ART PHANTOM II Pro vs Rolls PB224?

[David Peterson]

ART PHANTOM II Pro or Rolls PB224? Which would you recommend for supplying XLR phantom power, any one used either?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/178395-REG/Rolls_PB224_PB224_2_Channel.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/288123-REG/ART_PHANTOMIIPRO_PHANTOMII_Battery_Operated.html

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

rolls stuff is heads and tails above art in general, however at this cost, you might be splitting hairs, I would go rolls though

steve

 

[David Peterson]

Yeah, their price is only $5 apart, so that doesn't matter!

Though I wish I could find something at a similar price point which used AA batteries instead of the 9V batteries they're using :-/ As that would be a pain to have to purchase and keep charged up, something different to my usual collection of batteries.

 

[Steve Sherrick]

David, what are you trying to do with these? If trying to use it to power mics to run to a camera, I would consider getting a small mixer that has built in Phantom power and will provide proper preamps. But maybe you are using it for different purpose.

 

[Marc Wielage]

I agree with Steve Sherrick above. I also think these are just cheap and crappy $200 Chinese mic preamps that aren't very good. I think they're OK if you're a musician in a garage project studio trying to compose some tunes. They're not intended for film production.

I think a modest Sound Devices mixer would do fine, and that includes even a $500 Mix-Pre. If you're doing voiceovers or narration in a studio, then I would say a lot depends on the microphone. But for a camera? You need something better. The real problem is that dialogue on a set (particularly in a documentary) bounces all over the place, and you need a human being to listen to it and ride the level as it's being recorded.