Zoom H4 Digital Recorder

[Aidan Wilson]

I might add that I know of someone who's microtrack failed in the field, 
but luckily they happened to purchase two at once, the second of which 
didn't fail. I know this is the microtrack *II*, and hopefully they've 
sorted this out.

You haven't mentioned the zoom H4, but I think it's got several 
advantages over some of these other devices, like XLR microphone inputs, 
but having said that, I'm not convinced of the inherent benefits of XLR 
over stereo 1/8" jack, especially when you consider the space saved by 
using the latter. Also, several recordings made with the H4 that I've 
heard sound great, even when using the internal mics (in controlled 
circumstances of course).

The tascam and the marantz also support line-level input, so you can use 
an external preamp, but that would defeat the purpose of using a small 
device. As for the others, I don't know (i think the m-audio is), but 
certainly not all recorders are line-level capable.

Field swappable batteries is another major thing (occasionally), and 
apart from the Tascam and the microtrack, all others I believe use AAs. 
The tascam uses one of those lithium-ion batteries, for which 
replacements can be bought as optional extras, so it half-passes in that 
respect. The microtrack has only an internal battery that is 
rechargeable by either USB or an AC adapter. Eventually though, these 
internal batteries fail, ask any ipod-owner, and when they begin to 
fail, the decline in battery life is rapid. M-audio will replace the 
battery for 75 US dollars.

They're all at least 24/48 capable, and a couple, the edirol and the 
microtrack, are 24/96 capable, but since 24/48 is good enough, it's 
probably not a huge concern.

As for memory, they're all either SD or CF, either of which is fine. CF 
feels safer, probably only in virtue of the size and weight of the cards 
versus the clear flimse (flimsiness?) of the SD cards. But having used 
an SD card with my camera for years now, this is likely not true.

Before I saw the Tascam and the Marantz, I'd have said that the edirol 
is the winner here, but these two newer ones look pretty solid. Let's 
just hope marantz have solved their preamps issue.

Claire: windsock?

-Aidan

On 24/02/08 16:18, David Nathan said:
> Dear Nick
>
> We have some limited experience with a couple of these:
>
>   
>>> M-Audio Microtrack II (~$300)
>>>       
>
> Unlike Claire, we don't generally recommend the M-Audio Microtrack as we had a couple of instances of failure and came to regard it as possibly not reliable enough. 
>
>   
>>> Edirol R-09 24-Bit Wave/MP3 Recorder (~$350)
>>>       
>
> Peter Austin and I just ran a documentation workshop in Tokyo where most of the participants already owned their own Edirol R-09 (in various colours!). So a lot of R-09 recording-hours were represented. A quick poll revealed that nobody had yet had a failure of the seemingly fragile bottom cover (although someone knew someone who had, which was subsequently repaired). One pragmatic problem with these machines is due to the presence of the internal mics, which, although not bad, leads users to forget about using suitably selected and located external mics, which can lead to a huge drop in potential recording quality (see also our review at http://www.hrelp.org/archive/reviews/edirol_r9_review.html)
>
> SONY PCM-D50 (~$450)
>
> I had a brief chance to play with one of these and found: (i) it's easy and nice to use (ii) the internal mics are absurdly sensitive to wind noise, plosion, and even movement, so it's barely usable without a dead cat (/softie/windscreen). 
>
> - David Nathan
>
> +++++++++++++++++
>
>
> thien at unimelb.edu.au wrote:
> Dear RNLD members,
> Yet another one of those 'What recording equipment to buy' queries. We are looking to buy field recorders and have the following on the shortlist. Prices are in $US. I am leaning towards the Tascam and the Marantz but would be happy to hear from anyone with experience of any of these, or of other similar machines.
> Zoom H2 (~$180)
> Marantz PMD620 Digital Recorder (~$360)
> M-Audio Microtrack II (~$300)
> Edirol R-09 24-Bit Wave/MP3 Recorder (~$350)
> TASCAM DR-1 Portable Studio Audio Recorder (~$248 - 300)
> SONY PCM-D50 (~$450)
> Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder (~$400)
> I'll put a comparison of specifications of these recorders on a public site.
> All the best,
> Nick
>