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ZV1 Vs Note 9 audio quality.

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markyboy81

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I tested the audio quality of the ZV1 recording a live band last night and compared it to my Note 9.

In my opinion the Note 9 comes out on top. I used shutter priority on the ZV1 (not movie mode) so audio levels were automatic. It wasn't the noisiest of concerts so there isn't any clipping. The ZV1 audio isn't bad but perhaps not suited to this use case. This is a shame as the video quality is much superior.

What are your thoughts?

 
markyboy81 said:
In my opinion the Note 9 comes out on top.
Click to expand...
In what specific way?
markyboy81 said:
What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...
The ZV1 is better for high frequencies and the Note 9 is better for low frequencies. I wouldn't call either result good.

There's annoying 'warbling' in the ZV1 recording that sounds similar to poor digitization. I'm hoping it was present in the performance. If not, something is wrong there.

When I test audio recording quality I do it at home with a well engineered CD played on a good sound system so the results made with different cameras can be directly compared against the 'original'.
 
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This was in no way a scientific test, it was just a spur of the moment thing. I will have to listen again: I don't recall any warbling sound.

To my ears the note 9 is richer and less tinny.
 
Both suck(at least according to my phone speaker).

I am under the impression that the sony could have done better if the recording level was turned down, i am guessing the band was very loud. The sound is "clipping", the microphone is struggling.

I am guessing that the record volume/level was left on "auto".

The phone probably compensated the loud sounds automatically, which might be the reason everything sounds muffled.

Sound recording is not nearly as easy as people think.

That's my opinion and i'm sticking with it.
 
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Rambow said:
Both suck(at least according to my phone speaker).

I am under the impression that the sony could have done better if the recording level was turned down, i am guessing the band was very loud. The sound is "clipping", the microphone is struggling.

I am guessing that the record volume/level was left on "auto".

The phone probably compensated the loud sounds automatically, which might be the reason everything sounds muffled.

Sound recording is not nearly as easy as people think.

That's my opinion and i'm sticking with it.
Click to expand...
Of course you're entitled to your opinion, but if you only listened through a phone speaker I'm not sure you can come to any conclusions.

It's a bit like judging a digital photo on a camera screen from 1999.
 
According to the integrated HD audio chipset in my t530 and my modified pair of open back sennheiser hd328 precision headphones, both audio soundtrack are bad.

I can`t explain why the camera sounds so bad, but it is clear that the microphone is optimised for voice recording, not music. Most likely a deliberate choice from sony.

The samsung recording has low end(impressive) but the microphones(there are probably 3 of them) pick up too little of the voice of the singer but ironically, pick up the voices in the crowd behind the phone too well.

I am dissapointed in the sony zv1, it should have done a better job. Maybe that`s sony`s way of making you buy a separate microphone. I have no idea what audio setings the sony has either.

As it is, the samsung recording would have been better if there were no outside voices creeping in. They are so distracting!

We have to choose the lesser of two evils- i pick the zv1 simply because the camera only recorded the sound coming from the front, whereas the phone also captured the voices in the crowd.

Borrow a microphone, tinker with the audio setings and try again with the sony. Or do what pros do, which is to use a separate recorder. Any midrange olympus voice recorder would do a better job in this scenario, the better ones also have setings for the audio source(music, voice etc).

I am also pretty confident that a midrange sony handycam would have done a better job at recording both the audio and the video of the concert. Those videocameras have nice big integrated front facing microphones with options like zoom mic and stuff. Also more video zoom, which for concerts is a big deal.
 
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I can explain the distracting voices - this was my wife nattering away next to me, telling me how Chris Martin had written this particular song after his then wife(Gwyneth Paltrow's) dad had passed away. This adds to the unscientificness of the test! I can't recall if my wife was nattering as much when I was recording with the ZV1.

I'm not too bothered that the ZV1 isn't that geared towards music recording - my other experiences with it recording other things has been very positive.

I was just surprised that a phone could perform better (in my opinion).
 
markyboy81 said:
I can explain the distracting voices - this was my wife nattering away next to me, telling me how Chris Martin had written this particular song after his then wife(Gwyneth Paltrow's) dad had passed away. This adds to the unscientificness of the test! I can't recall if my wife was nattering as much when I was recording with the ZV1.

I'm not too bothered that the ZV1 isn't that geared towards music recording - my other experiences with it recording other things has been very positive.

I was just surprised that a phone could perform better (in my opinion).
Click to expand...
You were using the built in microphones? No hope of obtaining good sound that way. You need a decent external mic. The recording side of recent Sony cameras is actually pretty good and noise levels are well under control, but the devices behind those two little pinholes in the camera are a complete waste of time.
 
edform said:
markyboy81 said:
I can explain the distracting voices - this was my wife nattering away next to me, telling me how Chris Martin had written this particular song after his then wife(Gwyneth Paltrow's) dad had passed away. This adds to the unscientificness of the test! I can't recall if my wife was nattering as much when I was recording with the ZV1.

I'm not too bothered that the ZV1 isn't that geared towards music recording - my other experiences with it recording other things has been very positive.

I was just surprised that a phone could perform better (in my opinion).
Click to expand...
You were using the built in microphones? No hope of obtaining good sound that way. You need a decent external mic. The recording side of recent Sony cameras is actually pretty good and noise levels are well under control, but the devices behind those two little pinholes in the camera are a complete waste of time.
Click to expand...
 
markyboy81 said:
I tested the audio quality of the ZV1 recording a live band last night and compared it to my Note 9.

In my opinion the Note 9 comes out on top. I used shutter priority on the ZV1 (not movie mode) so audio levels were automatic.
Click to expand...
If you record music with automatic gain control, the results will be garbage. And the built-in microphones of something like a ZV1 don't help.
markyboy81 said:
It wasn't the noisiest of concerts so there isn't any clipping. The ZV1 audio isn't bad but perhaps not suited to this use case. This is a shame as the video quality is much superior.

What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...




Now of course camera microphones have improved since then, but a tiny electret microphone capsule remains a tiny electret microphone capsule, and automatic gain control is automatic gain control. It would appear that the ZV1 does not need to use either, so you certainly have a good chance to beat even the performance of the portable recorder in this video without requiring excessive additional equipment. But you didn't really give the ZV1 a chance to fare better.
 
Dak on cam said:
markyboy81 said:
I tested the audio quality of the ZV1 recording a live band last night and compared it to my Note 9.

In my opinion the Note 9 comes out on top. I used shutter priority on the ZV1 (not movie mode) so audio levels were automatic.
Click to expand...
If you record music with automatic gain control, the results will be garbage. And the built-in microphones of something like a ZV1 don't help.
Dak on cam said:
It wasn't the noisiest of concerts so there isn't any clipping. The ZV1 audio isn't bad but perhaps not suited to this use case. This is a shame as the video quality is much superior.

What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...
Now of course camera microphones have improved since then, but a tiny electret microphone capsule remains a tiny electret microphone capsule, and automatic gain control is automatic gain control. It would appear that the ZV1 does not need to use either, so you certainly have a good chance to beat even the performance of the portable recorder in this video without requiring excessive additional equipment. But you didn't really give the ZV1 a chance to fare better.
Click to expand...
 
markyboy81 said:
Dak on cam said:
markyboy81 said:
I tested the audio quality of the ZV1 recording a live band last night and compared it to my Note 9.

In my opinion the Note 9 comes out on top. I used shutter priority on the ZV1 (not movie mode) so audio levels were automatic.
Click to expand...
If you record music with automatic gain control, the results will be garbage. And the built-in microphones of something like a ZV1 don't help.
markyboy81 said:
It wasn't the noisiest of concerts so there isn't any clipping. The ZV1 audio isn't bad but perhaps not suited to this use case. This is a shame as the video quality is much superior.

What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...
Now of course camera microphones have improved since then, but a tiny electret microphone capsule remains a tiny electret microphone capsule, and automatic gain control is automatic gain control. It would appear that the ZV1 does not need to use either, so you certainly have a good chance to beat even the performance of the portable recorder in this video without requiring excessive additional equipment. But you didn't really give the ZV1 a chance to fare better.
Click to expand...
No, I didn't give it much of a chance. As I pointed out it was a very unscientific test and just a spur of the moment recording.

It's good to know that it can fare better but as it is I'm happy enough with the audio with auto levels. I don't think the music could have been that loud as it never went into the red.
Click to expand...
I have no idea what you mean by that. The problem of auto levels is not that it leads to distortion (if anything, it is supposed to avoid distortion). The problem is that the volume is all over the place. If the music gets quiet, auto levels turn it up again (as well as background noise and hiss). If the music gets loud, auto levels turn it down. For a speakerphone conversation or when trying to move between people in an outdoor setting, that's fine. But for music, loudness variations carry meaning.
 
Dak on cam said:
markyboy81 said:
Dak on cam said:
markyboy81 said:
I tested the audio quality of the ZV1 recording a live band last night and compared it to my Note 9.

In my opinion the Note 9 comes out on top. I used shutter priority on the ZV1 (not movie mode) so audio levels were automatic.
Click to expand...
If you record music with automatic gain control, the results will be garbage. And the built-in microphones of something like a ZV1 don't help.
Dak on cam said:
It wasn't the noisiest of concerts so there isn't any clipping. The ZV1 audio isn't bad but perhaps not suited to this use case. This is a shame as the video quality is much superior.

What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...
Now of course camera microphones have improved since then, but a tiny electret microphone capsule remains a tiny electret microphone capsule, and automatic gain control is automatic gain control. It would appear that the ZV1 does not need to use either, so you certainly have a good chance to beat even the performance of the portable recorder in this video without requiring excessive additional equipment. But you didn't really give the ZV1 a chance to fare better.
Click to expand...
No, I didn't give it much of a chance. As I pointed out it was a very unscientific test and just a spur of the moment recording.

It's good to know that it can fare better but as it is I'm happy enough with the audio with auto levels. I don't think the music could have been that loud as it never went into the red.
Click to expand...
I have no idea what you mean by that. The problem of auto levels is not that it leads to distortion (if anything, it is supposed to avoid distortion). The problem is that the volume is all over the place. If the music gets quiet, auto levels turn it up again (as well as background noise and hiss). If the music gets loud, auto levels turn it down. For a speakerphone conversation or when trying to move between people in an outdoor setting, that's fine. But for music, loudness variations carry meaning.
Click to expand...
 
I can't tell a difference.

[edit] reading a couple other posts people mentioning speakers. I wanted to note I was using my dell u3415w monitor.
 
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Why? They both have terrible audio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (played through JBL Studio monitors) Use a separate recorder.
 
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markyboy81 said:
Steve Bingham said:
Why? They both have terrible audio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (played through JBL Studio monitors) Use a separate recorder.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say it's terrible. For the size it isn't bad. Obviously not studio quality but that's to be expected.
Click to expand...
But is that because a deficiency in the recording, or poor quality microphones?
 
Probably a bit of both. I'm sure the results would have been better if I had controlled the audio levels manually.

However, for the size of the camera it's really not that bad. I don't know of any small camera that would do a better job without an external mic.
 
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