[LAU] Portable Digital Recorders

Mark Knecht markknecht at gmail.com
Mon Feb 1 09:16:52 EST 2010


Great links! Thanks Frank.

I think the analysis is very good. He covered my questions quite well.
For my use I'd personally need the XLR inputs as I often record bands
or vocal groups just using two external mics but want one of these
things for recording ambient sounds. That reduces the list for me to
the Tascam DR-100 or the Zoom H4n, with a little bit going to the Zoom
for the pre-roll buffer and of course cost. Battery life on each is
pretty bad though. Less than a day of just walking around?

Thanks for sharing this!

Cheers,
Mark

On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 5:38 AM, Frank Barknecht <fbar at footils.org> wrote:
> Hallo Kevin,
>
> as I have just bought myself a mobile recorder, maybe some of my research
> is of use to you as well. This is a very good introduction for potential
> buyers of mobile recorders:
> http://www.theatreofnoise.com/2009/11/summary-of-portable-digital-audio.html
> http://www.theatreofnoise.com/2009/11/which-portable-digital-audio-recorder.html
>
> It lists the popular devices like this (ASCII on)
>
> POCKET                 DIMENSIONS       VOL  MASS  PRICE  XLR  MIC  EIN
> -------------------    --------------  ----  ----  -----  ---  ---  ---
> Sony     MZ-RH1         85 x  84 x 15   107   106  $ 350    -    -  124
> Olympus  LS-10         132 x  48 x 22   139   165  $ 300    -    +  122
> Olympus  LS-11         132 x  48 x 22   139   165  $ 400    -    +  122
> Sony     PCM-M10       114 x  64 x 22   161   187  $ 300    -    +  122
> Marantz  PMD620        102 x  62 x 25   164   170  $ 400    -    -  112
> M-Audio  MicroTrack II 109 x  63 x 28   174   192  $ 200    -    -  106
> Korg     MR-1          120 x  64 x 24   184   200  $ 500    -    -  117
> Edirol   R-09HR        113 x  62 x 27   186   166  $ 300    -    +  118
>
> HAND                   DIMENSIONS       VOL  MASS  PRICE  XLR  MIC  EIN
> -------------------    --------------  ----  ----  -----  ---  ---  ---
> Tascam   DR-07         151 x  81 x 35   212   130  $ 170    -    +  113
> Samson   Zoom H2       109 x  64 x 33   230   172  $ 190    -    +   99
> Tascam   DR-1          135 x  70 x 27   256   208  $ 250    -    +  115
> Sony     PCM-D50       154 x  72 x 33   365   366  $ 450    -    +  126
> Samson   Zoom H4       153 x  70 x 35   375   190  $ 300    +    +  114
> Samson   Zoom H4n      156 x  70 x 35   382   280  $ 300    +    +    ?
> Tascam   DR-100        151 x  81 x 35   428   290  $ 380    +    +  113
>
> SHOULDER               DIMENSIONS       VOL  MASS  PRICE  XLR  MIC  EIN
> -------------------    --------------  ----  ----  -----  ---  ---  ---
> Marantz  PMD661        165 x  93 x 36   552   410  $ 600    +    +  125
> Marantz  PMD660        184 x 113 x 47   977   700  $ 550    +    +  120
> Sound Devices 702      209 x 125 x 45  1176  1000  $1900    +    -  130
> Fostex   FR-2LE        206 x 132 x 57  1550   907  $ 600    +    -  129
> Marantz  PMD671        264 x 185 x 55  2686  1300  $1000    +    -  125
> Tascam   HD-P2         260 x 200 x 63  3276   900  $ 700    +    -  127
>
> Another good comparision is at wingfieldaudio.com:
> http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-reviews.html
> They also check battery life, which is where the Zooms seem to suck big time.
> http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-battery-life.html
>
> A device not in these lists is the new Yamaha W24.
>
> All of these devices will work with Linux, as they are USB-storage devices. If
> you really need 4 channel recording, you don't have much choice: Zoom H4 or
> Tascam DR-100 or bankruptcy. :)
>
> Personally I chose the Sony PCM M10 in the end although I'm usually a SEGA guy.
>
> Alternate choices for me have been the Yamaha W24 and both Olympus devices. The
> Sony has very good battery life, little noise, nice mics, small size and weight
> and okay prize. I like portable recorders to actually be portable without power
> cords.  I usually don't record 4 channels on the go. For Ambisonics that would
> be necessary, though.
>
> In situations where I'd want to use better microphones with XLR and more
> channels than 2, I probably also wouldn't care about battery life or weight so
> much and then I could just take my small laptop with a good USB card with me.
>
> Of course that was just my reasoning when doing the choice. YMMV.
>
> Ciao
> --
> Frank
>
> Kevin Cosgrove hat gesagt: // Kevin Cosgrove wrote:
>
>> I'm interested in getting a portable digital recorder, something
>> that can run on batteries or ac power (presumably through a
>> wall-wart?), that has built-in stereo mics, and something which
>> will take 2-4 line external inputs.  I've seen a lot of such
>> things come on the market in recent years.  Many have SD or SDHC
>> cards for their audio memory, which is fine with me as I have
>> an SDHC card reader in my computer.  If I get one with a USB
>> interface it's my _requirement_ that it operate with Linux over
>> USB.  The same would go for firewire, though I haven't seen any
>> of those.  Some units record only in lossy compressed format
>> only, while others have uncompressed formats available.  I would
>> prefer the uncompressed format to be available.  I'd also need
>> at _least_ 4 hours of stereo 44.1kHz at at least 16-bit, with
>> something like 24-bit being more desired by me.
>>
>> I'll be doing remote recordings, then bringing the audio home to
>> chop up with Audacity and/or Ardour, then authoring the result to
>> CDs.
>>
>> So, what works well with Linux and works well in general?
>>
>> Thanks people!
>>
>> --
>> Kevin
>>
>>
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>>
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