<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Even the lowly Shure M-267 quoted -129…<br class=""><div class="">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; border-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; border-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div class=""><L><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Lou Judson * Intuitive Audio</div><div class="">415-271-8070 mobile</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="">I'm just a simple sound engineer, nothing more, nothing less.</div><div class="">-- paraphrase of the Dalai Lama.</div></div></span></div></span>
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<br class=""><div style=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jun 14, 2021, at 8:06 AM, Mike Rivers via ProAudio <<a href="mailto:proaudio@bach.pgm.com" class="">proaudio@bach.pgm.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">
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How about a little discussion on the value of knowing the EIN of a
preamp and how the figure is useful to the designer? <br class="">
<br class="">
Here's why I ask:<br class="">
<br class="">
When I was writing reviews regularly, EIN was (and still is) often
quoted in the product's specs. The numbers ranged from -125 dBu
(just a couple) to a majority being either -127 or -128 dBu.
Manufacturers liked to tout it because it was a nice low number with
"noise" in its name. And it was always measured at a level within a
dB or so of clipping since that's it looked the best. <br class="">
<br class="">
But unless I missed the appropriate chapter, EIN is a calculated
value - the measured noise level with the gain subtracted out. So a
preamp with 60 dB of gain that advertised EIN=-128 dBu could be
expected to put out -68 dBu of noise, measured, of course to the
advantage of the marketing department with the appropriate input
termination (0, 100, or 150 ohms usually) and output load.<br class="">
<br class="">
So, among design engineers, what's the big deal about EIN? Is there
a better way of measuring it that's more meaningful? And if you can
squeeze another dB of EIN out of a design, how significant will this
be to the user? I<br class="">
<br class="">
, know "it depends."<br class="">
<br class="">
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
For a good time call <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com/">http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com</a></pre>
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