Portable digital recorder recommendation?

[pkane]

I’m looking for a portable hires audio recorder of good quality. Leading contender is Tascam DR100-mk3. Planning to use it for recording audio and sounds for testing and for pleasure, most likely with an external microphone, phantom power would be nice but not required.

Sony PCM D100 looks good too, but at more than twice the price it is not in the running.

Any other suggestions? Pointers to measurements or objective comparisons for these would also be appreciated, as they seem hard to find.

 

[DonH56]

The little Zoom units are popular for inexpensive field recorders. I have an older model (H2, I think) used mainly for recording practice sessions now and then or when just fooling around so I can transcribe later.

 

[pkane]

Thank you Don. I did look at Zoom h4n pro. Any thoughts on how it compares to the Tascam unit in recording/ADC quality? The Zoom has the benefit of a lower price.

 

[DonH56]

Sorry, I do not know much about the Tascam unit. The Zoom I choose for ease of use and better options at the time (maybe ten years ago) were limited and much more expensive (or just cheap voice recorders). Handling noise can be an issue but I always mounted mine on a mic stand. I liked having stereo mics built-in. I know the Zooms are popular among musicians for rehearsal use; not sure they would qualify as "audiophile" devices. I made a few recordings but usually used external mics for those. These days there are many more choices but I have not kept current, sorry.

 

[andymok]

Zoom H5 is great fun with options of different mic capsules

 

[pkane]

Zoom H5 is great fun with options of different mic capsules

That's two votes for Zoom. Anything you don't like about it, or maybe something that could be improved?

 

[restorer-john]

Save up a bit longer and buy the Sony.

 

[pkane]

Save up a bit longer and buy the Sony.

Right... go ahead and tell me to spend more money on a toy I can’t justify. But now I’m really thinking about it

 

[eugenius]

If you’re going to spend money, spend it on the Sound Devices MixPre3.

https://www.sounddevices.com/products/recorders/mixpre-3

 

[pkane]

If you’re going to spend money, spend it on the Sound Devices MixPre3.

https://www.sounddevices.com/products/recorders/mixpre-3

Thank you! I’ve not come across this device before. Looks very interesting, although a bit less portable than the other recorders I’ve been looking at. The features and the specs are great!

 

[Guermantes]

I've used the Sony PCM-D50 quite a bit and like it for the quality of the onboard microphones and the intelligent limiter. But that model and the D100 don't seem to be as flexible if you want to use external microphones. I must say, the Tascam DR100 MkIII looks like good value for your purpose.

The Sound Devices products are another beast entirely, made for location film work and high-end to match. The MixPre3 seems to be a cut-down version for semi-professionl use. Tascam also make some affordable units for videography purposes such as the 70D. You'll notice that units like this can have straps attached so that they can be slung over the shoulder for location audio work.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Looking at the website, I'm surprised to see that Sound Devices states that its mic preamps use analogue limiters, which are what enable them to make recordings that surpass "those of other recorders using simple off-the-shelf IC-based mic preamps". This would seem a drawback rather than a benefit to me, but perhaps I'm ignorant of this technology.

 

[andymok]

perhaps amirs can do a series of reviews on pro portable recorder as well

 

[andymok]

That's two votes for Zoom. Anything you don't like about it, or maybe something that could be improved?

I haven't really tried it. But as a H4n owner and having tried H6, I like it's slim body and the rotary gain knob a lot. It's mic-pres are also vastly improved.

Btw I just realised they have released the new H3-VR for Ambisonics and do various encoding

 

[eugenius]

Looking at the website, I'm surprised to see that Sound Devices states that its mic preamps use analogue limiters, which are what enable them to make recordings that surpass "those of other recorders using simple off-the-shelf IC-based mic preamps". This would seem a drawback rather than a benefit to me, but perhaps I'm ignorant of this technology.

You are.

Analog limiters vs digital limiters is like sex vs masturbation.

 

[andreasmaaan]

You are.

Analog limiters vs digital limiters is like sex vs masturbation.

Lol. What are the advantages of analogue limiters?

 

[pkane]

You are.

Analog limiters vs digital limiters is like sex vs masturbation.

That's funny! Can you please elaborate as to why? (limiters, not sex)

 

[Kees de Visser]

IMO the built in mics of the Zoom models are not of the highest standard. I have a Zoom H6 with 4 ext. mic inputs (with 48V phantom) which is very handy and flexible. Frequency response is quite accurate, more than sufficient for acoustic measurements (with a high-quality mic).
Here's a sine sweep response I've done up to 48kHz. Note the dB scale.

 

[pkane]

IMO the built in mics of the Zoom models are not of the highest standard. I have a Zoom H6 with 4 ext. mic inputs (with 48V phantom) which is very handy and flexible. Frequency response is quite accurate, more than sufficient for acoustic measurements (with a high-quality mic).
Here's a sine sweep response I've done up to 48kHz. Note the dB scale.

View attachment 16361

That looks excellent, thank you! There's about a 0.12dB dip from 3KHz to 30KHz, am I reading this right? The drop below 300Hz is due to the measurement set up and not ADC, correct?

 

[eugenius]

Here’s the difference between Zoom digital limiters and Sound Devices analog limiters.