Daniel,

XLR to minijack is just a bit more robust.

You'll need to pad the Sound Devices output if you are using the straight Canon 2.0.4 firmware. If you use Magic Lantern instead then no PAD is needed and you get a nice clean signal, I doubt very much that the Sound Devices tests are based on using Magic Lantern's lower in camera amplification and therefore the results would be better than they are getting.

Dan

It's worth mentioning that the Tape Out on the MixPre is something like 9-10 db less hot than the XLR outputs, so if you're not using ML, that potentially could negate the need for an inline pad. Not sure though, so you'd have to test yourself, but thought that might be worth mentioning.

Bill,

Should have said I already tested the minijack tape out and it is still too hot running the straight 2.0.4 firmware. I think only Magic Lantern will work without a PAD.

Dan

Dan and Jon:

I assume you are working with Magic Lantern Beta for 2.04 ? Based on my testing, I agree with that assessment. I am runnin ML a 10 on analog gain, and 0's on both channels of digital gain.

Magic Lantern 0.1.8 alpha on Canon 2.0.4 with the m_gain (analog) at +17db and d_gain_l and d_gain_r at 0dB has the equivalent gain of Canon 2.0.4 at 3 ticks over the minimum. That's 1.5dB over the Canon 2.0.4 minimum.

So, with Magic Lantern turned all the way down, you can get the gain down to 15.5dB quieter than you can with stock 2.0.4. That might just let you get away with no pad, depending on the rest of your chain.

FWIW, Canon's gain adjustment is purely digital, and it starts out with a high analog gain, so you can only get the noise so low. ML definitely lets you get even lower gain.

BTW, the new juicedLink DT454 preamp offers more gain than the CX models. It should allow us to run ML at 0dB analog gain. The S/N ratio will be limited by the 16-bit A/D converter at that point.