Now that the Tascam DR100MII is shipping, thoughts?

Kit Hannah

Kit Hannah

Veteran
So now that the new version of the Tascam rcorder is shipping, anybody have any reviews or thoughts on it? Looks like the recorder to have, but has anyone made the plunge and reviewed the preamp qulaity?
 
It looks promising. Tascam's site states that it has "Improved Mic pre amp with higher gain and lower noise" and that "The markII version adds balanced line ins, S/PDIF digital inputs, locking connectors and more."

I'd love someone to compare this to the first version, the DR-40 and the Zoom H4n, especially the mic preamp gain and signal to noise ratio. The website states that the S/N is "92dB or more"
 
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AndrewGentle said:
It looks promising. Tascam's site states that it has "Improved Mic pre amp with higher gain and lower noise" and that "The markII version adds balanced line ins, S/PDIF digital inputs, locking connectors and more."

I'd love someone to compare this to the first version, the DR-40 and the Zoom H4n, especially the mic preamp gain and signal to noise ratio. The website states that the S/N is "92dB or more"
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Definitely Andrew.

But I am looking for some hands on experience with it, not just speculation. Numbers and specs are nice, but sometimes things can be much different in practice. So if you OWN it and have it in your posession, how about some feedback?
 
Wow, nice recorder. I have a Sony PCM-D50 that has no XLR in and have been waiting for a good hand recorder with decent SNR. Still not as high as the PCM-D50, but a lot better than the Zoom stuff that I've used and just can't get over the noise floor. Probably because I do location recording and when I need to pump the gain, I always here the noise.

Hope someone picks one up and can let us know how it sounds! :)
 
nwstudios said:
Nice to have some actual empirical data to go off of rather than brand X has "noisy preamps".
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Agreed. I actually bought the H4n and tested it and was like WHOA this is noisy, brought it back and bought the PCM-D50 and it was so quiet. Seeing this, now I have sort of a reference in my head as to the range and what I heard.

What would be interesting is to see camera audio tested under the same conditions. My AF100 was very noisy, wonder how they'd all relate.
 
Rick Burnett said:
Wow, nice recorder. I have a Sony PCM-D50 that has no XLR in and have been waiting for a good hand recorder with decent SNR. Still not as high as the PCM-D50, but a lot better than the Zoom stuff that I've used and just can't get over the noise floor. Probably because I do location recording and when I need to pump the gain, I always here the noise.

Hope someone picks one up and can let us know how it sounds! :)
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PCM-D50 still yards better than the new DR-100 MII, noise floor and quality of sound is great. I am just picking up a Denecke PS-2 for the XLR input.
Looks like certain mics like the Oktava MK012 need a phase reverser adapter though...
 
yoclay said:
PCM-D50 still yards better than the new DR-100 MII, noise floor and quality of sound is great. I am just picking up a Denecke PS-2 for the XLR input.
Looks like certain mics like the Oktava MK012 need a phase reverser adapter though...
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Hmmm, that is certainly an option. Let me know how it works out. This might be a good solution for any of the recorders that has a line in but no XLR. The PCM-D50 really does have exceptional quality.
 
Hmmmm... many posts on DVXUser these days seem to focus on the MixPre-D these days; and it seems to me that this is the only pocket recorder other than the ol' MicroTrack that can take advantage of the "-D". To me that's a great benefit, and takes all the analog circuitry... which is the weakest part of tiny recorders - out of the picture.
 
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