Now there is no excuse not to have a calibrated mic

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#6
One which is still affordable and that performed well in a test by the German mag "Production Partner" is the following:

http://www.beyerdynamic.de/en/music...ase_pi1[showUid][backPID]=75&cHash=833caf0f44

OK it costs more than the Behringer but the two pieces they got for testing measured around +- 1dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The difference between the two was just the sensitivity - the response curves are almost the same.

The Behringer did still not fare bad for its price at around +- 2.5 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. But the three pieces they got differed at around 2.5 dB (although at the upper end). They all showed a rising response towards higher frequencies.

The Beyer also drops of much slower at both ends of its response. It is manufactured in Germany and comes with calibration.

Regards

Charles
 
#7
ZilchLab said:
It comes with a low-res printed measurement for show, not a calibration file.... 🙁
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From what I've seen over on HTguide that isn't quite the case. Sure the calibration is printed, but the pictures don't seem to be of such low res that it would make creating your own file with SPL trace, much of a problem.

Sure it's not perfect, but it isn't exactly expensive either. The price on the Beyer puts it in a completely different league of affordability vs the Dayton.
 
#11
We did a huge mic shootout that never got picked up by the mag we were writing it for. the Beyer MM1 is the best mic you can get for the buck. I bought one myself. The Naiant 425 mic we tested 90deg to axis blew everything away and was 1db off our B&K low noise ref mic! but sadly he no longer makes the model we tested. i cant speak for other models.

at $47 the PE mic is a decent get ya in the ballpark mic. but i wouldn't call it a ref mic. its the same Panasonic capsule and Chinese guts i would bet as the Behringer, suplerlux, nady, half a dozen other brand mics. $50 is 50bucks and i would buy one!

But if you want a great mic that is actually flat out to about 18K and then has very minor bump. the Beyer is the choice! It even killed the new Earthworks "Low price $600" mic!
 
#12
Zero Cool said:
We did a huge mic shootout that never got picked up by the mag we were writing it for.

[....]

But if you want a great mic that is actually flat out to about 18K and then has very minor bump. the Beyer is the choice! It even killed the new Earthworks "Low price $600" mic!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the useful information. :worship: Was the shootout work-for-pay or could it be made available?
 
#14
I never got an answer over there: are the curves the response of the mic, or the cal correction?

To use a calibration file in measurement software, do you input the mic response or its conjugate?

Why buy a $600 mic when a $50 one with a cal file, and software that makes the requisite corrections, will do as well?

What would it cost Dayton to provide the requisite file on disc?

The title of this thread and others discussing the product are misleading, in my view. The mic is not calibrated; it comes with a frequency response measurement curve, is all.... 🙄
 
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#15
What does 'calibrated' mean to you? If you don't know how its used, why knock it?

Most pro mics come with a printed FR graph. All anyone would have to do is scan and then trace it in with SPLtools. Maybe people in audio just have something against reliable data...
 
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#16
ZilchLab said:
I never got an answer over there: are the curves the response of the mic, or the cal correction?

To use a calibration file in measurement software, do you input the mic response or its conjugate?

Why buy a $600 mic when a $50 one with a cal file, and software that makes the requisite corrections, will do as well?

What would it cost Dayton to provide the requisite file on disc?

The title of this thread and others discussing the product are misleading, in my view. The mic is not calibrated; it comes with a frequency response measurement curve, is all.... 🙄
Click to expand...

Now I dont know, but my limited understanding is that is the deal with any mic you get calibrated. I didnt think they modified the mic, just provided a file that once entered into the software, "flattens" the response of the mic.

Or, you buy a really really good reference mic. Does anyone actually modify mikes? i thought the "calibration" occurred when your software applied the cal file against the mics response, correcting it, no?



CllessuR
 
#17
ZilchLab said:
I never got an answer over there: are the curves the response of the mic, or the cal correction?

.....

The title of this thread and others discussing the product are misleading, in my view. The mic is not calibrated; it comes with a frequency response measurement curve, is all.... 🙄
Click to expand...
Errr, I didn't answer over there because it seemed too obvious. The cal file that the software uses IS the mic's response. The software subtracts the mic's response from the measurement. Back atcha with the rolleyes..... 🙂
 
#20
catapult said:
Errr, I didn't answer over there because it seemed too obvious. The cal file that the software uses IS the mic's response. The software subtracts the mic's response from the measurement. Back atcha with the rolleyes..... 🙂
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Fine.

By your own post, 39 of 40 Behringer ECM-8000 mics had rising response above 10 kHz, whereas four out of five EMM-6s we've seen thus far have falling response there, and the fifth one is flat within +/- 1 dB. A "changed module" is mentioned; when did that occur? There's an older study of measurement mics posted a year or so ago here, from Denmark, as I recall.

CLIO accepts a cal file; I'll have to dig in and RTFM to ascertain the requisite format.... 🙂

cuibono said:
What does 'calibrated' mean to you?
Click to expand...
It means you send your scientific instrument out to a certified laboratory, and they make the necessary adjustments to bring it into conformity with a specification. They usually affix a label or provide a document certifying compliance and indicating when you should pay them to do it again.... 😉
 
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