Sennheiser G2 vs G3 & Zoom Packege

R

rube

Member
So I'm about to get my first Lav Set. Mostly needed for interviews. I've been looking on ebay and they typically run about $400 on average for the g2's. I just purchased a Tascam 100 mk2 but then stumbled on this deal. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sennheiser-...ltDomain_0&hash=item564938f547#ht_5143wt_1398

The g3's typically run $629.95 on their own.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/618739-REG/Sennheiser_EW112PG3_A_EW112_p_G3_Camera_Mount.html

So for just $70 more I can have a brand new set of g3's instead of used g2's and also the zoom. I can just return the Tascam which I haven't even unboxed yet. I wanted the tascam but I know that it's a pretty close race between it and the Zoom H4n.

Is this a no brainer or is there something I'm missing in this equation? I'm pretty much a noob with this gear so any advice would be awesome.

Thanks.
 
G2's are discontinued models, replaced by the G3 at roughly the same time the FCC outlawed operation in the 700mHz band. The G2s offered on eBay may operate in the now illegal part of the spectrum.
 
The ad he linked to are G3's not G2's.

-107 is not crap. Also this only talks about the preamp noise floor. The quality of the noise also has a LOT to do with how perceptible the noise is. And if you scroll down the page a bit you will notice the specs on the microphones they used for the recordings. Given the mic noise floors it may not make much difference what preamp you are using. And lastly we are talking about sound for film not some archival museum recordings. Low noise is always a plus but it's not the issue for us that it is for folks doing very quiet nature recordings. So unless your buying the Zoom to record insects it may also not be an issue.
It is what it is but it's not "crap". And I don't even like the Zoom!

BTW good site, that is the kind of testing we don't get enough of.
 
Noiz2 said:
The ad he linked to are G3's not G2's.

-107 is not crap. Also this only talks about the preamp noise floor. The quality of the noise also has a LOT to do with how perceptible the noise is. And if you scroll down the page a bit you will notice the specs on the microphones they used for the recordings. Given the mic noise floors it may not make much difference what preamp you are using. And lastly we are talking about sound for film not some archival museum recordings. Low noise is always a plus but it's not the issue for us that it is for folks doing very quiet nature recordings. So unless your buying the Zoom to record insects it may also not be an issue.


It is what it is but it's not "crap" And I don't even like the Zoom!

BTW good site, that is the kind of testing we don't get enough of.
Click to expand...


Ok, maybe not crap, but definitely not great. A little bit overstated on my part, but the Tascam is really much better in that department. I have a Sony PCM-D50 and the difference is night and day compared to my old Zoom H4N.

If you enjoyed that link by the way, you might like this one as well:
http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-noise.html
 
Thanks for the comments. I see so many varied opinions on Zoom Vs Tascam it can get confusing. I'll be using the recorder with an NTG-3. The noise ratio comments are noted from both sides. Is the Tascam just boosting what I could boost in post?

Let me pose the question to you yoclay: If you had to choose between the Zoom and the Tascam but the Tascam was $229.00 more than the zoom and your budget was tight, which one would you choose? Because either way I still need to buy a g3 set.

I'll check out that link. Thanks again.
 
rube said:
Thanks for the comments. I see so many varied opinions on Zoom Vs Tascam it can get confusing. I'll be using the recorder with an NTG-3. The noise ratio comments are noted from both sides. Is the Tascam just boosting what I could boost in post?

Let me pose the question to you yoclay: If you had to choose between the Zoom and the Tascam but the Tascam was $229.00 more than the zoom and your budget was tight, which one would you choose? Because either way I still need to buy a g3 set.

I'll check out that link. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't buy either. I had that choice in fact, and then I listened to the mic/in of my last link above and that convinced me. So I picked up a used Sony D50 and a Denecke phantom power unit for the same price as a new recorder. If however, your choice is really related to the Senny lav units, I would definitely go with the G3's, because they are diversity and the G2's are likely bandwith illegal and thus worthless for resale.

I believe Senny was offering a cash back deal on G2 trade in's for G3's a little while ago. $80 on units which cost $800 not so very long ago. Which means that whoever is trying to sell his G2's at $400, is trying to get rid of old stock, desperately.
 
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yoclay said:
Ok, maybe not crap, but definitely not great. A little bit overstated on my part, but the Tascam is really much better in that department. I have a Sony PCM-D50 and the difference is night and day compared to my old Zoom H4N.

If you enjoyed that link by the way, you might like this one as well:
http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-noise.html
Click to expand...

No not great, but then neither is Tascam. Given a choice I would go with Tascam (to Rube's Q). First it does have quieter preamps. I'm not sure how significant that is going to be for dialog recording but it couldn't hurt. The biggie for me is that while both of these are really consumer gear Tascam has a reputation to protect in the professional end and they have been much better about build quality and firmware updates and generally treating customers well.

Any of these micro recorders are a pain in the but to use for what you want to do. buttons are too small, display is too small, the overall UI just tends to suck. But Tascam seems to be the lesser evil in this regard in my experience.

So, personally, I don't think the higher noise will be an issue if your not recording quiet FX. If you are recording production so low that the noise difference is a big problem then your real problem is your doing a bad job of production recording. But the bigger problem you are likely to run into is flaky build quality and lack of timely support. That difference is worth more than the price difference.

And if you need to gain production recordings they were not recorded hot enough. Any gain you add to a track gains the noise also.

Production is not a game of how low can you record. Yu want good solid levels and you want to get that mic in close.

there is some good advice in the stickies.
 
yoclay said:
I wouldn't buy either. I had that choice in fact, and then I listened to the mic/in of my last link above and that convinced me. So I picked up a used Sony D50 and a Denecke phantom power unit for the same price as a new recorder. If however, your choice is really related to the Senny lav units, I would definitely go with the G3's, because they are diversity and the G2's are likely bandwith illegal and thus worthless for resale.

I believe Senny was offering a cash back deal on G2 trade in's for G3's a little while ago. $80 on units which cost $800 not so very long ago. Which means that whoever is trying to sell his G2's at $400, is trying to get rid of old stock, desperately.
Click to expand...

I also looked at a combo like that. And would second that kind of choice.

This second link is interesting but suffers from some of the failings that most of these kinds of tests do (unlike the first link that I found very informative). The problem is that they don't really explain the set up and how the tests were done. They give a partial list but some of the recorders have XLR inputs and Phantom power and some only have mini jacks. So there was obviously a difference in the connections between those two types but they don't say how they got there. On one there is a buz on the dynamic mic in but not the condenser, but since the connection to the recorder "should" be the same this was almost certainly a bad connection in the testing set up that was not caught. So what other little things got missed? One also does not know if they did some kind of very careful calibration going in or just "normalized" the files after the fact. That could have a big impact on some aspects of the sound. So as a rule I take any audio samples over the web with a large dose of salt.

A bunch of folks have gone on about how the G2's must be illegal frequencies. That may be the case but it's also entirely possible that it's not the case. And its easy to find out. There were three series of the G2's and one used part of the now illegal band the other two didn't. If I remember correctly it was the C models that were affected. It is also quite possible that what is being sold off is old stock of perfectly OK units or folks upgrading to the newer version. Senn. offered a pretty insignificant trade in allowance so it could also be folks dumping old units that are in the affected group. But you know you have to check this stuff out if you buy on eBay.

One cool thing I came away with from the first link is that the PMD671 that was trashed by many as "noisy" was right up there with the quietest recorders, 5dB away from the Sound devices. So you need to take peoples opinions for what they are, opinions. And you need to be very careful about using anything where you don't know how the testing was done or where you are supposed to make judgments based on MP3 samples. It's all potentially useful, but also can be misleading.

BTW that goes for my opinions also, we are all biased in some way.

I use a Sound Devices MixPre as a front end for a PMD671, as a full disclosure kind of thing. I do want something that can record very quiet sounds because most of what I do is FX recording. I love the combo (but would go with a Tascam P2 if I were buying today for the same service reasons I mentioned before).
 
I noticed that the D50 doesn't have XLR's is this a drawback? Also I had a chance to use the Tascam in the field and it was a pain in the butt form factor wise. No easy way to see and adjust your levels. Is there a unit that can do this in the $500.00 price range?
 
I don't know about the $500 but Tascam and Marantz both make recorders in the larger, and much easier to use, size.
Personally I find the Sound Devices a bit small. The Tascam HD P2 and Marantz PMD 671 are both a lot more finger friendly.

They could be had in the $800 range awhile back.
 
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