Zoom H6 vs Juicedlink?

M

mustangranch99

Active member
Hello everybody.

I'm looking for record some great audio with my XLR mic and I was wondering which of these two would be better?

The Zoom H6 or something like a Juicelink or Beachtek?

Thank you for reading. :)
 
The zoom is a recorder and the other two are preamps. Are you planning on going straight into your camera or shooting dual system?
 
One is a recorder and the other two are preamps. The H6 can be used with a preamp but a preamp can not be used alone (without a recorder). The lower priced recorders (like the H6) tend to have so-so pres, although I think the H6 has improved noise floor compared to the H4. I am a fan of the Tascams. I own a DR-100 MK II which has relatively low noise but if you want extremely low noise you need a preamp (like the ones you mentioned) with a recorder or a high end recorder alone like the Tascam Dr-680 or Sound Devices 702.
 
You can record quite good sound with the newer JuicedLink Riggy units provided you connect them to a good camera or recorder.

I haven't used the new Zoom H6, but hopefully it's an improvement on the H4n audio performance. ( noise-floor of the H4n is about -63 to -66 dB RMS, depending on when it was made )

I own a Tascam DR-40 and used to own a DR-100 MKII. ( I sold the DR-100 because I was never using it ) Both of these Tascam recorders have pretty quiet preamps, provided you don't push them past 70 percent of their gain range. ( both of these recorders start with a noise-floor around -80 dB RMS )

You can get good sound from all of these units, provided you mic things properly ( use the right mic and with the right placement ), and don't expect too much from these low cost pre-amps.
 
mustangranch99 said:
A Panaosnic GH3. I'd probably get the RM222 Riggy-Micro
Click to expand...

With the GH3 audio input level set to 1 the noise-floor is -63 dB RMS, which can sound great when matched with a JuicedLink Riggy preamp.

Also, if you shoot with your GH3 in 50 Mbps MOV mode your audio is recorded in uncompressed LPCM format.
 
When recording on the GH3 even with the audio level set to 1 there's very little headroom, it's easy drive the input a little to hard and hit the limiter. And I can hear the self-noise at normal payback levels regardless of the source.

When I record on the H6 I can't hear self-noise at normal playback levels.

I think these differences are audible in the JuiceLink demo video.

Fran
 
Fran Guidry said:
When recording on the GH3 even with the audio level set to 1 there's very little headroom, it's easy drive the input a little to hard and hit the limiter.
Click to expand...

It's the lowest setting on the camera, you can't reduce the effect of the AGC or the limiter any more than this. I generally find the limiter does a pretty good job, but the key to using the camera this way is to feed it a strong -20 dB signal.

Fran Guidry said:
And I can hear the self-noise at normal payback levels regardless of the source.
Click to expand...

...Then you've got amazing hearing, as I'm getting a noise floor between -66 to -63 dB RMS when the camera is set up this way. Under normal listening conditions ( i.e. the playback volume is not cranked to jet-engine levels ) I find the noise-floor is dead-silent at -63 dB.

Fran Guidry said:
When I record on the H6 I can't hear self-noise at normal playback levels.
Click to expand...

I haven't had a chance to test the noise-floor of the Zoom H6 yet, but the Zoom H4n had a noise-floor between -63 to -66 dB RMS, which is quite usable provided you aren't boosting the volume in post.
 
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