The pres on the 70D sound really neutral to my ears so my interest in the mod is not in improving the "top end" which is just not relevant in dialogue rcordings. Lowering noise, however, is never a bad thing as it allows you to record at safe levels (thereby bypassing the need to engage the limiter=noise) knowing you can boost your recording in post (if your gain was too low) without having to stress about the noise inherent in the signal becoming conspicuous; to draw an analogy, imagine if for $100 someone could mod your camera sensor allowing you to raise your shadows 20 ire in post without introducing any noise... I think that's a very worthy investment.

@spacewig

I did hear an impressive example comparing the Busman modded 680 to the non-modded. The most notable difference was that the noise floor was lowered. I also felt the top end improved, but could not confirm with the short vocal clip at hand.

I'm seriously considering the mod. If it can drop the noise floor by at least 6db's on the 4 preamps then I think it's worth it. That's about $50 (incl shipping) a channel to give you the confidence of adding 20db in post without having to stress about hiss/noise. Dropping the external preamp is a most welcome evolution in the OMB workflow.

Here's a couple of clips from last night I've not done anything with them level wise or anything recorded at 48,000 Hz 24 Bit Good enough for me for what I do and really like the form factor as well with the cam they thought that out well.

Off the mixer mono https://www.dropbox.com/s/g8i7zil8umbvk1u/mixer.wav?dl=0

Internal Mics https://www.dropbox.com/s/k04ehg36qiqdrfx/internalmics.wav?dl=0

No point sharing the cam on as it mixed all 4 tracks i.e. the internal mics, the high mixer and low mixer but it still synced ok, I need to see if there's an option to select, I might have missed something.

I used mine properly for the first time last night (I'm not pro at this, guy on mixer desk was tho ;-) ), the new firmware is a must I had hiss over the camera line out with the original firmware (glad I checked first) seems fine with the new firmware. I left limiters off and just split the xlr cable from the mixer desk and recorded a backup at a lower level just in case and set the inputs to line level for 1 & 2 with low gain. I think you can do that internally as well but didn't want to risk it for the first time. Setting the line out to cam and left at 0db and my gh4 to -12db it was fine, I left the limiter off the gh4 as well, it got close but was ok, I think i'll change the output to -6db to be on safe side next time, just used a shielded cable no attenuation at all. [edit] Also I need to see if you are recoding 4 tracks if you can pick which tracks got to the camera i just noticed my camera has all 4 tracks mixed which is fine i just wanted it for reference audio and you can still sync it with pluraeyes I just tried but that might be problematic in some situations, need to read manual!

Had internal mics for ambient noise they seemed ok as well for internal mics and managed fine when my zoom was clipping even with the levels down to 0.

Worked well, much easier to use than my zoom and sounds better to me but that could just be the guy doing the mixing really knew what he was doing I thought I knew a little about audio I now realise I know nothing after watching him :).

Had 4 new Duracell batteries recorded 2 x 1 hours sets no problem with room probably another hour left but I wouldn't risk it over, there's were nothing special battery wise tho and you can run it off usb anyway.

@sam_rides_a_mtb Has the limiter noise issue been solved, or is that just a hardware problem? I know its generally a very decent and versatile recorder.

@tonalt Ive only heard good things about the 100 mkii, well except for the omni mic noise and the handling noise, but those are not really mic issues. Were you talking about the 100mkii limiter, or the USBPre 2 limiter, being great?

I just never see the point of upgrading audio gear with new components, it's just not for the average user to be messing around sending off gear that should have been made better in original design. So Tascam like the rest of the pro-sumer manufacturers build to a price not a quality. I guess that's why Sound Devices always gets a top rating.

Im really torn between the 100mkii and the 70d, especially after reading about some of the issues with the 70d. Does the 100dmkii have any big issues?

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/10842631-post31.html

You can swap the op amps for the famous LME49720, which I use in my sound card (they are awesome)

Jim Williams is a well known techie there

@joethepro

In the case of good modern preamps/recorders (i.e. not h4n, rather tascam & up), the inherent noisefloor is quite low - on the order of several times lower than the average mic. And thats the case here; unless you've got a uniquely quiet mic (like the large diaphragm BP4025), its probably the microphone's self-noise. To isolate the noise floor of said recorder (haven't used the 70D), use a bent paperclip to close the loop between pins 2 & 3 on the XLR in (don't touch exposed metal while running phantom power). This is what a mic with no noise floor would sound like on the recorder.

@jmc But why amplify something that's already been amplified? Just take the line level signal output from the tascam and record it as is (i.e. unity gain) with the GH4.

I see what you're saying, but the DR70d is supposed to be capable of outputting both line level and camera level out.