heard in person).

Probably better to put that in your PM to Fran when you ask for the key, otherwise you risk biasing someone else's take. That's my thought anyway.

[Steve Berger]

Originally Posted by Fichtezc

Not if you consider the rest of the equipment he used

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Maybe but the mics are the only variable in the signal chain

[Steve Berger]

Originally Posted by moon

The NT1 was the first one I got. I don't want to give anything specific away but it lived up to it's reputation... Easy to spot if you know what that is.

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Moon I'm not aware of the Rode reputation and/or sonic profile. I would love to hear about it. Please post or PM me your thoughts on it.

[rick-slo]

Listened to the first few seconds of each and they all sounded identical to me.

[Steve Berger]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Listened to the first few seconds of each and they all sounded identical to me.

Gotta love it. Pretty close to my thoughts on the matter.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by Scott Whigham

Probably better to put that in your PM to Fran when you ask for the key, otherwise you risk biasing someone else's take. That's my thought anyway.

Scott, I posted an edit in the first post encouraging people to listen before reading the thread, for their own benefit. If folks want to forego that benefit I'm willing to accept that. So I think discussion in this thread is fine if we can just refrain from flat out giving away the key.

Fran

[Fichtezc]

Originally Posted by Steve Berger

Gotta love it. Pretty close to my thoughts on the matter.

Take a listen to U against the rest. At the very least, this one is noisier than the others. I can tell that even away from my interface and equipment with a cheap set of headphones.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by Fichtezc

Not if you consider the rest of the equipment he used

The UFX is pricey all right, but on the REAPER forum one of the posters sneered at the RME preamps. Whatever you think is expensive, someone else will consider too cheap, and vice versa of course.

I've done preamp comparisons a couple of times. There's a fairly extensive one at the Sound on Sound web site. When I listen to $150 preamps vs $1500 preamps operated in their linear range they sound the same to me, and the editor at SOS came to the same conclusion. Converters even more so.

Fran

[Fichtezc]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

The UFX is pricey all right, but on the REAPER forum one of the posters sneered at the RME preamps. Whatever you think is expensive, someone else will consider too cheap, and vice versa of course.

I've done preamp comparisons a couple of times. There's a fairly extensive one at the Sound on Sound web site. When I listen to $150 preamps vs $1500 preamps operated in their linear range they sound the same to me, and the editor at SOS came to the same conclusion. Converters even more so.

Fran

Truer words are rarely spoken...er...written.

EDIT: I went through the Sound on Sound shoot out and chose the ART twice and the Neve once.... Wow. Every day I realize how much more I need to learn because apparently I should be able to make professional recordings with my gear...

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Listened to the first few seconds of each and they all sounded identical to me.

Originally Posted by Steve Berger

Gotta love it. Pretty close to my thoughts on the matter.

I could see a difference in the wave forms, but I couldn't hear much difference through my monitors or headphones, so my picks were nothing more than a WAG. The little differences I heard would not be enough to convince me to choose one over the other, at least not for my purposes. Any of them would do the job very well for me. IMHO, this comparison demonstrates that the level of equipment needed is dependent on the recordist's objectives and financial resources. There are some good options out there in all price ranges.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Bob1131

I could see a difference in the wave forms, but I couldn't hear much difference through my monitors or headphones, so my picks were nothing more than a WAG. The little differences I heard would not be enough to convince me to choose one over the other, at least not for my purposes. Any of them would do the job very well for me. IMHO, this comparison demonstrates that the level of equipment needed is dependent on the recordist's objectives and financial resources. There are some good options out there in all price ranges.

I saw the differences in wave forms also and heard what was left over after inverse phasing one recording on another recording. At this level of analysis the mikes did pickup differently in transient response and frequency response, but I sure would not want to try and pick out one from another in this listening test.

One might have better luck on a stereo mike comparison but it probably would still be quite close.
Still the differences are there at some level. I often notice how different recordings that sound pretty close raw can nevertheless react quite differently to various reverbs (I guess the reverb magnifies differences).

[moon]

I think if you chose a range of clips specifically to highlight the differences between the mics, they would be more obvious.

However, it's still a fair test of a real-world recording situation.

The biggest variable is probably the different gear we're all listening on. In effect, we're not listening to the same clips because different systems will colour the sound in different ways. Some might fail to render fast transients or deep bass frequencies very well. Others might exaggerate them - and add a healthy dose of distortion to boot.

I think less than perfect monitoring gear is why quite bright mics are sometimes popular for acoustic guitar. The exaggerated treble cuts through on a bad system which can't render high frequencies or fast transients very well, giving the impression of detail, but when you hear the take on a better, more balanced system it might sound unpleasantly harsh.