Topic: Need to pick up new SD cards for Marantz 661, recommendations?

[MakersMarc]

Had this card take a crap on me last night during Del McCoury. 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1131698-REG/lexar_lsd16gbbnl3002_lexar.html


Apologize if this has been covered, but search didn't get me what I wanted. Thanks!

[bombdiggity]

I've always used Sandisk (from known reputable suppliers, so they're definitely real ones) and never had a problem. 

I just bought a couple of Lexars on deep discount at Target since the reports seemed good and I occasionally need a spare (usually for other things than music recording).  I've used some of those recently in the R-44 a few times with no issue but may reconsider 

[MakersMarc]

Yeah, this card is very new also, first trouble I've had and I've only used Lexar. Doug did warn about sandisk problems way back.

[bombdiggity]

Maybe the 661 is a bit picky about the cards?  I'm not sure how it got there but I've had the impression I should use either Sandisk (from personal experience as well) or Lexar and maybe Kingston. 

Manufacturing may be changing or something though?   It is a lot harder to get hard drives from Thailand than it used to be.  Even the few that were made there seem to be shifting to China (I've seen the "same" model and packaging of Seagates with Thai and Chinese origin (they print it on the serial number sticker now so I guess can switch it whenever they want).  Of course Seagate being sold out to some other company may have a lot to do with that... 

[MakersMarc]

I think it might just be bad luck, first failure. Or you may be right, the new cards are junk. Dang.

[rocksuitcase]

Doug Oade recommended the Panasonic class 10 cards when he sold me my 661.
I've used mainly sandisk class10 with it with no card issues. Sorry, no access to my gear right now so can't give model numbers.
He did say to stay away from PNY cards.

[Fried Chicken Boy]

He did say to stay away from PNY cards.

I haven't had good experience with PNY cards.  Had a few of them over the years and they all eventually crapped out on me.  Noticed that the read and write times seemed to be slowing down and then... boom!  Completely dead. 

[MakersMarc]

Somewhere on another forum it seemed that peeps were of the opinion that the sweet spot for a 661 is 8 gb. And Marantz packaged a Toshiba 8 gb card with the MKII I bought a year or so ago. So I'm going to try that.

[dactylus]

I've used SanDisk Extreme Pro cards with my 661 for many years now and I have never had any issues.  I just purchased a few new SanDisk Extreme Pro cards and they have worked well for me thus far.  I purchased the 16GB version of the card below.

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-UHS-I-Memory-SDSDXPA-032G-AFFP/dp/B007NDL56A

[MakersMarc]

Thanks! That helps. Wondering if Lexar has taken a quality dive.

[DigiGal]

Been using these cards since 2009 in my PMD661 and never had a card issue yet.

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=139705.msg1811111#msg1811111

[MakersMarc]

So this may be old news, but Doug emailed me back and says that 661s without the firmware update can't handle UHS cards, needs the V2.04 update. Mystery solved. Rather than take a chance on bricking it I'm gonna have Doug do the update, 6 year old deck could use a checkup anyhow. I asked if this was an issue out of the box with the MK II, which is my other deck, I'll report back on that. I've been using a 16 gb Lexar UHS card for maybe 50 hours on dat transfers with the MK II without issue, so I think it has the update.

[MakersMarc]

Doug says that the MKii should not have issues with UHS cards.