I suppose the best thing to do is to do some research, weigh out the costs vs the quality and capability, and decide from there what your best option(s) would be. The ultrasonic excitation signal applied to the. The Gordon (Model 4), which is considered by many to be the 'Holy Grail' of transparent mic pre's, is around $1800 for a single channel, although they do have a 2 channel model (model 5) available for around $2600. 3x Panasonic Wm-61a Back Electret Condenser Microphone Cartridge Capsule - Wm61a. The receiver unit composed of a Panasonic WM61A microphone and pre-amplifier is shown in photo (b). The Millennia HV35, which is also a single channel mic pre, is also around $700. The most basic Grace model, the M101, is around $700 - for one channel. all fall into the 'super-clean ultra-transparency yet dead-silent' category. There are some very nice transparent mic pre's out there - Grace, Millennia, Gordon. I would assume that the preamps built into the mixer model would be of very good quality - after all, the company seems to have a niche in the remote/field recording market, and one would assume that they would want their clients to be happy with the equipment, and so would provide the best components possible at the price they are selling for. ( There's nothing at all wrong with a transformer based mic pre, generally, those that use them are using them because they like the character/color that they can add to the source - but in your situation, I would think you would want the signal to be as clear/transparent as possible, with no added noise or coloration). I'm assuming that you want a preamp that is as transparent and as quiet as possible, so I would definitely steer away from anything with transformers, as these will have a tendency to 'color' the sound. also, keeping in mind the converters again, I don't know enough about this gear to be able to comment either way.Įxternal mic preamp prices are all over the map, from bare bones budget/entry level models starting at $70 or so, all the way up into the thousands. I know very little about this device, or even the company in general, but I think you'd need to weigh the cost of good external preamps against those that are already built into the model that Rob mentioned.

Panasonic wm-61a ultrasonic