HighZ or LowZ?

[Eric J]

Or Impedance, or Ohms, or Load - these are all terms for the same thing, aren't they?

Anyway, I have a cheapo microphone (from an unnamed national electronics retailer) that can be switched from LowZ to HiZ. The mic doesn't seem to perform any better or worse either way.

My question - other than the equipment you plug it into, is there a difference to using 'mic' or 'intstrument' levels of signal? Does one pick up less noise, or produce a cleaner signal?

[gaffa]

I'm pretty sure that impedance and ohms are not the same thing, but the difference is technical

The answers to your questions can be found at http://recordist.com/rap-faq/current

- gaffa

[Eric J]

Thanks for the excellent FAQ. That did indeed answer my question, and many other ones I was going to ask.

Very helpful community here.