Blindtest: what does a micparts V47 sound against a vintage U47?

[md431]

Hi guys,

I recently built two micparts V47, one with RK-47 capsule and one with a Mikrofonunion M7 STW7 (red line). I had the chance to record them with two vintage U47s, from which I've made an audio blind test. This is part of a project I'm doing at University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt.

If you're interested, you can find it here: https://www.soscisurvey.de/mythosU47/

There is also a Schoeps Mk4 included for reference and a DIY Fet47 (Vamisound, Moby, micparts RK47) thrown in for fun.
If you partake, please use good headphones or monitors, as the differences can be subtle. It takes about 20 mins and it really helps me out if you pull through to the end.

Please take this endeavour with a few grains of salt:

• These kind of shootouts never fully represent real life studio practice. You tend to figure out where one mic sounds best and then hop to the next to compare. It all comes down to room, placement, source in the end. Here, all are recorded from the same position (as close as possible) on the same take. Take it more like: This could be an indication of the results you could get in your scenario.
  
  
• My main priority was to get comparable takes, meaning it had to be the exact same performance. Therefore all mics are set up close by eachother, this will have some impact through reflections and absorptions from adjacent mic chassis. I tried to keep this impact similar for all mics where I could.
  
  
• This blind test is not (and never was) meant to produce definitive statements as "DIY kits are better than vintage mics" or else. For the project, I'm mainly interested in the differences people can hear in this setup and how the listening experience matches up with the expectations.
  
  
• All vintage U47s have aged different, are serviced different, sometimes are built different and therefore sound different. These are just some examples of what one might get. Your previous experience might vary.
  
  
• All was done under immense time constraints and in retrospect I'd certainly have adjusted a few things here and there. If I had known the mess I'd get myself into, I might have chosen a completely different focus alltogether..

Nevertheless I thought it might be interesting to you. Not to get definitive answers, rather an impression. Or best, to have some fun
I've tried to include a good variety of recording situations (two sets of drums, double bass, vocals, acoustic guitar).

I measured all mics in an anechoic chamber too, using Neumann KH120 speakers, an FourAudio ANT motorized turntable and REW. This again is not to make statements on how these mics perform, rather as an additional, technical data set. If of interest, I can share these frequency responses and polar patterns once done.

PS: please don't tear me to shreds. I'm new and still learning.

 

[Barry Hufker]

@md431: Good luck with your project. It is wonderful to see students investigate and to augment their "book learning" with practical projects.

 

[md431]

@Barry Hufker thanks for the kind words.

Also thanks to those who took the blind test so far! Every participiant helps me out tremendously as this is a rather niche subject. On a different note: I loved the Vamisound PCB and micparts builds and the listening results so far are very favourable of some of them. Will definitely do more as soon as the funds have recovered..