A VERY unprofessional comparison: The RNP and Behringer 802.....

[George W.]

I posted this to another group and thought someone here might be
interested

I've put up some totally un-scientific comparisons between some very
short guitar noodles done with the Behringer 802 mixer and the RNP.
Except for the one marked "SM57" they're all done using an MXL 603
about 6" from the 9th fret of a Collings CJ. It would have been nice
to have two identical mics to record them in one take but I tried to
be as careful as possible in duplicating levels and location. They
were normalized to about 95% but that's it. No noise reduction or
anything else.

On some tracks the differences are very subtle unless you listen
closely to specific sections, especially mid-high frequencies and the
clarity of individual strings. Some are a bit more dramatic but not
what someone like me would describe as black and white. People more
trained in these things might hear it differently. Everything I record
with the RNP sounds better and the only thing different is the preamp
so I guess that says something. I'm not sure how that will translate
with these clips.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/802_a.mp3
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/RNP_a.mp3

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/802_b.mp3
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/RNP_b.mp3

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/802_c.mp3
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/RNP_c.mp3

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/802_d.mp3
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/802_d.mp3

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/802_SM57.mp3
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gwirth/RNP_SM57.mp3

[George W.]

On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 03:14:27 -0500, Sugarite wrote:

>> I've put up some totally un-scientific comparisons between some very
>> short guitar noodles done with the Behringer 802 mixer and the RNP.
>
>So a $500 preamp beats a $150 mixer. Go figure.

Since the Behringer pres are often compared with the Mackie, and since
a verbal description of subtle differences in sound can be confusing
for anyone not expereriencd in this area, I thought it might be
helpful to actually hear some examples (bad as they might be) to go
along with the descriptions. And it's actually a $75 mixer. <g>

[Sugarite]

> Since the Behringer pres are often compared with the Mackie, and since
> a verbal description of subtle differences in sound can be confusing
> for anyone not expereriencd in this area, I thought it might be
> helpful to actually hear some examples (bad as they might be) to go
> along with the descriptions. And it's actually a $75 mixer. <g>

Fair enough, but you should probably have used a lossless compression format
like FLAC and shortened the files if necessary.

Personally I prefer finding out what actual components are used in different
preamps, since that's generally what separates distinct levels of sound
quality.