Busman Modded Tascam DR-680 or stock Tascam DR-680?

mentatDUKE

mentatDUKE

Veteran
I plan on getting this recorder for filmmaking usage on locations. Compared to the Edirol-R44, the price is really great and the quality is said to be better from my research. Also, 8 channels is great. I imagine using multiple lavs in addition a boom allowing for some slight redundancy and options in post.

Is the modded 680 that much "better" than the stock unit? Apparently they replace the preamps with higher quality ones making it quieter than the stock units (which were said to already be pretty quiet). Also the sound stage seems to be improved. Here's a link:
http://www.busmanaudio.com/mods.html

The mod almost doubles the price though. Thoughts?
 
I have not used the R44, but I do have the DR680 with the Busman mod, and let me tell you it was worth every penny. The 680 is great without the mod, better than a H4n or on-camera XLRs. But with the mod the noise floor is insanely low. I would definitely recommend it if you have the budget for it.
 
I own the 680 without the mod but use a PSC Alphamix in front of the recorder so I'm running the recorder preamps fairly low. I did want to clarify that while the 680 is an 8 channel recorder, only the first 6 inputs are analog (4 xlr, 2 trs). The remaining 2 channels can be used to record a mix of the first 6, or as two additional inputs by using the s/pdif connector.
 
Line level into the 680 bypasses the mic preamps.. no need for the mod if you use a mixer.
 
Right. Don't want to bother using a mixer just for clean pre-amps if I can get a recorder with better pres than a mix-pre (and more channels).

At least thats my logic so far. Thanks.
 
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