Portable 2ch recorder

[cosmos]

Hi all,

Need advice here, my little 14 year old sister sings and plays the piano/acoustic at home, she's very good to her age and I'm looking into buying her a portable recorder as a gift.

Can anyone recommend a 2ch high quality recorder? I never got into those things and have no experience with them ..

Budget around 1k tops.
Thanks in advance.

[thunderbolt]

Hands down, the Sony PCM M-10. There's nothing that can touch it at its price point (which is about $220 right now). It's small (about the size of a deck of cards), reliable, runs forever on two AAs, is reasonably sturdy, sounds great, and if you don't like the sound of the internals, leaves you money to buy some mics. Inputs/ouputs are stereo mini. I have one of these and love it.

The next real step up (e.g., phantom power, XLR in/out, S/PDIF in) IMHO is the Marantz PMD661 ($599). More complex in terms of its use (may be too fiddly for a younger user), but I really loved mine when I had one. About the size of a small but thick paperback book.

You'll have to spend far more money before you reach the next level of improvement, ca. $1800-2000, e.g. the SD702.

Corbin

[cosmos]

Thanks Corbin, that's exactly the answer I looked for, the sony m10 looks like the answer.. She doesn't need xlr and such at her home, for serious work she comes here thanks again.

[rhizomeman]

Get a PCM - I use it a lot when doing field research. Good sound, amazing battery life (actually quite important - batteries are expensive) and easy to use.

[OzGizmo]

Why limit her to 2 tracks? As she is just at the start of a music career have a look these..
Product: DP-004 | TASCAM
Product: DP-008 | TASCAM

[John Willett]

The new Olympus LS-100 looks extremely interesting.

[cosmos]

Originally Posted by OzGizmo

Why limit her to 2 tracks? As she is just at the start of a music career have a look these..
Product: DP-004 | TASCAM
Product: DP-008 | TASCAM

Thanks for that friend, this is actually a food idea because she could record home sessions with her friends, i just wonder how's the quality on this, considering the price tag for a 4ch recorder... Pres, mics etc ..

[cosmos]

Originally Posted by John Willett

The new Olympus LS-100 looks extremely interesting.

Thanks I'll have a look, but I'm 90% done on the M10

[Ozpeter]

Zoom H2N is easy to use and is more "a mic that records" if a flexible one-piece solution is needed - M10 mics have a nice round sound but hopeless stereo image (near conincident omnis do nor represent any known stereo recording method).

Edit -

The new Olympus LS-100 looks extremely interesting.

Indeed, but the use of a proprietary rechargeable battery and a power supply which can only recharge, not run, the recorder is a worry when using phantom power.