myke2241 Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 I am pretty new to Sound Devices recorders so my benchmark has been stuff i have heard while editing and cleaning DX. I purchased the recorder second hand from a guy here in LA who stated the recorder was a backup and hardly used. The hiss has been driving me nuts. i am unsure if this is normal among SD recorders. I wanted to survey JW members before sending her off to the mothership. how clean are your 744t pres? I added two sample files. The pre settings are as named 50%-36.wav 75%-50.wav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsnd Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Maybe its just the headphones I have on, but I don't hear the hiss... I hear whatever machinery is in the background Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Collins Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Check to see if the phantom Is on 48 not 12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Sounds fine here. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VASI Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 I don't hear any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 What microphones are you using? Is this going direct into the recorder, or through a mixer? Seriously, SD's preamps are first-rate, throughout their entire line. I generally go through a mixer first, but I've done a handful of jobs directly through the 744 and they sound fine (using either Sennheiser or Schoeps condensors). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 He said Schoeps in the clip. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 OP FWIW I too am a new SD owner, I bought the 702 brand new from B&H and I have the ever popular Sony MDR-7506 headphones. I was hearing a hiss too that was low, but enough to drive me insane considering what I paid over the price of all other two channel recorders. Well after lots of playing and picking up a pair of Sennheiser HD-650 headphones I learned that the hiss is from the internal headphone amp in the SD recorder. The files I had sounded perfect on my PC using an ASUS Xonar Essence ST sound card and the HD-650 cans and the hiss was all but gone when using the HD-650's plugged into the 702 headphone monitor port. Seems like their headphone amp does a much better job with high impedance headphones than lower ones. I haven't had a chance to listen to your files yet, but perhaps you're seeing the same results I was for the same reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myke2241 Posted February 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Thanks for the quick replies guys. i guess i am just a little crazy . Check to see if the phantom Is on 48 not 12. I dont think you have a choice between 12v and 48v with the 744. i'll check though. What microphones are you using? Is this going direct into the recorder, or through a mixer? I am going direct into the recorder. The mic was a Schoeps CCM 41. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 mine are really clean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShubiSnax Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 mine are really clean +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Every Sound Devices preamp I have ever listened to has been very quiet. Any hiss that you have been hearing has to be coming from some other place... it is not preamp self noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 No def not, they capture audio extremely invisibly and thats why we pay the big bucks for their gear. But as an audiophile of a sorts in the music listening headphone world, there are DEF quieter headphone amps out there. Either way the capture quality is the only thing that matters anyway, so as long as that sounds good (which in my case and it sounds like yours as well is true) thats all that matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 I did a quick listen to it in the studio and all I heard extra was room noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShubiSnax Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 No def not, they capture audio extremely invisibly and thats why we pay the big bucks for their gear. But as an audiophile of a sorts in the music listening headphone world, there are DEF quieter headphone amps out there. Either way the capture quality is the only thing that matters anyway, so as long as that sounds good (which in my case and it sounds like yours as well is true) thats all that matters. Capture quality is very important, but isn't monitoring that capture just as important? I bought a Mackie mixer the other week and there was a small buzz in the headphone amp. When I say small, I mean barely noticeable. 4 out of 5 people I showed it to said they didn't notice the buzz at all. If I hadn't RMA'd it, I would have been driven mad. Thanks for the quick replies guys. i guess i am just a little crazy . I would spend every waking minute trying to figure out where the hiss is coming from. If it's the recorder, no choice but to send it back to SD for repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Capture quality is very important, but isn't monitoring that capture just as important? I bought a Mackie mixer the other week and there was a small buzz in the headphone amp. When I say small, I mean barely noticeable. 4 out of 5 people I showed it to said they didn't notice the buzz at all. If I hadn't RMA'd it, I would have been driven mad. I would spend every waking minute trying to figure out where the hiss is coming from. If it's the recorder, no choice but to send it back to SD for repair. I agree, my 702 WAS driving me mad, until I plugged in my HD-650's into it and the hiss disappeared. I dont know. Guess I could play around with it more and see if I cant get the small hiss gone with my MDR-7506 headphones since thats what I use for monitoring and if I cant shoot an email to SD and see what they say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonG Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Very strange. I own a lot of Sound Devices gear, and have used some of their other products on gigs, and have never encountered any issue with the quality of their pre amps or headphone amps. I have even tried them out using the standard Sony headphones, some AKG studio monitors, and Audio Technica studio monitors. I will say that some of the budget equipment out there DO in fact have misleadingly noisy headphone amps, such as some Tascam products for example, but upon listening back to recorded tracks I have always found that the recording was considerably cleaner than I had thought, and after getting used to the sound of the headphone amps I was always able to tune it out and monitor with confidence the actual sounds being recorded. I would think that if anything, the impedance rating for the headphones themselves might not be suited for something with a more powerful headphone amp. A lot of hi-fi headphones are designed to work with stereo equipment such as iPods that dont necessarily have the output of professional equipment. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Workin' good for me.... phil p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 I would think that if anything, the impedance rating for the headphones themselves might not be suited for something with a more powerful headphone amp. A lot of hi-fi headphones are designed to work with stereo equipment such as iPods that dont necessarily have the output of professional equipment. Just a thought. Actually, its the exact opposite. High end headphones generally have higher impedances than comsumer headphones and cant even be driven by low end audio sources like iPods, portable MP3 players and portable CD players. Your average consumer headphone is in the range of oh say 25-50 ohms inpedance while your average audiophile headphones are 150-600 ohm impedance. My HD-650's are 300 ohm. This is why all higher end headphones need an amp to be used, amoung other reasons. I have spoken to SD in the past about their headphone amps and they do state their internal headphone amp is capably of driving headphones up to 600 ohm, and though the amp isnt the best for music listening, it definitely does the job. And like I said the low hiss I was hearing was very much gone once I switched to the higher impedance headphones. Again I intend to play with this more when I get home today comparing the MDR-7506, HD-280 Pro and HD-650 headphones all against each other from the SD 702 and see what I find if anything different. Ill even try outside out in the field far from a lot of possible noise interference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Okay, after further playing, I retract some of my previous statements, kind of... The noise I was hearing it turns out was actually more being generated from my AT4053B probably worse because of all the electronics in the room I was playing with it in. When I did some more testing and listened closer all my headphones showed the same low noise in playback with my other microphones and was very silent. I do happen to own and use a Shure SM7B mic for VO stuff and that one I can get some noise from the 702 pres because it takes so much gain to drive that mic that the gain is almost maxed out in some tests on the 702 to get it load enough. That being the case I would expect pretty much any pres to give a little noise. All that being said, I still maintain that the headphone and DAC built into the 702 is not the best. I have played with a couple .flac files I ripped myself from CD using AccurateRip supporting software Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and I tried comparing the flac files being played on the 702 both through the headphone amp and via S/PDIF out to my NuForce HDP amp and DAC and the difference is QUITE noticable. The 702 is def NOT an audiophile music listening anything thats for sure. But then, its not designed to be, and what it IS designed for it does wonderfully. So, Im going to go with my newbness and my low end gear (AT4053B) as the culprits to my previously harsher claims. I am back to believing my 702 rocks and I am again 100% happy with my purchase. And to the OP, send that 744T in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackHenry Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 It could just be your ears suffering different 'sea shell' effects with differing headphones. Try them without pluggin them in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaymz Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 I hear the hiss, don't think it's normal.....certainly not with a mic of that caliber. I'd say send it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr Posted February 18, 2012 Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 Any updates on this? Have you sent the unit in yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Collins Posted February 18, 2012 Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 If you know somebody who is using boom recorder, get them to plug in the mic and look at the spectrum analyzer. You could also daisy chain with the 744, could at least track it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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