[[email protected]]

To all the M-Audio DMP-3 owners out there, Just curious how quiet and
transparent this is as an affordable mic pre-amp? Any additional
positives or negatives about it are more than welcome too.

Thanks In Advance

[Fran Guidry]

On Apr 16, 7:55 am, wrote:
To all the M-Audio DMP-3 owners out there, Just curious how quiet and
transparent this is as an affordable mic pre-amp? Any additional
positives or negatives about it are more than welcome too.

Thanks In Advance

Here's a page from my home recording blog that compares the DMP3 to an
FMR RNP and a John Hardy M1.

http://www.fxguidry.com/pblog/index....y070224-133138

In the middle gain range these sounded pretty darned similar to me. At
high gains the DMP3 gets noisy.

Fran

[drichard]

Hi,

I saw a good price and bought one off Ebay on a whim. I haven't done
measurements or any sort of scientific comparisons, but it sounds very
good to me. Sonically, I'm very pleased. The meters are pretty small,
but at least it has them.

I don't have any other "transparent" preamps to compare it to. I have
a Telefunken V76 and V72, and those have a colored character that I
love. But the DMP3 fills a niche for me. So the bottom line is that I
like it and consider it a good purchase.

Dean


On Apr 16, 9:55 am, wrote:
To all the M-Audio DMP-3 owners out there, Just curious how quiet and
transparent this is as an affordable mic pre-amp? Any additional
positives or negatives about it are more than welcome too.

Thanks In Advance

[Arny Krueger]

"Fran Guidry" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Apr 16, 7:55 am, wrote:
To all the M-Audio DMP-3 owners out there, Just curious how quiet and
transparent this is as an affordable mic pre-amp? Any additional
positives or negatives about it are more than welcome too.

Thanks In Advance

Here's a page from my home recording blog that compares the DMP3 to an
FMR RNP and a John Hardy M1.

http://www.fxguidry.com/pblog/index....y070224-133138

In the middle gain range these sounded pretty darned similar to me. At
high gains the DMP3 gets noisy.

One of the preamps (DMP-3) had a roll-of below 80 Hz and a really sharp
roll-off below about 55 Hz.

[drichard]

That rolloff would imply that the Low-Cut switch was engaged. I
haven't heard the files, but that would certainly affect the test.

Dean

On Apr 16, 2:51 pm, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"Fran Guidry" wrote in message

oups.com...

On Apr 16, 7:55 am, wrote:
To all the M-Audio DMP-3 owners out there, Just curious how quiet and
transparent this is as an affordable mic pre-amp? Any additional
positives or negatives about it are more than welcome too.

Thanks In Advance

Here's a page from my home recording blog that compares the DMP3 to an
FMR RNP and a John Hardy M1.

http://www.fxguidry.com/pblog/index....y070224-133138

In the middle gain range these sounded pretty darned similar to me. At
high gains the DMP3 gets noisy.

One of the preamps (DMP-3) had a roll-of below 80 Hz and a really sharp
roll-off below about 55 Hz.

[Paul Kotheimer]

Most comments from beginners have to do with excess noise. This is an
illusion, created by the very high gain of this unit.

Exactly what I was going to say. Very very high gain.

[[email protected]]

On Apr 16, 9:55 am, wrote:
To all the M-Audio DMP-3 owners out there, Just curious how quiet and
transparent this is as an affordable mic pre-amp? Any additional
positives or negatives about it are more than welcome too.

Thanks In Advance

Thanks to everyone who chimed in on the DMP3. Great stuff!!!

[David Satz]

One of the preamps (DMP-3) had a roll-of below 80 Hz and a really sharp
roll-off below about 55 Hz.

That's not true of my DMP3 here. It isn't perfectly flat, but it's
only 0.1 dB down at 50 Hz relative to 1 kHz, and only about 0.3 dB
down at 30 Hz. Signal levels = -24 dBU in, HI/LO gain switch is set to
LO, gain knob set so that the front panel meter read 0 dB at 1 kHz.
I'm running these signals right now as I'm typing.

Perhaps the misunderstanding occurred because the preamp's front panel
meters roll off at low frequencies. They certainly aren't precision
instruments.

--I did a series of fairly careful preamp noise tests including an RNP
and a DMP3 a couple of months ago, as well as other preamps (a
Millennia Media HV-3B, a Grace Lunatec V3, a Symetrix SX202, a Sonosax
SX-M2, a dbx 760X modified by Jim Williams and a Telefunken V 72
restored by Oliver Archut). The DMP3 came out rather differently
depending on the setting of its HI/LO gain switch, since I was testing
at the same gain either way (around 40 dB), and this forced the gain
knob to be set rather low in the HI position of the switch and rather
high in the LO position.

The DMP3 with its gain button in the LO position did extremely well in
these tests--within 1/4 dB of the Millennia Media preamp. By the way,
the RNP was within 1 - 2 dB of that figure as well. I don't want to
post any absolute measurement results since they depend so greatly on
how the noise spectra are weighted, on the gains chosen, and on the
associated equipment.

But just by way of explanation, the input to the preamps wasn't a
short or a resistor pair, but an actual condenser microphone with a
measurement test head in place of its capsule, with phantom powering
applied so that a realistic amount and kind of input noise would be
present as in a real recording with that type of microphone. The gain
at which I measured all the preamps was typical of the gain I need for
classical concert recording.

One thing which I found early on is that with "mere" 16-bit recording,
it was nearly impossible to detect any differences among preamp noise
levels at all--I had to switch over to 24-bit. That alone implies
something about preamp noise: There's a real chance that some people
may be overly concerned about it, at least some of the time.

--best regards

[Arny Krueger]

"David Satz" wrote in message
ups.com

One of the preamps (DMP-3) had a roll-of below 80 Hz and
a really sharp roll-off below about 55 Hz.

That's not true of my DMP3 here. It isn't perfectly flat,
but it's only 0.1 dB down at 50 Hz relative to 1 kHz, and
only about 0.3 dB down at 30 Hz. Signal levels = -24 dBU
in, HI/LO gain switch is set to LO, gain knob set so that
the front panel meter read 0 dB at 1 kHz. I'm running
these signals right now as I'm typing.

Perhaps the misunderstanding occurred because the
preamp's front panel meters roll off at low frequencies.
They certainly aren't precision instruments.

My comments about frequency response were based on comparisons related to
musical signals that had passed through other preamps. Either they had some
massive low-frequency boost, or the DMP0-3 was rolling off. I'm not familiar
with it at all, so I don't know if there is a switchable low-frequency
filter, or if its performance varies with settings of the hi/lo switch.

--I did a series of fairly careful preamp noise tests
including an RNP and a DMP3 a couple of months ago, as
well as other preamps (a Millennia Media HV-3B, a Grace
Lunatec V3, a Symetrix SX202, a Sonosax SX-M2, a dbx 760X
modified by Jim Williams and a Telefunken V 72 restored
by Oliver Archut). The DMP3 came out rather differently
depending on the setting of its HI/LO gain switch, since
I was testing at the same gain either way (around 40 dB),
and this forced the gain knob to be set rather low in the
HI position of the switch and rather high in the LO
position.

I guess this means that the hi/lo switch doesn't change the LF frequency
response very much, if at all.

The DMP3 with its gain button in the LO position did
extremely well in these tests--within 1/4 dB of the
Millennia Media preamp. By the way, the RNP was within 1
- 2 dB of that figure as well. I don't want to post any
absolute measurement results since they depend so greatly
on how the noise spectra are weighted, on the gains
chosen, and on the associated equipment.

But just by way of explanation, the input to the preamps
wasn't a short or a resistor pair, but an actual
condenser microphone with a measurement test head in
place of its capsule, with phantom powering applied so
that a realistic amount and kind of input noise would be
present as in a real recording with that type of
microphone. The gain at which I measured all the preamps
was typical of the gain I need for classical concert
recording.

Presumably with minimal micing?

One thing which I found early on is that with "mere"
16-bit recording, it was nearly impossible to detect any
differences among preamp noise levels at all--I had to
switch over to 24-bit. That alone implies something about
preamp noise: There's a real chance that some people may
be overly concerned about it, at least some of the time.

Agreed. I don't have a mic with a measurement head, but I do know that with
phantom removed, the noise floor of my recording setups drops another 10-20
dB, depending. I take that to mean that the room and the mic itself are the
dominant sources of noise.

[drichard]

Hi Arny,

The DMP3 has a lo-cut switch. I don't have the unit in front of me
right now, but I think it is at 80 Hz. I'm guessing that on the test
files you saw the lo-cut filter was engaged.

Dean

On Apr 23, 7:59 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"David Satz" wrote in message

ups.com

One of the preamps (DMP-3) had a roll-of below 80 Hz and
a really sharp roll-off below about 55 Hz.

That's not true of my DMP3 here. It isn't perfectly flat,
but it's only 0.1 dB down at 50 Hz relative to 1 kHz, and
only about 0.3 dB down at 30 Hz. Signal levels = -24 dBU
in, HI/LO gain switch is set to LO, gain knob set so that
the front panel meter read 0 dB at 1 kHz. I'm running
these signals right now as I'm typing.
Perhaps the misunderstanding occurred because the
preamp's front panel meters roll off at low frequencies.
They certainly aren't precision instruments.

My comments about frequency response were based on comparisons related to
musical signals that had passed through other preamps. Either they had some
massive low-frequency boost, or the DMP0-3 was rolling off. I'm not familiar
with it at all, so I don't know if there is a switchable low-frequency
filter, or if its performance varies with settings of the hi/lo switch.

--I did a series of fairly careful preamp noise tests
including an RNP and a DMP3 a couple of months ago, as
well as other preamps (a Millennia Media HV-3B, a Grace
Lunatec V3, a Symetrix SX202, a Sonosax SX-M2, a dbx 760X
modified by Jim Williams and a Telefunken V 72 restored
by Oliver Archut). The DMP3 came out rather differently
depending on the setting of its HI/LO gain switch, since
I was testing at the same gain either way (around 40 dB),
and this forced the gain knob to be set rather low in the
HI position of the switch and rather high in the LO
position.

I guess this means that the hi/lo switch doesn't change the LF frequency
response very much, if at all.





The DMP3 with its gain button in the LO position did
extremely well in these tests--within 1/4 dB of the
Millennia Media preamp. By the way, the RNP was within 1
- 2 dB of that figure as well. I don't want to post any
absolute measurement results since they depend so greatly
on how the noise spectra are weighted, on the gains
chosen, and on the associated equipment.
But just by way of explanation, the input to the preamps
wasn't a short or a resistor pair, but an actual
condenser microphone with a measurement test head in
place of its capsule, with phantom powering applied so
that a realistic amount and kind of input noise would be
present as in a real recording with that type of
microphone. The gain at which I measured all the preamps
was typical of the gain I need for classical concert
recording.

Presumably with minimal micing?

One thing which I found early on is that with "mere"
16-bit recording, it was nearly impossible to detect any
differences among preamp noise levels at all--I had to
switch over to 24-bit. That alone implies something about
preamp noise: There's a real chance that some people may
be overly concerned about it, at least some of the time.

Agreed. I don't have a mic with a measurement head, but I do know that with
phantom removed, the noise floor of my recording setups drops another 10-20
dB, depending. I take that to mean that the room and the mic itself are the
dominant sources of noise.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

[Steve King]

"drichard" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi Arny,

The DMP3 has a lo-cut switch. I don't have the unit in front of me
right now, but I think it is at 80 Hz. I'm guessing that on the test
files you saw the lo-cut filter was engaged.

Dean

On Apr 23, 7:59 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"David Satz" wrote in message

ups.com

One of the preamps (DMP-3) had a roll-of below 80 Hz and
a really sharp roll-off below about 55 Hz.

That's not true of my DMP3 here. It isn't perfectly flat,
but it's only 0.1 dB down at 50 Hz relative to 1 kHz, and
only about 0.3 dB down at 30 Hz. Signal levels = -24 dBU
in, HI/LO gain switch is set to LO, gain knob set so that
the front panel meter read 0 dB at 1 kHz. I'm running
these signals right now as I'm typing.
Perhaps the misunderstanding occurred because the
preamp's front panel meters roll off at low frequencies.
They certainly aren't precision instruments.

My comments about frequency response were based on comparisons related to
musical signals that had passed through other preamps. Either they had
some
massive low-frequency boost, or the DMP0-3 was rolling off. I'm not
familiar
with it at all, so I don't know if there is a switchable low-frequency
filter, or if its performance varies with settings of the hi/lo switch.

--I did a series of fairly careful preamp noise tests
including an RNP and a DMP3 a couple of months ago, as
well as other preamps (a Millennia Media HV-3B, a Grace
Lunatec V3, a Symetrix SX202, a Sonosax SX-M2, a dbx 760X
modified by Jim Williams and a Telefunken V 72 restored
by Oliver Archut). The DMP3 came out rather differently
depending on the setting of its HI/LO gain switch, since
I was testing at the same gain either way (around 40 dB),
and this forced the gain knob to be set rather low in the
HI position of the switch and rather high in the LO
position.

I guess this means that the hi/lo switch doesn't change the LF frequency
response very much, if at all.





The DMP3 with its gain button in the LO position did
extremely well in these tests--within 1/4 dB of the
Millennia Media preamp. By the way, the RNP was within 1
- 2 dB of that figure as well. I don't want to post any
absolute measurement results since they depend so greatly
on how the noise spectra are weighted, on the gains
chosen, and on the associated equipment.
But just by way of explanation, the input to the preamps
wasn't a short or a resistor pair, but an actual
condenser microphone with a measurement test head in
place of its capsule, with phantom powering applied so
that a realistic amount and kind of input noise would be
present as in a real recording with that type of
microphone. The gain at which I measured all the preamps
was typical of the gain I need for classical concert
recording.

Presumably with minimal micing?

One thing which I found early on is that with "mere"
16-bit recording, it was nearly impossible to detect any
differences among preamp noise levels at all--I had to
switch over to 24-bit. That alone implies something about
preamp noise: There's a real chance that some people may
be overly concerned about it, at least some of the time.

Agreed. I don't have a mic with a measurement head, but I do know that
with
phantom removed, the noise floor of my recording setups drops another
10-20
dB, depending. I take that to mean that the room and the mic itself are
the
dominant sources of noise.- Hide quoted text -


I recently bought a DMP-3 as a result of this thread. I just hooked it up.
Simple voice test is all I've done, but I'm pretty impressed for the money.
Noise is way below ambient, and I'm in a very quiet space.

Steve King

[Fran Guidry]

On Apr 16, 9:51 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"Fran Guidry" wrote in message

oups.com...

On Apr 16, 7:55 am, wrote:
To all the M-Audio DMP-3 owners out there, Just curious how quiet and
transparent this is as an affordable mic pre-amp? Any additional
positives or negatives about it are more than welcome too.

Thanks In Advance

Here's a page from my home recording blog that compares the DMP3 to an
FMR RNP and a John Hardy M1.

http://www.fxguidry.com/pblog/index....y070224-133138

In the middle gain range these sounded pretty darned similar to me. At
high gains the DMP3 gets noisy.

One of the preamps (DMP-3) had a roll-of below 80 Hz and a really sharp
roll-off below about 55 Hz.

My bad, guys. I'm away from my rig (on the windward side of O`ahu,
enjoying the sweetest trades I've ever experienced) and unable to
rerun the tests, but I would not be at all surprised if I had the low
cut selected on the DMP-3. I am, after all, a klutzburger.

Fran
http://www.kaleponi.com
(Did I mention that my CD is finally finished and up at CD Baby?)

[drichard]

Hi Steve,

I have a similar impression. It's quiet and seems accurate. I don't
have a lot to compare it to, but it seems to offer good value. For
someone on a budget, it strikes me as a good choice.

I listened to the sample files comparing the DMP3 to a John Hardy and
an RNP. Kind of interesting. To me at least, the differences were very
subtle. I was not doing the test blind, and found myself gravitating
to the Hardy most of the time. But sometimes I wasn't sure which of
the three I was listening to.

I know some people get religious about their about preamp preferences,
but I would really to see how some of those same people fare in blind
test comparisons. There were a couple of preamp test CDs a few years
ago that really humbled me.

Dean



On Apr 24, 12:00 pm, "Steve King"
wrote:
"drichard" wrote in message

ups.com...





Hi Arny,

The DMP3 has a lo-cut switch. I don't have the unit in front of me
right now, but I think it is at 80 Hz. I'm guessing that on the test
files you saw the lo-cut filter was engaged.

Dean

On Apr 23, 7:59 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"David Satz" wrote in message

roups.com

One of the preamps (DMP-3) had a roll-of below 80 Hz and
a really sharp roll-off below about 55 Hz.

That's not true of my DMP3 here. It isn't perfectly flat,
but it's only 0.1 dB down at 50 Hz relative to 1 kHz, and
only about 0.3 dB down at 30 Hz. Signal levels = -24 dBU
in, HI/LO gain switch is set to LO, gain knob set so that
the front panel meter read 0 dB at 1 kHz. I'm running
these signals right now as I'm typing.
Perhaps the misunderstanding occurred because the
preamp's front panel meters roll off at low frequencies.
They certainly aren't precision instruments.

My comments about frequency response were based on comparisons related to
musical signals that had passed through other preamps. Either they had
some
massive low-frequency boost, or the DMP0-3 was rolling off. I'm not
familiar
with it at all, so I don't know if there is a switchable low-frequency
filter, or if its performance varies with settings of the hi/lo switch.

--I did a series of fairly careful preamp noise tests
including an RNP and a DMP3 a couple of months ago, as
well as other preamps (a Millennia Media HV-3B, a Grace
Lunatec V3, a Symetrix SX202, a Sonosax SX-M2, a dbx 760X
modified by Jim Williams and a Telefunken V 72 restored
by Oliver Archut). The DMP3 came out rather differently
depending on the setting of its HI/LO gain switch, since
I was testing at the same gain either way (around 40 dB),
and this forced the gain knob to be set rather low in the
HI position of the switch and rather high in the LO
position.

I guess this means that the hi/lo switch doesn't change the LF frequency
response very much, if at all.

The DMP3 with its gain button in the LO position did
extremely well in these tests--within 1/4 dB of the
Millennia Media preamp. By the way, the RNP was within 1
- 2 dB of that figure as well. I don't want to post any
absolute measurement results since they depend so greatly
on how the noise spectra are weighted, on the gains
chosen, and on the associated equipment.
But just by way of explanation, the input to the preamps
wasn't a short or a resistor pair, but an actual
condenser microphone with a measurement test head in
place of its capsule, with phantom powering applied so
that a realistic amount and kind of input noise would be
present as in a real recording with that type of
microphone. The gain at which I measured all the preamps
was typical of the gain I need for classical concert
recording.

Presumably with minimal micing?

One thing which I found early on is that with "mere"
16-bit recording, it was nearly impossible to detect any
differences among preamp noise levels at all--I had to
switch over to 24-bit. That alone implies something about
preamp noise: There's a real chance that some people may
be overly concerned about it, at least some of the time.

Agreed. I don't have a mic with a measurement head, but I do know that
with
phantom removed, the noise floor of my recording setups drops another
10-20
dB, depending. I take that to mean that the room and the mic itself are
the
dominant sources of noise.- Hide quoted text -

I recently bought a DMP-3 as a result of this thread. I just hooked it up.
Simple voice test is all I've done, but I'm pretty impressed for the money.
Noise is way below ambient, and I'm in a very quiet space.

Steve King- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -