Survey of Portable 24bit Audio Recorders

Started by clearlight, January 09, 2015, 08:49:52 PM

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whippinpost91850

Would love to hear the new band. Post  some tunes 8)

Elantric

#26
2013 era Field Recorder Comparison table



more
http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm

Elantric

#27
Of course there are many different options for small 24 bit audio recorders.
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-audio/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-cat-audio-solutions-pcmm10.shtml


I should point out the Sony M10 (released in 2010) has been acknowledged among the best small field recorders with lowest noise mic preamps, robust choice of media codec types for recording and playback. Due to it clean hi power internal headphone amp,  Many use the M10 just like an iPod.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/456327/sony-pcm-m10-as-portable-player


and for musicians it features an easy to use A/B repeat functions with zero pitch change playback speed slow down, speed up, and digital pitch and key transpose functions. and dedicated T-Mark key for inserting record Markers using meta data embedded in the Wave format 24 bit files up to 96kHz 

Sony M10 is no slouch as a 24 bit stereo audio recorder (just google it): with internal mics and low noise mic pres, record high dynamic range band rehearsals, song ideas, concerts , rehearsals, nature folly sounds, wild birds. Use the dedicated stereo Line Input for direct feed from your mixer or headphone jack from your VG/GR/GP/SY, Helix, AX-8 , Amplifire, Kemper  Rig.

As a public service announcement I write to inform that effective 2016,  the Sony M10 production line has  closed down, and only fresh new units are already in stock at Sony dealer inventories. But once they are gone, you will only have the used gear  channels (Reverb.com. ebay. craiglist).     

and it takes 64GB SD cards
http://www.head-fi.org/t/456327/sony-pcm-m10-as-portable-player/120


This 10 minute video covers the features of the Sony M10,  - pay attention to the M10 playback  features
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/video/channels-pro_audio/video-pro_audio_pcm_m10_product_tutorial/
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=124639.375
http://kenrockwell.com/audio/sony/pcm-m10.htm

http://everythingaudionetwork.blogspot.com/2009/11/home-recording-review-sony-pcm-m10.html
QuoteThe verdict
  We're now into Sony's third generation of hand-held digital recorders. They're all good and they have branched out in different directions - smaller, more "studio" features, lower cost. At $300, the PCM-M10 is well priced considering its sound quality, feature set, and ease of use. My primary application has been recording jam sessions and grabbing tunes at acoustic music camps, and the M10's size and shape is a good fit for my pocket or guitar case. Its impressive battery life is good for the environment.
  The Sony PCM-M10 is well suited for casual and professional recording applications, and, in between, serves as a handy music player. I think it's a winner, and so does the Everything Audio Network, which has tagged the M10 with its Stellar Sound designation. For more info, go to www.sonyproaudio.com


  Mike Rivers is a freelance audio writer based in Northern Virginia. A professional audio engineer, Mr. Rivers has recorded traditional music in the field and in the studio for 40 years.



QuoteSecond Opinion! Sony PCM-M10:
My New Portable High-Res Music Player
  Mike Rivers does a great job pointing out the virtues of the PCM-M10's recording capabilities. As with all recording pocket portables, I wanted to see how it handled my collection of high-res downloads, DVD/SACD copies and original high-res guitar tracks.
  As a fan of high res PCM 24 bit music, an iPod does not cut it with its 16-bit 44/kHz maximum playback rate. I have found that the 24-bit capable digital media recorders make nice players for high-res music on the go. Do they sound like a high-end home playback system? Well, no, but 24-bit tracks sure sound better on one of these than a sample-rate converted or downloaded MP3 version of the same music.
  To see how the PCM-M10 fared, I downloaded some ITrax (www.itrax.com) jazz cuts at 24/96 and compiled for transfer several other bits of music from my collection: acoustic guitar, and first-generation copies of DVD-As and SACDS in 24-bit/96. As long as they have .wav extension, the tracks dragged easily from my Apple desktop to the 'M10,. But the transfer is really slow via the USB port. Lets just say a GB worth of high-res music took a long, long, long, long time.
  After I transferred the tracks, I popped in a set of AKG K701 headphones via the 1/8th inch adapter,. The 701s are a fairly hard-to-drive set of 'phones for small portables. Much to my satisfaction, the PCM-M10 actually drove the AKGs to a fairly loud level. And it did a nice job of reproducing high-res music. In particular, "Roundabout" by Yes, (analog copied from the Fragile DVD-A), sounded quite good: nice transient detail, good imaging and a nice job of reproducing the detail on Steve Howe's classical guitar intro.
  On the Lawrence Juber's rendition of "Strawberry Fields Forever" (from a 24/96 ITrax download) the fingerstyle guitar playing was impressive for a $300 buck player. This latest generation of converters — even running on lower voltages — sound really good.
  I compared the M10 to its big expensive brother, the PCM-D1. The M10 has the same general playback tonal characteristics; the $2,000 D1 has more stereo image width and transient detail, but it is not really that much smoother. The M10's music playback sounds more separated and detailed than a $399 M-Audio MicroTrack II, though the MicroTrack was analog-like smooth in its sonic presentation via headphones.
  With the PCM-M10, I think I have found my new portable high-res player. It is iPod-sized, easy to use, sounds hi-fi, and, oh my, it plays forever on a set of double AAs. Mate the M10 with a pair of Shure's new $100 SRH-440 headphones, and you got a nice little hi-res playback system. Oh yeah, it records 24-bit, too.

Elantric

The PCM-M10's capacity just jumped to 64GB!

The Sony PCM-M10's user manual says that it supports microSDHC cards up to 16GB, but people have been using 32GB microSDHC cards without difficulty.

But the 64GB microSDXC cards ("XC" not "HC") are formatted differently and thus, do not work in the Sony PCM-M10, unless you ....

... reformat them to FAT32! 

This evening, I received one of these in the mail, from Amazon:





I then downloaded the Windows version of a freeware FAT32 formatting utility called GuiFormat.

Here's the author's home page for this freeware.

The Amazon purchase at the link I provided above includes a USB card reader, but I didn't have to use it, because I found that my Toshiba Windows 7 laptop could read and write to the SanDisk 64GB microSDXC card with its default formatting. 

I just popped the card into the included full-size SD adapter, and then loaded it into my laptop's card reader, and having downloaded the GuiFormat.exe file, I executed it, and pointed it at the drive letter that Windows had assigned to the SDXC card, then told it to Quick Format the card (in FAT32 format).

That's it - I was then able to load up the card with nearly 64GB of WAV files (a transfer time of 1 hour, from hard drive to SD card).

Here are some screen shots (I chose the volume label name shown, and used these settings):




The Quick Format to FAT32 takes less than 5 seconds to perform.





Windows Explorer Properties shows the empty FAT32 card, ready for use.





Having transferred files from the hard drive, it's ready for a test drive in the Sony PCM-M10.

And it works flawlessly! 

The PCM-M10 doesn't create playlists or maintain any kind of database or catalog. All it has to do is scroll through the root folder or through artist-album folders.  So, it seems the sky is the limit, as long as the card is formatted FAT32 and you don't exceed some unknown maximum number of files in any given folder. 

I'm really happy to get 64GB cards working with the Sony PCM-M10 as that cuts the card-swapping frequency in half.

Joy!   biggrin.gif

Mike

WARNING FOR WINDOWS XP: 

Problem:  If you use Windows Explorer to examine the SD card before formatting it, running the format utility will display an error that reads:   "Failed to open device..." 

Solution:  Use Task Manager to kill the process for Explorer.exe.   Don't worry - Windows XP will restart Explorer and you will be able to run GuiFormat against the SD card.



WARNING FOR WINDOWS 7 OR LATER:

Problem:  If you use any Windows 7 app, including Explorer, to examine the SD card before formatting it, or even if you start Windows 7 with the SD card already mounted in the machine's card reader,  running the format utility will display an error that reads:   "Failed to open device..."

Solution:  Download, install, and run a file unlocking utility.  My favorite freeware version can be found here:  http://www.emptyloop.com/unlocker/  Avoid downloading from the links that are higher up (links for other utilities). Scroll down to the the link that reads:   Download Unlocker n.n.n - 32 and 64 bit version (where n.n.n is the current file version).  Also pay attention when performing the install to de-select options for toolbars, etc. 

After installing Unlocker, use Windows Explorer to right-click on the drive letter of your card reader and select the context menu item "Unlocker."  When the Unlocker window opens, click the "Unlock All" button.  Then you'll be able to run GuiFormat. 

mchad


Have been tossing up gear scenarios for voiceover work.

One thought is the use of an audio recorder to capture the VO read then transfer to PC for the editing. Reason for this is the lack of space I have and avoiding external noise. Important to set up the chain and leave it so the same results are achievable every time. Especially if you're dropping in lines you may have fluffed in previous takes.

I'm even contemplating a shotgun mic with its very narrow pickup area.

So. Mic into a high res audio recorder. Chain could be mic>channel strip>audio recorder. Or, not sure if it's possible, but USB mic into audio recorder that has some limiting/compression capabilities. And good clear metering. There are a handful of choices for high res USB mics. Not shotgun though that I could find.

Have audio recorders/capture devices made strides in 2021?