Topic: Sony PCM-M10 audio recorder - NEW

[gmm6797]

Sold my backup R09hr and just ordered a PCM-M10.... if it gets here by Friday, I hope to run a comparison between my other R09HR and the M10

[bgalizio]

Sold my backup R09hr and just ordered a PCM-M10.... if it gets here by Friday, I hope to run a comparison between my other R09HR and the M10

I would love to hear a line-in comparison of the two recorders. Just hook them up to your CD player at home and record! (Bonus if you have a commercial SACD or DVD-A for 24bit recording comparison).

[dogmusic]

Here is a test recording of mine with internal mics:

http://www.box.net/shared/ovixz0us3t

It was recorded with 24/96 but normalized to 0 dB and converted to 16/44.1. The recording had about 9 dB of headroom so factor in about 9 dB of noise floor increase during normalization. Still the very slight ambient noise dominated electronic hissing. The mic sensitivity was set to low and the unit was placed on the right hand flat area of the music desk of a Steinway grand piano, pointing into the soundboard at a 45 degree angle.

Always a pleasure to hear Bach, especially so evenly played. Thank you, dbxp. Is that a Steinway "M"?

The PCM-M10 again seems to me to come off quite well using the internals.

[dbxp]

Thanks Dogmusic for the kind words. While I'm no Steinway expert, it's probably a model A, as it's a solid 6 footer. I myself have very limited musical capabilities and it's my high school son who takes piano lessons playing in a classroom of the conservatory here. The rooms there all have basic acoustic treatment. Bigger rooms have hardwood floors and sound-absorbing ceilings while smaller rooms have additional two sound absorbing walls. That, plus frequent tuning and regulation of the pianos, usually makes the instrument much better sounding than what we can achieve at home.

[gmm6797]

I would love to hear a line-in comparison of the two recorders. Just hook them up to your CD player at home and record! (Bonus if you have a commercial SACD or DVD-A for 24bit recording comparison).

The only other high-end equipment I own is a 722... but I always like "live field" comparisons, as that is how I use my gear 100% of the time

[bgalizio]

I would love to hear a line-in comparison of the two recorders. Just hook them up to your CD player at home and record! (Bonus if you have a commercial SACD or DVD-A for 24bit recording comparison).

The only other high-end equipment I own is a 722... but I always like "live field" comparisons, as that is how I use my gear 100% of the time

I understand. But this test will help us R-09HR owners on whether the M10 is an upgrade, crossgrade, or downgrade.

[Craig T]

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=529501
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=529502
http://www.archive.org/details/dso2009-11-07.mk4-8.nbox.flac16

Schoeps mk4+mk8 (m/s)> NBox+> Sony PCM-M10

http://www.archive.org/details/kdtu2009-11-01.ca14c.st9100.flac16

Church Audio CA-14(cards,NOS)> ST-9100v4.3> Sony PCM-M10

[Falconidave]

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=529501
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=529502

Schoeps mk4+mk8 (m/s)> NBox+> Sony PCM-M10

http://www.archive.org/details/kdtu2009-11-01.ca14c.st9100.flac16

Church Audio CA-14(cards,NOS)> ST-9100v4.3> Sony PCM-M10

Sounds pretty damn nice...

[jamesmcn]

A few weeks back, I borrowed a Zoom H4 to record the sound of rain. I ended up doing a lot more environmental ambient recordings. After I gave the zoom back, I ordered the Sony M10.

I just got the M10 today. I'm shocked at how little handling noise there is compared to the Zoom, and I'm not even using the included remote yet. Sound quality does seem to be noticeably better than the Zoom. In particular, the noise floor seems a lot lower, even after normalizing a very quiet recording.

The size and form-factor are roughly similar to an older smart phone or mp3 player. No one will mistake it for a cell phone, but it could easily be mistaken for a weird MP3 player.

The only negative is that it doesn't seem to recognize eject events from my Mac. But it didn't complain when I pulled the USB cable, either.

Does anyone sell a windscreen for the M10 yet? The Sony screen doesn't seem to be available anywhere.

[mloewen]

There are windscreens for sale on ebay for the PCM-M10 one for 19.99 and another for 23.99 . there is also an offical Sony windscreen for 62.99.

 I decided to make my own but had a hard time finding faux fur that was long enough. Then I found distinctivefabrics.com they have a 3 inch pyle and if you join their web site they will send you 3 free swatches (no charge for postage even) samples 5 X 3 1/2 " plenty big enough to make a windscreen just get a short piece of elastic and you can make a cheap or free windscreen.

[dogmusic]

No one will mistake it for a cell phone, but it could easily be mistaken for a weird MP3 player.

Actually, I already had a couple people think that it was a cell phone who were surprised to find out what it was.

The only negative is that it doesn't seem to recognize eject events from my Mac. But it didn't complain when I pulled the USB cable, either.

I haven't had any problems with the M10 and my Mac. Did you try ejecting it from a finder window? If you have a memory card inside it, then two icons will appear on the desktop and both should be ejected.

[jamesmcn]

I haven't had any problems with the M10 and my Mac. Did you try ejecting it from a finder window? If you have a memory card inside it, then two icons will appear on the desktop and both should be ejected.

I ejected it from my mac. Ten minutes later, the connecting logo was still spinning on the Sony. I'm not using a memory card yet.

[dogmusic]

I haven't had any problems with the M10 and my Mac. Did you try ejecting it from a finder window? If you have a memory card inside it, then two icons will appear on the desktop and both should be ejected.

I ejected it from my mac. Ten minutes later, the connecting logo was still spinning on the Sony. I'm not using a memory card yet.

Mine does the same. That spinning is a little disconcerting and it would've been better to have a definite "disconnected" indication.

[Idle Wind]

anyone know how many volts in the plug-in power?

also - this has a digital limiter, the r09hr says it has an analog limiter.  not sure what the difference is, and if you'd even use one in a stealth situation.  I never used AGC, but I did use the clip setting on my rockboxed IRiver, which actually works.

I was all ready to pull the trigger on an r09hr, until this came out, now I'm on the fence.  My sense is either one would be great, but I'd use this primarily for stealth - so ease of use, low key lighting, easily visible controls, etc.  you've got to love the IRiver remote, which shows you the levels right on it.

The M-10 looks like it has forward facing mics with clip indicators right on them, so if you're clipping, you'd be blinking.  I'd generally use separate mics (AT853) but I'm surprised at the results people have been getting from the built ins...

[jamesmcn]

anyone know how many volts in the plug-in power?

The brick says 3V, 1A. I haven't taken a scope or multimeter to it to verify, though.

also - this has a digital limiter, the r09hr says it has an analog limiter.  not sure what the difference is, and if you'd even use one in a stealth situation.  I never used AGC, but I did use the clip setting on my rockboxed IRiver, which actually works.

The O'Reilly D50 review explains how the sony digital limiter works. In a nutshell, Sony records at both the normal level and several dB lower. When it detects clipping, it smoothly and seamlessly splices in the quieter wave. I have not verified this on my M10, though.

AGC is turned on out of the box, so my previous comments where I compared the noise level of the M10 to the Zoom H4 reflected on recordings with AGC turned on. I've since tried manual recordings and definitely hear some noise both from handling and on the foloor when the record level is turned way up. The out-of-the-box sound is amazing. I expect it will take a day or two for me to figure out how to best make a manual recording.

The M-10 looks like it has forward facing mics with clip indicators right on them, so if you're clipping, you'd be blinking.  I'd generally use separate mics (AT853) but I'm surprised at the results people have been getting from the built ins...

It actually has two sets of lights on each mic. One for -12 dB and another for clipping. I believe you can turn the lights completely off in the menu to avoid distracting musicians.