Tascam DR-10L recorder

firehawk said:
Good deal! Too bad I already own 3 of the CS which cost me about $40 more each.
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Well the pass through is a major feature you got for that extra money. It offers wireless connection so you can record directly to a camera with sound already synced to pic with monitoring.

I also noticed extra fine tuned gain options in the new L version (5 instead of three options). Hopefully a firmware update will give it to the CS models too.
 
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I assume, the real value of the CS is you have a safety track if the radio mic get interference?
 
These little plug-ons have intrigued me enough that I might give one a try. I would prefer the pass through C model, but have still given some consideration to the L. If you have used one of these, could you detail your opinions. Are you happy with the audio quality, does it have enough gain, does the stepped gain control work out, is there any metering available on the display? At least it has a headphone jack.

I might use one of these in lieu of wireless where there is interference and couldn't use a wire. I would use this with either a RE50-N/B or a AT-897 which has battery phantom power. And I suppose a lav could be used with the appropriate cable. Maybe someone knows this for sure: Could a Sennheiser wireless lav be used with an adapter into the non-phantom powered DR10L? Will the DR10L supply the smaller amount of voltage that the lav needs? I haven't seen an adapter like this (XLR-3.5 male) but a custom adapter seems easy enough if the recorder is compatible.

TIA,
Grant
 
ggrantly said:
Could a Sennheiser wireless lav be used with an adapter into the non-phantom powered DR10L? Will the DR10L supply the smaller amount of voltage that the lav needs?
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The specs don't say exactly, but the clue is: "2kohm (mic bias on)". So it should power a typical lav wired for a transmitter (Sennheiser ME2 for instance) if the cable and/or adapter is wired correctly and most body pack transmitters do not supply Phantom Power anyway (just bias current: aka, plug in power).
 
ggrantly said:
These little plug-ons have intrigued me enough that I might give one a try. I would prefer the pass through C model, but have still given some consideration to the L. If you have used one of these, could you detail your opinions. Are you happy with the audio quality, does it have enough gain, does the stepped gain control work out, is there any metering available on the display? At least it has a headphone jack.

I might use one of these in lieu of wireless where there is interference and couldn't use a wire. I would use this with either a RE50-N/B or a AT-897 which has battery phantom power. And I suppose a lav could be used with the appropriate cable. Maybe someone knows this for sure: Could a Sennheiser wireless lav be used with an adapter into the non-phantom powered DR10L? Will the DR10L supply the smaller amount of voltage that the lav needs? I haven't seen an adapter like this (XLR-3.5 male) but a custom adapter seems easy enough if the recorder is compatible.

TIA,
Grant
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Grant I think for your RE50 or AT-897 you would need the Dr-10X which has a female XLR and is designed specifically for xlr mics, it has no phantom power. I tried hooking a lav to the Dr10X but there is no lav power for it.

The DR-10L is the new model not out yet for lavs that has no 3.5mm output jack , it has plug in power (mic bias) for lavs and it comes with a lav.

The Dr-10CS is the lav model with plug in power (mic bias) and has a 3.5mm output jack that cannot be sold in the US because of zaxcom patent issues.

All three have headphone jacks, the Dr-10x and the dr-10cs can monitor through headphones while recording. I do not know if that is possible with the dr-10L. The dr-10cs and the dr-10L have a locking 3.5mm connector.

The Dr-10x and the dr10CS sound great to me with all Auto level, limiter, and low cut off. In high gain setting it gets noisy but with a sensitive mic or lav in the low or medium setting it sounds fine.

It looks like the dr-10L has 2 more gain stage settings than the dr-10cs that can get you a finer tuned S/N. There is a level meter but its small and it disappears once you hit record.

Sorry if you know this already. just wanted to clarify.

Here is video test someone did with the dr-10X:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puVzgrJc-Sw

Here is a test someone did of the DR10CS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-9VCSLdD5w
 
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I've had the Tascam DR-10CS since it came out over a year ago. It works fine the stock Sennheiser ME2 as it provides plug-in power. I also use it with a Countryman B6 lav which has Sennheiser wiring.

At $330 for the Countryman B6 and $210 for the Tascam DR-10CS, $540 wasn't exactly cheap for the set. $160 for this, and it comes with a lav; I think I'll pick it up so I'll have a second. I couldn't find any info on the lav mic. Is this lav a new model designed by Tascam? Is it any good? I'd assume since perhaps only $20-$40 of the $160 kit is devoted to the lav, that it's not a good lav. Then again, Sennheiser's stock ME2 lav is widely regarded as poor, but still used a ton and gives acceptable results to many who use it, so for less critical audio applications I'm sure it's good enough. I'd still be tempted to replace it, though.

I haven't ever actually used the pass through feature. I have used the DR-10CS as a backup while using a wireless mic as well, but to me it generally made more sense to have the backup on a separate lav, that way the lav is backed up as well in case the lav has an issue (I did have a lav fail mid shoot once during an event).

The Tascam DR-10CS's pre-amps and recording quality sounds good to me, but it's most likely not as good as a Sound Devices, and perhaps not as good as a Canon C300 pre-amp (which I typically use), in addition to giving another point of failure and degradation before getting to the primary recording, which is another reason I'd hesitate to use the pass-through feature.
 
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Mico, sorry about the model number confusion; my bad. Thanks for the clarification Yes, I was considering the DR10X. Again, thanks for the heads up about no power for a lav. That reduces my enthusiasm slightly.

Grant
 
The DR10X has an XLR input and does not supply either Phantom or Plug-in Power, so external power would be needed.
 
IronFilm said:
You can't, it is not wireless.
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I think you can. With a cheap, small bluetooth transmitter attached to the headphone out (if the L version has headphone out during recording. The CS and X version headphone can be monitored during recording). With a bluetooth headset you're good.
 
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