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DR-680 phantom power noise

I got a question whether the Millenium pp2b would be less noisier then the DR-680 phantom power.
Apparently there is something wrong with the DR-680 phantom power. I have never experienced any problems with this but we can to try to measure it.

Here is how I did it:
On one leg I connected a resistance to ground to simulate mike consumption.
On the other leg I connected a capacitor to ground. This forms a RC filter to keep out high frequency signals.


This is by no means a *real* noise measurement. The only goal is to look for differences.

I measured the DR-680, the Shure FP-33 and the millenium box using the FLUKE 45.
It is difficult to have a stable reading but the FP-33 is about 9 dB quieter than the DR-680 and the millenium box is about 11 dB quieter.

So indeed , it looks like the DR-680  is noisier than needed.

update

I posted a simple mod for channels  1 to 4.

Comments

Unknown said…
Thanks a lot for taking the time to do this measurement. I more than appreciate that. Those 11db can make a big difference at high gain I believe. Think I'll give the Millenium a try and see how it goes. On a side note, thought this may be of some interest to you. I found a local brand that appears to be selling a re-branded Millenium. (Or the Millenium is rebranded, or both). Search for McLelland MQS-71. Same form factor and dimensions spot on.
Thanks! glenn@outrecording.com

BTW, would using batteries affect the readings at all?
Koen said…
It should not matter. Also there is no need to swap components.