Taking video is really not my forte. This is something I hope to improve on. And I’m beginning my path to self improvement by getting this - a RØDE Stereo VideoMic Pro.

Recording bass on my mobile phones (Android XiaoMi Mix2 or Apple) seems impossible. The bass is simply not picked up by phones’ microphones at all. The sound quality is also poor with very little spatial information.

Can the RØDE SVM Pro do one better? Why not take a video and find out?

Ah yup, it finally recorded the bass . This is a sample spectrogram of the music played back on my home theatre (via Chromecast). Interesting to see the fall off at the 15 kHz mark, and they look like dither. Perhaps this is Audyssey at work, or perhaps it’s YouTube stripping the high frequencies off (MP3?)  Doesn’t really matter as I cannot really be that fussy with sound quality when placing it on YoutTube, can I?

The microphone is set too sensitive. This results in a noise floor that is higher than normal, and it also picked up stray noises like the beeps from my mobile phone. The next time I do this I’d need to set the recording level at -10 db and see how it turns out.

Here’s my stereo setup as of today.

Main Electronics

• Pre Amplifier: Marantz SC-11 S1
• Power Amplifier: Marantz SM-11 S1
• CD/SACD Player: Marantz SA-11 S2
• Speakers: Lenehan Audio ML-1 Ultras
• DAC: Accuphase DC-37
• Computer Source
• Fractal Design Node
• Jetway 2800 NF9C
• PPA USB (Computer)
• Intel PCI-e gigabit NIC
• Mini PCI-e to 3x PCI-e 1X adaptor

Interconnects

• PreAmp to PowerAmp: Kimber SilverStreak XLR
  
• DAC to PreAmp: Achtung XLR
• PC to DAC: Furutech GT-2 USB cable
• PowerAmp to Speakers: Lenehan Audio RibbonTek speaker cables

Room Treatments

• 2x Bass traps (2 front corners)
• 3x Panel traps (2 front 1 back)

Power

• PSAudio P5 (Power Regenerator)
• PSAudio Quintet (Power Board)
• Modified Uptone JS-2 PSU
• HDPlex 200W Linear Power Supply
• ClearAudio Diamond power cables

Snake oil

• Acoustic Revive r-77 (Schumann Resonance thingamajingy)
• Tune stands
• AMG Toppers (Sitting on top of ML-1 Ultras)
• IKEA chopping boards (Isolation)
• 1 Kg dumbell placed on the Node case for improved clarity
• Daiso Earthquake gel
• MS Audio Carbon Fibre Isolation Feet
• Valab Audio Vibration Isolation Damper Feet

Networking

• Carefully selected unbranded Ethernet cables that seem to  give me good sound
• HP ProCurve 8 port web managed switch in listening room connected to a second HP ProCurve 24 port web maged switch in rack
• HP N54L running FreeNAS serving music. 2 port LACP to 24 port switch.

Secondary Source

• KillerDAC
• Achtung RCA cables
• Audio-Gd DI