Maybe You *Do* Get What You Pay For…
Posted on | March 25, 2008 |
On my rant about “you get what you pay for”, here’s a good example:
Recently my friend (and DIY mic designer) Rick Wilkinson came over and we recorded some music with his latest ribbon creation (a stereo blumlein ribbon mic).
We ran the mic into an M-Audio DMP3 mic preamp. After the recording we started talking about using a better preamp for the tests. I suggested the True Systems P-Solo.
The other day, Rick sent me this e-mail comparing the preamps:
Another thing is THD: Total Harmonic Distortion
The True Systems preamps distorts 1/4 as much (and it’s 4x as expensive)
Maybe You *Do* Get What You Pay For…
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
We welcome comments from readers...pro or con!
March 27th, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
There is even more to it than the THD+N specs. BTW both of those have THD that is below what you could hear, but the specs are an indication of other things that contribute to “the numbers”. For instance, things like shielding, noise immunity, RF ingress protection, AC line noise, transient response, and many other things contribute to the quality of a preamp and are often under appreciated. Same with mics, the curves don’t tell much at all about how they actually sound and perform, same deal on noise floor, immunity from RF (which is everywhere) signal preservation etc. All these things are cumulative - they add up along the chain, and in worst cases can reduce definition, dynamic range, add noise, which all go into the converters eventually and clog up the sound.
You do not “always” get what you paid for though IMHO. I picked up a vintage Strat at a yard sale for $100. Then I paid $1000 for a fancy Sony shortwave radio that won’t pick up the college band stations on FM . But in general, I think you do.
March 27th, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
Bob,
All good points. Yes, THD is just an indicator. But, where there’s smoke…
And, yes, you can find “deals” in the world. I should clarify: when comparing apples to apples, I believe you get what you pay for. So if you’re in the market for a new ribbon microphone (…ahem…), then price can be a good indicator that you should look under the hood and make an informed decision.
There’s no free lunch!