Hello, I asked about this on Gearslutz and was pointed here...
I want to record either consumer -10dBV or pro +4dBu stereo line outs from a mixer, at home and around town. It would be nice to have a stereo backup. I am not particularly interested in mics at this point, this is for electronic music (live PAs and DJs). My current setup is a Thinkpad T41 laptop with a Digigram VXpocket 2-in 2-out PCMCIA card. It's pretty good for 24/44.1 but too much of a pain to move around. I was looking at a Tascam DR-05 + attenuator, and was recommended a DR-60DmkII, DR-70D, DR-100mkII, and DR-100mkIII. So my question is, what is a good performance / price (high value) setup for stereo line recording?
I'm in Canada, here are Amazon.ca prices in Canadian dollars:
DR-05: $110
DR-60DmkII: $207
DR-70D: $331
DR-100mkII: $337
DR-100mkIII: $540
Rolls HV6: $101 (3.5mm stereo attenuator for DR-05, which has a -20dBV input)
3.5mm cable: $10 (for using Rolls HV6)
4x Eneloop Pro w/ charger: $40
4x Eneloop Pro: $31
Tascam BP-L2 Battery clone: $30 (for DR-100mkII)
Tascam BP-6AA: $47
Tascam AC Adapter: $32 (used)
Anker PowerCore 20100: $36
Anker 5-port AC-USB Charger for PowerCore: $26
32GB SDHC Card: $16
128GB SDXC Card: $52
Miscellanous USB Cables: under $10
Currently I am thinking about a DR-60DmkII + Anker PowerCore 20100 + Anker 5-port AC-USB Charger + cables. Total cost = $295. I would like to run it on AC power when possible, unless this will interfere with sound quality. I could go for a different charger if there was a point. I will use the 2 XLR jacks for pro levels if available, otherwise the 3.5mm 3-4 jack for consumer levels. The other two tracks will be padded backup. Two tracks at 24/96 is 16 hours on a 32GB card, so 2 tracks with 2 backup tracks will give me 8 hours. The 3-4 jack is specifed as up to +10dBV, which is higher than consumer max +6dBV so I figure it will be okay.
If there's a noticeable increase in quality or convenience to be had for a bit more money, I am interested in hearing about it! I just don't want to spend money if there's no good reason to. I read the thread on four channel decks, it seems the 70D is popular at the low end because there's 4 XLR in's, which is possibly irrelevant to me, but possibly useful for something else.
Thanks for your input!