Sony PCM-D1 ... anyone?

[Bhang]

I have been looking for a good high quality ultra portable recorder and am curious how this thing is in action. It looks fantastic. Does anyone have some comments they could share. How are the mics and pre's?
Bhang

[radiated]

That indeed looks very nice. But of course Sony has skipped spdif input.... So it's basically a bye-bye, as that is not very flexible at all.

[Bixby]

Originally Posted by Bhang

I have been looking for a good high quality ultra portable recorder...

I think one of the Sound Devices machines might be your best bet.

[David Spearritt]

Originally Posted by Bhang

I have been looking for a good high quality ultra portable recorder and am curious how this thing is in action. It looks fantastic. Does anyone have some comments they could share. How are the mics and pre's?
Bhang

I think it looks terrible. It has some breathtaking design errors including the laughable microphone arrangement. Sound from the left hits the right microphone first and vice versa. What a complete joke. If the rest of the machine is up to this standard then you're wasting your money.

[T.RayBullard]

look at the sound devices 722, or 744t,

marantz pmd 660/671

fostex fr-2

sonosax minir2



www.oade.com modifies these units with different components to sculpt the sound the user is after(mods the marantz and fostex)

[Plush]

Originally Posted by David Spearritt

I think it looks terrible. It has some breathtaking design errors including the laughable microphone arrangement. Sound from the left hits the right microphone first and vice versa. What a complete joke. If the rest of the machine is up to this standard then you're wasting your money.

Come on, now--that's an XY stereo mic--obviously the RT mic is supposed to be wired to the LFT. channel and vice versa. Err, ahem--it better be! Otherwise, it's a joke.

What IS a joke is the price, the 1/8th inch connector mic and line inputs and the miserably skimpy running time on the flash and magic stick media. $2000.00 for this?

It does look really cool though!

[David Spearritt]

Originally Posted by Plush

Come on, now--that's an XY stereo mic--obviously the RT mic is supposed to be wired to the LFT. channel and vice versa.

Let's look at it in detail. The mic physically on the right is the left channel and the mic physically on the left is the right channel due to the way they are pointing. We are all agreed.

Now lets say you are a little quark capable of surfing the sound wave in towards the unit, for a sound wave coming from the left. Guess which mic you hit first, the RIGHT channel mic, admittedly a bit off axis, but you hit it. Imagine what this does to sound arriving around the image centre from mid left to mid right, where its not as off axis. The image will be disastrous. The mics are arranged correctly for directivity, but are reversed for time of arrival.

This is the reason "crossed" cardioids are always crossed! Sony have made a huge blunder. At least RODE got it right on the NT4.

[Bhang]

I really appreciate all the input. For what I use my portable rig for, I don't want to be lugging around an additional mic. I was hoping that someone might have used this machine and would have some feedback. I used to love Sony gear, but in the last 4-5 years they have made some serious garbage. The short record time and lack of SPDIF don't bother me in the least. It does have usb2 so that's all I need. But if the pre's are not kick ass and the mic isn't all that than this would definitely be a pass..
Once again, thanks for all of the comments. One reason I love this board.

Bhang

[Shy]

I know this is an old thread, but it's still relevant. Like the thread poster, I'm looking for the best possible ultra portable recorder with built-in mics. I've tried Zoom/Edirol/Marantz/Sony D-50/whatever recorders and nothing came anywhere near the PCM-D1's quality (very good mics/preamps and extremely low noise). Is there anything comparable or better? I'm not talking about units like the obviously great Sound Devices 722, I'll reiterate I need an ultra portable recorder with built in mics that has great sound quality and extremely low noise like the D1. I will not connect external mics to it, I'd do that with a different unit.

[Shy]

Alright, I guess this 5 year old unit really is still the best.

[9sbean]

Originally Posted by Shy

Alright, I guess this 5 year old unit really is still the best.

If people agreed, there must be some replies.

The recorder trend at this moment: Recorders with built-in microphones.

Looking forward to:

Microphones with built-in recorder.

[Shy]

Yes, thanks for the great reply, obviously derived from experience with specific equipment and understanding of special field requirements.

I've searched everywhere for a unit as small/easily portable with a comparable quality of internal mics/preamps (response/distortion/noise-wise) and found nothing even close to the D1 at any price level. I wouldn't mind paying even more than the D1's price, in fact I'd be glad if there was a better one not from Sony, a company I have various issues with. I thought it's likely that I'm missing something if this quite old unit is the best I could find, so I asked here (blame me), but apparently I'm not.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by 9sbean

Looking forward to:

Microphones with built-in recorder.

Already exist - HHB FlashMic.



Sent from my iPhone using Gearslutz

[9sbean]

Unfortunately, the majority products will satisfy generic public first. So the first batch "microphones with built-in recorder" will be something like for news journalists or music learning... Wait until Schoeps, DPA... to produce prestige "microphones with built-in recorder" could be only a dream.

For the very demanding user, the only possible way is to built your own system, or integrate your own "all-in-one" unit.

Here is a short recording at this afternoon. Special "Summer Song". Did it with my kind of "all-in-one" unit.

[9sbean]

Originally Posted by John Willett

Already exist - HHB FlashMic.



Sent from my iPhone using Gearslutz

Yes, but the product is still emphasis on the "recording", not the microphone. What I mean is that you choose the microphone first. The recorder comes with it is some kind of feature. Just like the microphones on the recorders now, those microphones are just a feature.

[Shy]

You don't "choose the microphone first" when you need an extremely portable recorder to use in certain extreme conditions, you choose the recorder first. The fact that the mics and preamps in almost all of them really are "just a feature" is the sad part for people who want truly high quality with such a recording solution. D1 is an exception since its specially designed mics and Analog Devices preamps were not made for "prosumers".

[mathieujm]

Originally Posted by 9sbean

Here is a short recording at this afternoon. Special "Summer Song". Did it with my kind of "all-in-one" unit.

Nice !
And what is your "all in one" unit ?

JMM

[didier.brest]

Originally Posted by Shy

I've tried Zoom/Edirol/Marantz/Sony D-50/whatever recorders and nothing came anywhere near the PCM-D1's quality (very good mics/preamps and extremely low noise).

Is there such a difference between the D1 and the D50? Not obvious from the samples here.

[Shy]

Originally Posted by didier.brest

Is there such a difference between the D1 and the D50? Not obvious from the samples here.

Yes, quite a big difference, especially when it comes to picking up more details with much less noise (nature recording etc.). Differences are very obvious even on the site you linked, D-50's sound is more "hollow" and uneven compared to D1. It is of course far above avarage.

[9sbean]

Originally Posted by Shy

You don't "choose the microphone first" when you need an extremely portable recorder to use in certain extreme conditions, you choose the recorder first. The fact that the mics and preamps in almost all of them really are "just a feature" is the sad part for people who want truly high quality with such a recording solution. D1 is an exception since its specially designed mics and Analog Devices preamps were not made for "prosumers".

Well, I do choose microphones first for my recording tasks. I regard those "features" microphones as general electret condensers with its own performance rating/preference. D1 could be very good compared to lower cost palm recorders, and it shall considering the $. But I would rather go for the prestige solution when I need prestige quality.

My 2 $.

[9sbean]

Originally Posted by mathieujm

Nice !
And what is your "all in one" unit ?

JMM

It is not very "all-in-one", but it is convenient enough because I only need to hold a light weight microphone.

The microphone was made with 2 DPA 4060, and 2 interface board took from Superlux PS418S which adapts 48VDC phantom and balanced output for the electret condenser. The 4060 were arranged in a 20 cm styrofoam ball. DPA 4060 and styrofoam weight almost nothing, the only heavy parts is the metal tube of PS418S. I keep one metal tube and replace the 3-pin XLR to 5-pin XLR.

Only a short stereo cable with 5-pin XLR to SD 722 in Porta Brace bag.

Wondering how Nagra ARES-MII perform compared with D1?

[Shy]

Originally Posted by 9sbean

But I would rather go for the prestige solution when I need prestige quality.

Obviously I prefer a "prestige" solution, or I wouldn't be looking for the best possible ultra portable recorder. Using a bigger and more complex and frail setup is not even feasible in the situations I need to record.

[Shy]

Originally Posted by 9sbean

Wondering how Nagra ARES-MII perform compared with D1?

Very noisy compared to it, for one.

[Yannick]

Funny thing is (sadly) that the Sony D50 STILL HAS A WRONG XY configuration !!!

If your Sony camera would have a faulty lens like that, you would throw it away asap.

[mgoorevich]

I own PCM-D1 for quite allot.
It's OK quality wise and maybe the best all in one recorder out there.
But don't expect it will deliver superior results on recording atmos room tones and quite effects. It will do it but you will never be happy with them.
I own SD744T for serious field work. I use schoeps, DPA and Sennheiser mics for quite sfx and other critic stuff.

But the Sony PCM-D1 is always with me in my backpack so I just cat pickup usable sound any moment, everywhere.
However when I go to my studio and start listening to the sound ...and sometimes it's so interesting, that it makes me cry - why I didn't take my SD774?!!!
But anyways it's the best recorder of all handhelds.