Topic: Tascam DR-100

[dreyfuss]

I just got mine.  The unit is very easy to use, and you can adjust levels for left and right mics individually which is something I haven't seen on the other devices I've had (except my R4, but that is obviously in another league).

My complaint is recording time when using phantom power.  I ran it today to test and with the Li-ion battery and 2 Ni-MH and I got about 1h47min, with about 15min from the Ni-MH's.  I thought that maybe they weren't fully charged so I re-charged them and switched my battery settings to use them 1st then switch to the Li-Ion.  Again about 15min form the Ni-MH's.  I then ran it with regular Alkaline AA's and got about 7min off those.

Anyone else run any tests?  How did you do?

I may have to look at alternative ways to power this thing if I don't get a separate pre-amp/power supply.

[daspyknows]

Mine is due tomorrow.  Battery info is good to know, but not an issue since I already use a pre-amp.  I can't wait to test it out in the field.

[spyder9]

On page 50 of the Manual, for an mp3 recording: 

5 hours - Lithium
4 hours - NIMH
2 hours - Alkaline

That's 9 hours on the Lithium/NIMH combo, but it say nothing on whether the recording is with phantom ON.

Somethin' aint right.     

[TomR]

Hi All

Oryoki of the Yahoo Naturerecordists Group posted his first impressions of the DR-100 last Saturday, 4th April. He said "The machine has shortcomings in three areas: preamp performance, battery life and SDHC card support".

Oryoki was assessing performance in terms of nature recording but I'm sure his findings are relevant to Taperssection members.  They tend to confirm the battery life findings discussed here.

Cheers
TomR

[dreyfuss]

Yes the manual does list those times for recording but as mentioned that is for "backlight off (which mine was) and 128kbs mp3 files.

[MaxJames]

I have done some testing on my DR-100, and here is a summary. Will continue the testing on battery life this evening to complete it.

Battery life while recording:
   NiMH AA:   Internal mics (Phantom off) - 4 Hrs, 20 minutes
   NiMH AA:   External mics (Phantom on drawing 10 mA) - 22.5 minutes
   Lithium:   Internal mics (Phantom off) – will test this evening
   Lithium:   External mics (Phantom on drawing 10 mA) – will test this evening

Preamp performance:
   Gain setting High: EIN = -125 dBu, max input level = -42 dBu, dynamic range = 83 dB
   Gain setting Mid: EIN = -123 dBu, max input level = -20 dBu, dynamic range = 101 dB
   Gain setting Low: EIN = -114 dBu, max input level = +2 dBu, dynamic range = 116 dB

SD and SDHC card support: Tested the following cards and encountered absolutely no problem:
   Transcend – 2 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB (all class 6)
   Kingston - 8 GB and 16 GB (all class 6)
   OCZ – 8 GB (class 6)


The audio quality of the recording is also excellent. I am extremely happy with the performance of this recorder. I only wish the physical size is  a bit smaller. 

[MaxJames]

The battery life with the phantom “on” is very reasonable. Keep in mind that the phantom is 48V, while the NIMH AA battery power is 2.4V, i.e. it is 20:1. Just from energy conservation point of view (i.e. assuming the DR-100 is 100% efficient), for every mA phantom current drawn, the battery must deliver extra 20 mA of current. So when I draw 10 mA of the phantom power, the batteries need to deliver at least 200 mA extra current. Plus the current the recorder needs for the other functions, that’s a lot of current for a pair of AAs to deliver.

[su6oxone]

Can this run on the internal lithium and AAs at the same time? 

[daspyknows]

Yes. 

I just got mine.  Haven't had much time to test.  As far as size complaints, I don't have one myself.  This is the smallest recorder I have owned.  It is even smaller than the tapes I used to record with back int he day.

[MaxJames]

I have done some testing on my DR-100, and here is a summary. Will continue the testing on battery life this evening to complete it.

Battery life while recording:
   NiMH AA:   Internal mics (Phantom off) - 4 Hrs, 20 minutes
   NiMH AA:   External mics (Phantom on drawing 10 mA) - 22.5 minutes
   Lithium:   Internal mics (Phantom off) – will test this evening
   Lithium:   External mics (Phantom on drawing 10 mA) – will test this evening

Preamp performance:
   Gain setting High: EIN = -125 dBu, max input level = -42 dBu, dynamic range = 83 dB
   Gain setting Mid: EIN = -123 dBu, max input level = -20 dBu, dynamic range = 101 dB
   Gain setting Low: EIN = -114 dBu, max input level = +2 dBu, dynamic range = 116 dB

SD and SDHC card support: Tested the following cards and encountered absolutely no problem:
   Transcend – 2 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB (all class 6)
   Kingston - 8 GB and 16 GB (all class 6)
   OCZ – 8 GB (class 6)


The audio quality of the recording is also excellent. I am extremely happy with the performance of this recorder. I only wish the physical size is  a bit smaller. 

Here is an update

Battery life while recording:
   NiMH AA:   Internal mics (Phantom off) - 4 Hrs, 20 minutes
   NiMH AA:   External mics (Phantom on drawing 10 mA) - 31 min. 14 sec using a new pair of NIMH
   Lithium:   Internal mics (Phantom off) – still testing
   Lithium:   External mics (Phantom on drawing 10 mA) – 2 Hrs. 48 minutes

[dreyfuss]

Wow, you got much better life from the phantom than I did, maybe I'll have to give it another try, perhaps my battery wasn't fully charged or something.  I'd be quite content with that run time.

Thanks for your update

[su6oxone]

Yes. 

Thanks!  So these battery life tests that say 'lithium,' are those using just the internal battery?  If so, why not test battery life with the lithium + AAs (I can't think of any reason you would only use AAs when you could use both)?  Or am I missing something... ?

[dreyfuss]

The tests are with both batteries.  the AA's don't last very long when you're using Phantom Power.

Anyway I think I've discovered why my 1st test was so much shorter than MaxJames, I had the backlight set to "off" but as I noticed today it was still staying on, so I adjusted the dimmer to "off" and now the backlight is staying off, I'm in the middle of a test right now so when it's done I'll post the results, I'm hoping they match yours MaxJames.

[MaxJames]

The tests are with both batteries.  the AA's don't last very long when you're using Phantom Power.

Actually the tests use AA NIMH alone (with the lithium battery removed), and separately use the lithium battery alone (whith the AA NIMH removed). I did this just to see separately how long the battery would last.

Practically these situations could rise - for example you run out of AA so that you use the lithium alone; Or conversely the lithium battery is completely discharged and you do not have a chance to recharge it yet, so you use the AA or AA NIMH alone. To get the running time with both batteries, simply add up the separate times.

By the way, the AA NIMH I used were Sanyo Eneloop brand.

[spyder9]

Lithium + AA, phantom on = 3 hours and 20 minutes?

That's cutting it close for some shows.  Prefer to see that number be around 5 hours. 

Thanks for the tests.  I appreciate it.