Where are the Flocking speccs?

[ef37a]

NOT that I am ever going to buy one but being a geeky so-and-so I like 'the numbers'.

All I can find about the Flock Audio Patch is glowing reports even the user manual gives no hint to its audio performance.

Yes, I will accept that it auditions very well but I would still like to see the figures for max input, noise and crosstalk. How does it achieve the audio switching? Logic gates, FETs or relays? If the latter headroom is effectively infinite but other specifications will still have a value.

I can understand that it would be a mammoth task to 'spec' every patch channel combination but just a few at random would be nice!

Dave (sorry, brought up with Studio Sound and Wireless World!)

[Hugh Robjohns]

Providing accurate, reliable in-depth technical assessments of products is a perennial problem as it's very hard to find qualified engineers with the appropriate test equipment and technical understanding to be able to perform such bench tests (at an affordable rate) and who are also able to write decent reviews and meet the relevant deadlines. It is quite a specialised and apparently rare skill set....

But I agree, that some tech specs would be interesting with a product like the Flock which is supposedly designed to handle mic-level signals as well as line-level... and then you read recommendations to boost the mic level signal first to improve the SNR....

I don't know what the switching elements are, but I presume some form of solid state rather than relay.

[ef37a]

Thank you Hugh for your swift response.
Certainly I did not expect SoS to do a spec check (mainly because you did not do the review) but that would have been difficult for anyone since, AFAICT there IS no specification!

I had forgotten about the microphone amplifiers. Yes, tricky buggers to make very, very well so we need to know. But even if the device was totally passive there is crosstalk to consider and what Mr Self terms "offness". Any electronic switch will be limited by the supply voltages of course.

Dave.

[Hugh Robjohns]

AFAICT there IS no specification!

I couldn't find one... And the marketing is all about the form rather than the substance... with more information about the compatibility of computers to control the thing than it's audio credentials!

I gather there is a small gain (~0.5dB) through (some of) the signal paths -- someone contacted the magazine to say they had rejected the Flock Patch on the basis that it messed up the gain structure -- but whether that is due to factory misalignment, poor design, or loading effects I'm intrigued to know...

But even if the device was totally passive there is crosstalk to consider and what Mr Self terms "offness".

Indeed...