Support and General Use > Recording
Is the supplied external mic of the H1xx better than the internal?
petur:
--- Quote from: Muse on May 24, 2008, 08:10:21 PM ---I just went out and bought the Radio Shack tie-clip omnidirectional microphone #33-3013, a $25+tax investment. I heard it's very good. Don't know about a preamp for it. It uses a 357 cell, but I think it will maybe work OK with the H1xx with or without the cell. In any case, I already have extra cells.
--- End quote ---
H1x0/H3x0 provide power on the plug (3.7V iirc). For voice, this should be enough.
--- Quote from: Muse on May 24, 2008, 08:10:21 PM ---Is it possible to use a flash card with an H1xx alternately with a 1.8" HD? I don't know that I'd want to permanently use a card with it because of limited capacity.
--- End quote ---
Please read up on this topic in the forum (hardware section) and the wiki (CFMod page)
And I wouldn't consider 32GB to be limited capacity ;)
--- Quote from: Muse on May 24, 2008, 08:10:21 PM ---
Question: What jack would I plug this microphone into?
--- End quote ---
The one marked line-in? Where else...
Muse:
Yeah, I deduced the jack, but for some reason I started to wonder if more than one would produce results.
Anyway, I've done a battery of tests using both Rockbox and the iRiver firmware and all three microphones:
--> Internal
--> Supplied external microphone (i.e. came with the H140)
--> Radio Shack #33-3013 LR44 powered external microphone (both with battery installed and removed)
My tests confirm that the sound I'm getting recording voice are absolutely superior using the internal microphone! This is with the case removed and I had each microphone pointing approximately 45 degrees from my position about 8 feet from away and I'm talking directly at the microphone.
The Radio Shack mic's performance is marginally superior to that of the supplied external mic, if at all. Maybe I just wasn't talking quite as loud when using the supplied mic.
The internal microphone's recording (all were done using MP3, 128 kbps, 44.1 khz) was louder, sharper, less muffled and had better crisper high range, which counts a lot for me because my hearing is about 50% attenuated from 3500 khz on up. So, I'm going to return the Radio Shack mic today. In my tests of about 90 seconds I didn't experience any HD spinup/down, but I did yesterday so I know that my 1 hour recordings will have many of them. I guess I'll just live with those. The particular recordings I anticipate making don't have to be perfect, the main thing is that speech is listenable, understandable.
Now, for some reason my tests using Rockbox weren't good. For source, all I saw available using Rockbox were Optical, FM, Internal Microphone and Line In. Obviously, when using the external microphones nothing could possibly work other than Line In. I somehow think this isn't what is supposed to happen. I looked for a setting somewhere that would allow me to choose External Microphone as a source, but failed to find one.
petur:
--- Quote from: Muse on May 25, 2008, 12:25:04 PM ---The Radio Shack mic's performance is marginally superior to that of the supplied external mic, if at all. Maybe I just wasn't talking quite as loud when using the supplied mic.
--- End quote ---
well nobody here recommended it to you so I'm not really surprised...
If you manage to get on taperssection (no idea why you can't), have a look at the offerings of Chris Church (or look at his ebay shop CHURCH-AUDIO).
--- Quote from: Muse on May 25, 2008, 12:25:04 PM ---The internal microphone's recording (all were done using MP3, 128 kbps, 44.1 khz) was louder, sharper, less muffled and had better crisper high range, which counts a lot for me because my hearing is about 50% attenuated from 3500 khz on up.
--- End quote ---
If you're doing tests to comapre quality, always do them in WAV, so you hear what the mic delivers and not the artifacts of our mp3 encoder (there is a better version of it on the way)
--- Quote from: Muse on May 25, 2008, 12:25:04 PM ---Now, for some reason my tests using Rockbox weren't good. For source, all I saw available using Rockbox were Optical, FM, Internal Microphone and Line In. Obviously, when using the external microphones nothing could possibly work other than Line In. I somehow think this isn't what is supposed to happen. I looked for a setting somewhere that would allow me to choose External Microphone as a source, but failed to find one.
--- End quote ---
Of course you are refering to the original firmware here, which is just giving you the false impression that it is treating your mic differently if you set it to 'external mic'
The only thing the OF changes is the gain range, so if you set it to mic you get a higher gain.
Rockbox gives you the full gain range to use (which is way more than what the iriver firmware gives). Just select line-in and set the gain until the peakmeters show a full signal. If you need more than 20dB gain the expect to have a fair amount of noise. In that case you need a more sensitive mic and/or an external amp
Muse:
--- Quote from: petur on May 25, 2008, 03:25:59 PM ---
--- Quote from: Muse on May 25, 2008, 12:25:04 PM ---The Radio Shack mic's performance is marginally superior to that of the supplied external mic, if at all. Maybe I just wasn't talking quite as loud when using the supplied mic.
--- End quote ---
well nobody here recommended it to you so I'm not really surprised...
If you manage to get on taperssection (no idea why you can't), have a look at the offerings of Chris Church (or look at his ebay shop CHURCH-AUDIO).
--- Quote from: Muse on May 25, 2008, 12:25:04 PM ---The internal microphone's recording (all were done using MP3, 128 kbps, 44.1 khz) was louder, sharper, less muffled and had better crisper high range, which counts a lot for me because my hearing is about 50% attenuated from 3500 khz on up.
--- End quote ---
If you're doing tests to comapre quality, always do them in WAV, so you hear what the mic delivers and not the artifacts of our mp3 encoder (there is a better version of it on the way)
--- Quote from: Muse on May 25, 2008, 12:25:04 PM ---Now, for some reason my tests using Rockbox weren't good. For source, all I saw available using Rockbox were Optical, FM, Internal Microphone and Line In. Obviously, when using the external microphones nothing could possibly work other than Line In. I somehow think this isn't what is supposed to happen. I looked for a setting somewhere that would allow me to choose External Microphone as a source, but failed to find one.
--- End quote ---
Of course you are refering to the original firmware here, which is just giving you the false impression that it is treating your mic differently if you set it to 'external mic'
The only thing the OF changes is the gain range, so if you set it to mic you get a higher gain.
Rockbox gives you the full gain range to use (which is way more than what the iriver firmware gives). Just select line-in and set the gain until the peakmeters show a full signal. If you need more than 20dB gain the expect to have a fair amount of noise. In that case you need a more sensitive mic and/or an external amp
--- End quote ---
When I try to login at taperssection it says I need to respond to an activation email. In red it says I can have another such email sent to me. I click that and a message comes up that seems contradictory. Two sentences:
1. An error has occurred!
2. Activation email has been sent.
I get no email. I have no idea what email address it's using for me, although I know which one I thought I entered. As I say, I see no contact method for those folks. If you know how I can contact an administrator or moderator at taperssection, please tell me.
The Radio Shack mic was recommended to me by a poster at Anandtech Forums. It has 16 reviews at Radio Shack's website and from the sounds of them, it's a very good mic and a great price. Anyway, so far I haven't been impressed but I'm completely ready to concede that I may not have used any of the 3 mics correctly. One thing about the Radio Shack mic bothers me. It barely returned any sound at all with the battery removed. With the battery installed, it was OK, a little better than the internal mic. However, the battery is an LR44 button battery, and AFAIK there's no way for the user to know whether that cell is dead or about to die. Thus, it seems to me, the user is apt to suffer bad recordings by virtue of the button cell dieing in the middle of a recording or even at the beginning. I'm almost sure to return it in a couple of days.
- - - -
Thanks. I'll try the mics again with the new information and see how things turn out.
petur:
--- Quote from: Muse on May 25, 2008, 07:41:48 PM ---When I try to login at taperssection it says I need to respond to an activation email. In red it says I can have another such email sent to me. I click that and a message comes up that seems contradictory. Two sentences:
1. An error has occurred!
2. Activation email has been sent.
I get no email. I have no idea what email address it's using for me, although I know which one I thought I entered. As I say, I see no contact method for those folks. If you know how I can contact an administrator or moderator at taperssection, please tell me.
--- End quote ---
Send me a PM with the username and email address you used and I'll pass it on to Brian
--- Quote from: Muse on May 25, 2008, 07:41:48 PM ---The Radio Shack mic was recommended to me by a poster at Anandtech Forums. It has 16 reviews at Radio Shack's website and from the sounds of them, it's a very good mic and a great price. Anyway, so far I haven't been impressed but I'm completely ready to concede that I may not have used any of the 3 mics correctly. One thing about the Radio Shack mic bothers me. It barely returned any sound at all with the battery removed. With the battery installed, it was OK, a little better than the internal mic. However, the battery is an LR44 button battery, and AFAIK there's no way for the user to know whether that cell is dead or about to die. Thus, it seems to me, the user is apt to suffer bad recordings by virtue of the button cell dieing in the middle of a recording or even at the beginning. I'm almost sure to return it in a couple of days.
- - - -
Thanks. I'll try the mics again with the new information and see how things turn out.
--- End quote ---
Ho much did you have to set your gain to?
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