Iriver and corresponding mic
 

Kinda lost with all the different Irivers out there. Can anyone recommend or share their setup? What model Iriver do you have and what mic do you use with it?

How do you find the sound quality?

Thanks a lot!
Jeff

I'm wondering about the same thing... did you ever get one?

Try doing a search here on iRiver. This has all been discussed to death. A lot of it is in the Wedding forum.

I got the 799 Iriver (1 gb) at Circuit City. The price at the store is $199, but they have a web special that saved $50 so I ordered it online and picked it up at the store.

I ordered a Giant Squid Iriver mic (they make them specifically for Irivers) with a right angle plug (the GS website said they were out of right angle plugs, but he got some in). $25

Will let you know how it works soon.

Cool, I just ordered two 790's off of Ebay for $110 (for both). I figured since the GS mics will be recording mono, I'll be able to work with 256mb recorders no problem... I'll post some samples once I get them.

That Giant Squid lav looked interesting (and the price is terrific), so I ordered one, too! It will be nice to have an inexpensive lav setup.

Got my mics today. They sound awesome on through my imic... can't wait to get my iRivers.

I did notice though that the mics were a little hot on my camcorder, not that I'd be plugging them into my camcorder, but it was a little worrysome. I suppose if it becomes a problem, I could purchase one of the beachtek adapters.

Do the irivers allow to adjust input tolerance?

yes, you can adjust the input volume

I bought an iRiver IFP790 yesterday and, after noticing some hiss while I was test recording, I made some comparisons this morning with my different mics to see the difference in quality between the iRiver and my Panasonic GS400 when recording voice.

What I did is basically plug one Giant Squid omni mic in the iRiver and another identical plugged in the GS400 and record my voice simultaneously on both (the GS mics are both powered). I did the exact same thing with an AT822 by plugging one channel in the iRiver and the other in the GS400. Of course, I tried to adjust the gain so both channels were relatively close in level. The iRiver was configured for optimal recording (44.1 kHz, 320 kbps) and volume was set at 50 (the minimum to get a reasonable level IMO).

I found that the iRiver does indeed introduce some hiss and this makes it difficult to compare the actual sound quality. After removing the selfnoise in post, it sounded better, but still not as clean and detailed as the recordings made on the GS400.

Still, I find that the iRiver is impressive for such a small device.

Hmm... that's a little dissapointing, although others have pointed out that it's not a perfect solution. Does anyone know if other models of iriver suffer from this?

I've unfortunately already ordered my 790's

I think a few people reported hearing self-noise with some 800 models. I have not tried other models, but my guess is that the self-noise is standard. Some people have a problem with the hiss, some don’t (and that’s OK).

I should add that the noise seems to be much less obvious with the (powered) Giant Squid mic than with the AT822, which is not as sensitive.

I'm curious as to whether the hiss is still there or is minimized by recording using line-level input as opposed to mic-level input. My understanding is the iRiver can be set to use either input level simply by tweaking a setting. Now, the trick of course is to get your mic-level mic stepped-up to line-level. Not sure, but if you have a minijack-based mic, you might be able to use one of those Giant Squid 9v battery boxes to do this. I wonder if the sound would be any better?

Thanks for the suggestion, but I returned the iRiver and settled for a Sony RH-910 HiMD. I must say I’m quite happy with it, especially that Sony just released SonicStage 3.2, which allows for unlimited digital transfers of live recordings.

Regards,

YEAH! Hadn't heard this. Might put minidisc back on my "maybe" list as the one-only-allowed digital transfer was a deal-breaker for me. I've been around computers for too long to ever trust anything that was a only-one-chance-to-get-it-right.

Francois,
Do you notice any difference in the recordings of the iRiver
vs. the HiMD as far as hiss?
Also, when did SonicStage 3.2 get released, and what is the
advantage to this new software?

To me, yes, the difference is obvious with my microphones, particularly with the AT822 and the AT897.

It looks like the release date was supposed to be July 27, but from the date in the link below, it appears it was released around the 24th. I could not tell you all the new features of the new version, but one of the biggest is probably that it allows unlimited digital transfers of live recordings from the HiMD unit to the computer. With the previous version, you could only digitally transfer what you had recorded once (!).

You will find more info at the following link:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=11311

HTH,

So do you guys thing it is worth it to get 2 iRiver 790's @ 256MB each or just one iRiver 799 @ 1GB? I will be using them for recording of vows at weddings and that sort of thing. Is there any difference between the models except the size of the flash memory? Will 256MB be enough space to record for a few hours at a high quality?
Thanks!
-Brett

Since you say the intended use will be vows .I would suggest 2 256mb
At 44k 320mbit STEREO you'll get nearly 2 hours.If you use a mono mic thats been converted for iRiver aka Giant Squid or if you make an adapter to switch mono to the right(ring) channel you will get close to 4 hours at max quality.2 units would definetly be helpful.
As far as the hiss , I don't get any so I'm wondering why some do and some don't.
People with the hiss, what setting are you using for record volume? and have you recorded just the hiss and loaded it into audio editor and found out what level the hiss is?eg. -30db or -40db?

Yes, I have checked just the hiss with an audio editor.
Here's what I found. (The iRiver volume is on the left
and the hiss volume is on the right.)

0 .... -90dB
6 .... -90dB
13 ... -90dB
19 ... -90dB
26 ... -84dB
32 ... -78dB
38 ... -72dB
45 ... -63dB
51 ... -57dB
58 ... -51dB
64 ... -45dB

Dave-
Were you recording in stereo or mono mode? Does the hiss happen when recording in mono? Do the iRiver 790 models still have the hiss problem, or would it be better for me to go for a 795 model @ 512MB?
Thanks.
-Brett

Brett, I was recording in stereo, mic mode. Never tried mono but would think it would be the same. I first could hear the hiss myself, when I was listening with headphones, at volume level 38, which I described in my notes at the time as "light hiss". Now, you may not notice the hiss at level 38 when listening on loudspeakers.
My guess is that this hissing is normal for all the iRivers but some people just don't pay it any attention. There has been mention by some that, basically, you don't record below level 50 with the iRivers so there is always going to be some hiss with them. The hissing does get pretty bad at the max level of 64.

Yes there is a slight amount of hiss with the iRivers...must lets get real here folks...trying to compare iRiver recording capability to a high-end recorder is pointless. Do I use them for critical recordings...no. With that said...I love my litte iRiver recorders...it is a perfect addition to the wedding videographer's audio hand bag...they are easy to setup...easily fits in a coat pocket and easy to upload and synch. Sure there is some hiss...especially if you set the record level to high. However, any sound editor like Sound Forge easily removes the hiss.

This may sound like a stupid question...but what the huge advantage between stereo and mono in reference to the iRiver? I mean, I know the difference between them, but why would you want to record in mono with the giant squid mic when you could record in stereo with a differen mic?
Thanks.
-Brett

I get the same general results as Dave is reporting with my Iriver 790. Some hiss on mic level. Definitely noticable with good headphones but not what I would consider really bad. Not noticable under normal listening conditions. No hiss at line level. I record mono using Sennheisser me66 or me64 or Rhode NT3. The Iriver is slightly noisier than my GL-2 at mic level but better than my (older) minidisc because I dont need to do the DA-AD reconversion.

Brett,
Simple...double of the record time...besides, lav mics are mono anyway

Bill, curious what your iRiver levels are with your
powered condensers, seeing that they are high-outpout
mikes as compared to what mikes many are using with
the iRivers.
Regarding the hiss with (newer) MD as compared to iRiver,
I get less hiss with MD even when going through
the DA - AD conversion chain.

Dave
Sorry I cant give you more details as my audio equipment is out on a fairly long term loan right now.

I seriously think someone needs to try using LINE-IN on the iRiver to see if the hiss dissapears altogether...

Francois understood what I meant, but no longer has an iRiver. My guess is the iRiver is boosting the mic-level signal and it's doing a poor job of it. And since the unit is capable of taking LINE-IN too, it is DEFINATELY worth testing. The trick is, you need to be able to step-up your mic level input to line level to test this out (and remember to put the iRiver into LINE-IN mode). If someone has this capability, they should test this out, and let us all know because that would be valuable information.

Bill, I betcha only a very small percentage of
iRivers are being used with an external mic
amplifier. And I bet you're right that there'd be
less hiss using line in.

hello mark, yes got some hiss too, I am just curious how you have eliminated hiss with sound forge. I tried and eliminated hiss but with i little degradation on sound? please enlighten us how you have eliminated the hiss. thanks

I need to correct my earlier statement...as I use Sony's Noise Reduction to remove any hiss....sorry....