3d Pre CD

[Dipthong]

I recently picked up a copy of the 3d pre cd from http://www.3daudio.com. I was pretty interesting. I was just thinking, before I listed all the preamps and my opinions, I'd find out if anyone would be interested. So if you are reply and I'll post them.

 

[dobro]

I got the same CD, and I can't hear much difference between them. Someone told me it was because my headphones were cheap, so I went out and bought some audiophile-quality cans, and I still can't hear much difference. Neither can my wife. I *can*, however, hear differences in the sound in the mp3 files that Sonusman posts sometimes comparing different kinds of cable.

One of two things is the case: either there's not much difference in the preamps tested on that CD, or I was sent a duff CD.

 

[Dipthong]

I got the female voice and Guitar CD. I couldn't tell the difference at all on the female voice but some of the guitar sounds surprised me. I'm used to recording acoustic guitar so I felt like I had a pretty good frame of reference. But first of all I realized that the real low priced preamps (MP20, dbx386) sounded awful (thin, harsh, unprofessional) compared to the others. And the real high end expensive ones like the Nerve 1081 ($8000 the Focusrites ($3000-6500), and the Oram (MWS $2590) blew everything away. The dbx 786($2495) and the GML 8300($2670) were pretty nice as well. I wasn't impressed with the other $2000+ per’s like the Manly dual mono, Millennia M-2b ($2895), or the Crane Song ($2025). In the 1000 plus range it got interesting.
My top choices where
1. Hardy M-1 ($1715)
2. Mackie 1604 ($999) sounds really good and 16ch.!
3. Vintech ($1595)
4. Earthworks Lab-102 ($1500)

These 4, in my opinion for acoustic guitar, blew away the rest of the pre's in their price range. They were full and warm. The 6000-8000 pres really only sounded a little better.
Like you said Dobro it was hard to tell the difference. But it was worth it to me to hear this CD for a couple reasons. One you can't really trust prices. However cheap pre amps sound cheap. (Except for Mackie! less that $400 for a Mackie 1202!) I have a Mackie 1202 and I was thinking of selling that and buying another Mic pre. But the Mackie pres can hang with the best of them and they have more channels than most, not to mention they are cheaper!I think I will just spend the money on getting a good Mic. So this CD saved me allot of time and money. I hope this can help someone else too.
Ned

 

[dobro]

Tell you what, Ned. I got so bored by the time I'd listened to loads of tracks of the woman singing what sounded like the same thing that I didn't pay much attention to the guitar tracks. I'll give the guitar recordings another listen.