Tascam DR-70D - what do you think?

Here's a quick early review, nothing in depth just yet, i'll replace the video with something more substantial when i collect more thoughts

 
so, i just had an odd occurrence that i can't quantify:

I have shotgun on input 2, wireless on input 1. the shotgun has phantom on so it's sending a signal, however, the wireless is turned off, but i noticed a little bit of levels coming through on channel 1.

channel 1/2 and 3/4 are linked for their respective input types, so i moved 1/2 off xlr to stereo and then back, and unplugged the channel 1 xlr, and the effect seemed to go away, pluggin the channel 1 xlr in and gaining up does seem to introduce that effect, albeit very slightly.

it seems having anything plugged into an XLR even if no signal is being sent, causes it to hear what its linked channel is hearing, again, very very faintly, but still.

Anyone have experience/thoughts/similar occurrence?
 
- Is the cross talk on the audio files or just on the recorder's monitor out and/or headphones?
- Is the wireless unbalanced? All kinds of issues can happen feeding voltage to unbalanced inputs. (no longer 'Phantom' i.e. invisible) This could damage the recorder and/or receiver).
 
Warning........ DO NOT feed phantom power up the back end of a Senni G2 RX unit, it DOES damage the Rx unit (been there done that)

I assume the same would be similar on the G3.
Do not feed phantom power into an unbalanced output (of anything) is a great way to drain the life out of any battery.
 
The G3 EK100 portable receiver IS unbalanced. DO NOT use with Phantom Power. At best, the Phantom Power device's power supply can be compromised, reducing battery life.. at worst, catastrophic damage could occur to both devices.
 
Guys, i said the shotgun had phantom on, NOT the wireless, and the wireless was not even on. i haven't had a chance to do any further testing on it.

one other note i don't believe i mentioned was that there's a disconnect between the gain and the pots. meaning if you turn a pot very quickly, the change in gain can be heard gradually happening after you've already made the pot turn, not linear with the turn, which could be a 'feature', but if it is, there's no way to turn it off so that turning a dial has a direct correlation with the gain. Once i again i feel it necessary to humble pie my audio knowledge, so if anyone has better knowledge on this, please chime in
 
Nytkim said:
With the DR-70D, is there any reason to get the DR 680?
Click to expand...
Only you can answer that. What features are needed?
The 680 has more tracks and slightly better specs (which would likely be inaudible) and is known to be reliable and decent sounding.. But it's larger, power hungry and one would also want a ($100 minimum) external battery system if used for field production. The 680's overall cost would be more and it's not really designed to interface with a DSRL.
 
Darren Levine said:
Guys, i said the shotgun had phantom on, NOT the wireless, and the wireless was not even on. i haven't had a chance to do any further testing on it.
Click to expand...

You seem confused about Phantom power, it does not come from the mic/receiver, it comes from the recorder/mixer. On most low cost recorders phantom can not be switched on individually for inputs. Generally it's either all or none OR it's switched in pairs. Since Tascam still doesn't have a manual that I can find I don't know what the deal is for the 70.

So unless you can switch phantom on for individual inputs having it on for #1 meant it was on for #2. Not having the transmitter ON really makes no difference, you would be pushing power IN the output which has nothing to do with the unit being powered up or not. It's never a good idea to have something that doesn't use phantom connected to phantom power. How much damage is done varies from a lot to none and it is really hard to know in advance what won't really care. Dynamic mics generally won't be damaged but... Ribbon mics will generally not survive intact. Transmitters and such???

As a general rule having an input that either has nothing connected to it or has something connected that is turned off will leave it in a limbo like state that may generate noise or? If nothing is connected or what is connected is turned off you can't really make any valid evaluation of anything you hear on that track.
 
Noiz2 said:
You seem confused about Phantom power, it does not come from the mic/receiver, it comes from the recorder/mixer. On most low cost recorders phantom can not be switched on individually for inputs. Generally it's either all or none OR it's switched in pairs. Since Tascam still doesn't have a manual that I can find I don't know what the deal is for the 70.

So unless you can switch phantom on for individual inputs having it on for #1 meant it was on for #2. Not having the transmitter ON really makes no difference, you would be pushing power IN the output which has nothing to do with the unit being powered up or not. It's never a good idea to have something that doesn't use phantom connected to phantom power. How much damage is done varies from a lot to none and it is really hard to know in advance what won't really care. Dynamic mics generally won't be damaged but... Ribbon mics will generally not survive intact. Transmitters and such???

As a general rule having an input that either has nothing connected to it or has something connected that is turned off will leave it in a limbo like state that may generate noise or? If nothing is connected or what is connected is turned off you can't really make any valid evaluation of anything you hear on that track.
Click to expand...


oye, i'll try to clear up the language further to clean up the confusion:

-by saying i had phantom on, that means on for that xlr input on the recorder

-the 4 channels on the 70d are paired by input type aka set channel 1&2 to either xlr, 1/8, etc.. channel 3&4 can be set to similarly.

-phantom is selectable for each individual XLR.


And to reiterate the effect i was experiencing: shotgun on input 2 with phantom ON, any ol' cable attached to input 1 with phantom OFF, doesn't matter if it's an OFF g2 unit or just a bare cable connected to nothing. Plugging in that cable/unplugging it appears to allow input 2 to bleed into input 1's levels and can be heard on the headphone output. i have not yet checked if it's in any recordings.
 
And as I said that is not a fair test. You have an open line into the machine and it's going to generate some signal.

And as others have said it's probably cross talk. Having a mic plugged in would be a better test since then at least the input is terminated. Or you can go and buy a terminator that will put a load on the input. IF you still have the issue then there is something to talk about.
 
The preamps in the 70D (and the 60Dmkii) are certainly better than the Zoom H4n and H5. The H5 has the same preamps as the H6 from what I understand. Robert from JuicedLink did a video wherein he compared his JL with the original DR-60D and the H6 - and the preamps on all were comparable. So already the original 60D had preamps that were at least as good as the H6 (and H5) - now the new 60Dmkii (and 70D) have definitely improved the preamps from the 60D, so by implication it stands to reason that they are superior to the H5 (and H6).
 
I've also noticed that there is a delay between the turn of a knob and the raising or lowering of gain on the 60D Mki. And it's not consistent. Sometimes, it's faster, sometimes it's slower, mostly it's noticeable when you turn the knob quickly. Since the 70D sounds like a repackaged 60D Mkii with more inputs, I guess they haven't seen need to fix that yet.
 
I just ordered the 70D, so I'll have feedback as soon as it arrives from B&H. The one thing that has me concerned is that from what I understand Tascam has decided to use a smaller micro version of the USB input (i.e. smaller than in the small USB input on the 60D) - given how poor the battery life is on all these Tascams (60D, 60Dmkii, 70D), using the USB power from a powerbank is a necessity; I'm not thrilled to have a very fragile USB input on such an important accessory - if this disconnects while you are using, or over time gets damaged, that pretty much destroys the unit. Like I say, this is worrisome, but remains to be seen if it's a deal-breaker.
 
It's a standard MicroUSB port. You know the one that's on a zillion cell phones which will probably get FAR harder use than an audio recorder ever will.

I wouldn't be overly worried about the USB port.
 
Setting unterminated inputs to "line" should eliminate that noise.


Noiz2 said:
And as I said that is not a fair test. You have an open line into the machine and it's going to generate some signal.

And as others have said it's probably cross talk. Having a mic plugged in would be a better test since then at least the input is terminated. Or you can go and buy a terminator that will put a load on the input. IF you still have the issue then there is something to talk about.
Click to expand...
 
A little strain relief goes a long way . . . . . .
Keep the AA battery compartment full as a power backup. Those black eneloops are great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top