Topic: SD 702 vs everything else...

[F.O.Bean]

I ran MBHO Hypers>722
                          >LB>M10

and you folks said that my LB>M10 sounded as good, if not better, than my 722 source

[jnorman34]

AB52 - yeah, the booj is a hoot, isnt he?  we are now famous for the "boojum/jnorman array" that somebody coined over at gearslutz...

[Brian Skalinder]

For those recommending the 702 for paid work and/or mission critical live recording:  a single recorder -- no matter how good -- won't cut it, IMO.  You need redundancy, with at least a backup recorder, if not full set of recording gear.

If you have the cash, my vote is for the 702.  While I miss my 722, I have to say for those on a budget the Fostex FR-2LE offers tremendous value (i.e. outstanding performance for the price.)

Edit to add:  I've used my FR-2LE in un-amplified environments multiple times, mainly smallish (8-15 persn) vocal groups .  I find the FR-2LE has sufficient gain for my needs, and it's noise floor is well below the noise floor of the recording environment (like churches).

[sparkey]

The preamp in my 722 sounds excellent.  The V2 and Nbox sound better, IMO.  The MP-2 sounds very similar to my 722, methinks.

so are you guys saying a dedicated preamp, like SDPre or sonosax, etc, plus a D50 or M10 is a better way to go than a 702?
also, what about the marantz 661?  anywhere comparable to 702?

[Napo]

If you are gonna be running mics>recorder...I know I'll get some smirks for this one, but I, without a doubt, enjoy the sound from my Oade Concert Mod 661 more than I did from my 702. No doubt the 702 is a step above in build quality/features but I always found the preamps to be a little "thin". The Oade 661 has better low-end and a killer soundstage compared to the 702. Some people just can't see past the price difference, immediately dismissing the 661 cause it's 1/3 of the price. Based on sound alone, I'll take 3 661s over 1 702 ANYDAY.

Interesting point, you made.

How about gain? 722 can go up tp +60db, I belive. Can the Mod 611 match that?

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How about gain? 722 can go up tp +60db, I belive. Can the Mod 611 match that?

70db in normal gain mode.

[dennisrtyler]

If you are gonna be running mics>recorder...I know I'll get some smirks for this one, but I, without a doubt, enjoy the sound from my Oade Concert Mod 661 more than I did from my 702. No doubt the 702 is a step above in build quality/features but I always found the preamps to be a little "thin". The Oade 661 has better low-end and a killer soundstage compared to the 702. Some people just can't see past the price difference, immediately dismissing the 661 cause it's 1/3 of the price. Based on sound alone, I'll take 3 661s over 1 702 ANYDAY.

Interesting point, you made.

How about gain? 722 can go up tp +60db, I belive. Can the Mod 611 match that?

Not entirely sure, to be honest. Shoot Doug an email. He can mod them for high gain, if needed.

[Napo]

Excuse me for highjacking the thread.

1. Any difference in performance between a 702 and a 722 apart from the hard disk recording?
2. Recording directly to an Hard Disk improves the recording over recording on a Card?

T+, Mauro

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Excuse me for highjacking the thread.

1. Any difference in performance between a 702 and a 722 apart from the hard disk recording?
2. Recording directly to an Hard Disk improves the recording over recording on a Card?

1) No. They both have CF card slots, but only the 722 has a hard drive.
2) The resulting files are the same, the advantage is in storage space (the stock drive was 40gb I think, and many who upgrade put jumbo drives in), and redundancy/safety as you can record to both the CF card and hard drive at the same time (so if one fails, the other keeps going).

[notlance]

Excuse me for highjacking the thread.

1. Any difference in performance between a 702 and a 722 apart from the hard disk recording?
2. Recording directly to an Hard Disk improves the recording over recording on a Card?

1) No. They both have CF card slots, but only the 722 has a hard drive.
2) The resulting files are the same, the advantage is in storage space (the stock drive was 40gb I think, and many who upgrade put jumbo drives in), and redundancy/safety as you can record to both the CF card and hard drive at the same time (so if one fails, the other keeps going).

The new 722s come with a 160 gig SATA hard drive.  Not too long ago, the SD recorders came with a PATA hard drive, but that interface is becoming scarce so SD switched.  Note that both the 702 and the 722 (for that matter, all SD recorders) can record to an external Firewire HD.  Portable HD with Firewire are not too common, but can be found.  So it is possible to run a 702 with redundant media and get nearly the reliability of the 722.

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The new 722s come with a 160 gig SATA hard drive.

slick, I didn't know. Thanks.

[moooose]

Note that both the 702 and the 722 (for that matter, all SD recorders) can record to an external Firewire HD.  Portable HD with Firewire are not too common, but can be found.  So it is possible to run a 702 with redundant media and get nearly the reliability of the 722.

Just to add that the 702 can record to an external FW HD only if connected to an external power supply.

[notlance]

Just to add that the 702 can record to an external FW HD only if connected to an external power supply.

That is not true; the 702 will record to an external FW HD without an external power supply.  First, this is what Sound Devices says on the subject:

"FireWire Bus Powering
The six-pin FireWire port on the 702 provides power for bus-powered FireWire drives. The following conditions should be observed when connecting to bus-powered drives.
•  Bus powering a drive requires external DC powering of the 702. The 702 cannot operate buspowered drives from an attached Li-ion battery.
•  When recording in realtime to bus-powered FireWire drives the XL-1394 FireWire Power Filter is recommended. This fi lter network isolates the electrical noise in bus-powered drives from the 702.
•  While hot-swapping FireWire cables is possible it is strongly recommended to attach bus-powered drives with the recorder turned off. "

I realize SD says "the 702 cannot operate buspowered drives from an attached Li-ion battery," but it works.  In fact I just tested it on my 702.  Now running an external HD will pull down the battery pretty fast so I'd run the 702 with both internal and external batteries.

Heed the don't hot-swap FireWire warning.  Apparently hot-swapping sometimes fries the 702's FireWire circuit resulting in an expensive repair.

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Heed the don't hot-swap FireWire warning.  Apparently hot-swapping sometimes fries the 702's FireWire circuit resulting in an expensive repair.

IIRC, its related to the hot pin structure that the 6-pin full sized cables use.

You have to be really careful with the cable. I always pull the cable from the computer end first and only after shutting down the recorder.

[Fried Chicken Boy]

Guessing the drives in the 7xx decks are hard-disk and not solid-state?  With no moving parts, putting in an SSD would increase reliability and lower the chance of a crash.  They are considerably more expensive than a similarly sized disk drive, though.