Topic: Tascam DR100mkii Review

[stevetoney]

I emailed Oade and he isn't going to mod the DR100 mkii

Too bad.
I was looking into it today and thinking that could be the perfect all-in-one with the mod.

This doesn't really surprise me.  I might be off base here, but I think maybe one of the reasons the Tascam units are lower cost is how they manufacture the boards.  From Oade's perspective, I also recall reading that his mods replace stock soldered surface mount components, but if the key components aren't soldered surface mounted, then he can't do anything with the unit.

[newplanet7]

Does this unit even "need" a mod. It doesn't sound like it.
Although most of the mods done aren't really NEEDED anyway. I guess it's a flavor thing.

The only deck that I know of that had mods done out of necessity was the 660, which I have.
It was nearly unusable with amplified music as an all in one without the mod I have read.

[jibooer]

As far as external powering goes, has anyone 'experimented' with a Tekkeon 5V USB out or a DVD battery w/ 5v regulator yet? I know tonedeaf has had success with the Power runner.

[jimbee]

Thanks for the amazingly helpful review of the DR-100 MKII, Steve.  Here is a quick question, in my, uh, limited testing of the recorder, I believe I have stumbled on an issue with the limiter.

In MONO mode, with one mic (Rode NTG-1) plugged into the left XLR and phantom power ON, with the limiter switch on the back turned OFF, the limiter still seems to be engaged, like a brick wall at -6 db, and it sounds terrible.

Maybe it is just my machine, but I wonder if that test is repeatable?  Probably nobody has tried it, why would they, who would record with one mic in mono?  But if you are recording film dialogue with one shotgun mic on a boom, you might like to record in mono to get two identical channels of audio rather than having the audio only in the left channel and nothing in the right channel.

Or, if I am missing something, and that is truly the way the limiter is supposed to work in mono with one mic, I'm wondering why.  What purpose would it serve to have the limiter still engaged in mono even when the switch on the back is turned off?

In stereo mode, with the limiter switch OFF, it works like I would expect, and will clip at 0 db.  With the limiter switch ON in stereo mode, the limiter does seem to work, it sounds much better, and you can approach 0 db without being slammed at -6.

Thanks for any advice,
jimbee

[batton77]

I'm liking the Dr100mkii,  especially gong all digital with my Sound Devices MIXPRE-D >AES out (cannare BCJXJA10TRA) to SPDIF in of the mkii - sounds fantastic ..... Nah make that unbelievable.

[mhlsr]

Just used mine for  first time last Sat.
http://archive.org/details/Furthur2012-04-07.Furthur2012-04-07.AT897s
Got a few whistlers, howlers. Other wise sounds great.
Mic Gain-High, Limiter off, Phantom power off, mics AA battery, Levels 4.5.
Used 2 AA's lithium's each set. No Problem.

[seanay]

Just picked one up yesterday (B&H had them listed online at 269)...looking forward to trying it out.  I'm going to try running the SPDIF from a UA-5 digimod to the digital in.

Echoing an earlier post, what are people planning to use for external power?  I just picked up a Chinese knock-off 5v/9v/12v external and running that either into the DC in or the USB in.  I'll let you know how it works.

[stevetoney]

Just picked one up yesterday (B&H had them listed online at 269)...looking forward to trying it out.  I'm going to try running the SPDIF from a UA-5 digimod to the digital in.

Echoing an earlier post, what are people planning to use for external power?  I just picked up a Chinese knock-off 5v/9v/12v external and running that either into the DC in or the USB in.  I'll let you know how it works.

Nice.  I've been eyeing that same battery on ebay.  That battery should run this unit for a really long time.  I'm using a Power Runner (the predecessor of the Tekkeon) and I have no clue how long it goes on that battery because it's never come remotely close to running out of juice.  In fact, during an average 3 to 4 hours worth of music, I rarely see any of the lights on the Power Runner go out.  Summer festival season is almost upon us though, so this summer I'll probably run the Power Runner dry at some point over a weekend.  I'll report results then.

[BusDriver]

Instead of posting in review section I should maybe post in DR100mkII 'problems' ....

Those damn silly rubber feet on the unit ... one was missing when I took it from the box. Now, two more have fallen off from simple movement. Little things get my goat. I've replaced them with more durable pads.

Battery ... what gives?? No more than 3 hours on the internal running built in mic.  I bought an extra anticipating low life, but this is LOW. Running phantom tomorrow with mics drawing 3.3 mA each. Hope it is a short set. And, is 5 hours a normal recharge time via USB?

Now, I can't seem to get anything from the speaker. Any trick to this? Anything more than switch on bottom and headphone / line out unplugged? Manual doesn't indicate a menu adjustment.

I like my mixpre / M10. What did I need this for?

[fmaderjr]

The only deck that I know of that had mods done out of necessity was the 660, which I have.
It was nearly unusable with amplified music as an all in one without the mod I have read.

And before that, DAT decks like the Sony DCT-D100. My unmodded one was totally unusable going mic in with fairly loud live music. I thought I flushed $800 down the toilet and went back to mini-disc.  (Of course had I known about taperssection then, I would have known about battery boxes and could have tried going line in).

After the mod, never a problem & the limiter also worked great if I wanted to use it. Before the mod, distortion set in before the limiter kicked in.

I like my mixpre / M10. What did I need this for?

Great combo! Plus you can use the M10 alone for low profile.

[BillStrehl]

The BP-L2 Li-ion battery is rated 3.7V and 1800 mah.

Alkalines are rated 1.5V and 1800 - 2400 mah each...so a pair provides a capacity of 3V and 3600 mah minimum.

NiMH are rated 1.25V and 800 to 2400 mah each...so a pair provides a capacity of 2.5V and 1600 mah minimum.

What this tells me is that AAs SHOULD be giving longer run times than the Li-ion.  Regardless, just by comparing the ratings, you shouldn't be getting a fraction of the run-time from the AAs than you get from the Li-ion.

Having said this, the specs of the unit say that the maximum draw is 4W...that's very high compared to other devices, but that still doesn't explain the differences in run-time between the two.

I just ran a test with a Rode NTG-3 using phantom power and got 44 minutes of continues recording time.  When I went back to look at peoples comments and I think you might be wrong on your calculations for the Alkaline.  It appears the battery is hooked up in series so I think the 2 batteries together would provide 3 volts at 1800 to 2400 mAh.  I looked anthoer website that seems to validate my thinking.

Let me know if I am wrong.

And a HUGE THANKS for such an excellent review!!!

[stevetoney]

The BP-L2 Li-ion battery is rated 3.7V and 1800 mah.

Alkalines are rated 1.5V and 1800 - 2400 mah each...so a pair provides a capacity of 3V and 3600 mah minimum.

NiMH are rated 1.25V and 800 to 2400 mah each...so a pair provides a capacity of 2.5V and 1600 mah minimum.

What this tells me is that AAs SHOULD be giving longer run times than the Li-ion.  Regardless, just by comparing the ratings, you shouldn't be getting a fraction of the run-time from the AAs than you get from the Li-ion.

Having said this, the specs of the unit say that the maximum draw is 4W...that's very high compared to other devices, but that still doesn't explain the differences in run-time between the two.

I just ran a test with a Rode NTG-3 using phantom power and got 44 minutes of continues recording time.  When I went back to look at peoples comments and I think you might be wrong on your calculations for the Alkaline.  It appears the battery is hooked up in series so I think the 2 batteries together would provide 3 volts at 1800 to 2400 mAh.  I looked anthoer website that seems to validate my thinking.

Let me know if I am wrong.

And a HUGE THANKS for such an excellent review!!!

Your comment seems correct to me.  If two batteries are in series, the voltage doubles, but the capacity does not double.

Conversely, if you connect them in parallel, the voltage does not change, but the capacity doubles.

An example for that is I have a cable that I use to hot swap batteries.  The cable has a pig tail for parallel connecting batteries.  When one battery runs low and it's time to change out to the second battery, if you connect the second battery so that they're both connected at the same time for awhile before the first is depleted, you aren't changing the voltage being supplied to the device, but you're supplementing the capacity of the first battery by adding more capacity via the fresh one.   

[F.O.Bean]

Instead of posting in review section I should maybe post in DR100mkII 'problems' ....

Those damn silly rubber feet on the unit ... one was missing when I took it from the box. Now, two more have fallen off from simple movement. Little things get my goat. I've replaced them with more durable pads.

Battery ... what gives?? No more than 3 hours on the internal running built in mic.  I bought an extra anticipating low life, but this is LOW. Running phantom tomorrow with mics drawing 3.3 mA each. Hope it is a short set. And, is 5 hours a normal recharge time via USB?

Now, I can't seem to get anything from the speaker. Any trick to this? Anything more than switch on bottom and headphone / line out unplugged? Manual doesn't indicate a menu adjustment.

I like my mixpre / M10. What did I need this for?

Why'd u buy one then? I would sell it and just use the m10

[Sebastian]

Here's a recent show I taped with the DR100mkII... The unit worked surprisingly well in the stealth-without-guilt situation (i.e. I had no problems finding any buttons in the dark).

[seanay]

Took my MkII out for the first time last night, running through a digimod UA-5 into the digital in.  I'm very pleased with the sound, but I am concerned about external power.

EDIT: Forgot to mention initially, I had trouble running 24/96 from the preamp, but I could get locked in at 24/48.  I need to play around with it more, I'm sure, but that seems...concerning.

As it is, I ran nearly the entire show on the internal battery...and probably wouldn't have had problems if I had decided to run the ENTIRE show on it.  When the battery jumped down to one bar, I flipped on my knockoff battery with 5v power through USB.  I had intended to use the trick tonedeaf mentioned in his review, turning on the USB power in the middle of recording so the recorder wouldn't shift into "Connected" mode.  However, the trick lasted only a few minutes before the "Connected" sign came on. 

Long story short, by the time I flipped the thing back on (and foolishly tried again), I lost a song and half of Terrapin Flyer's second set.

EDIT: Found some cables that will work for powering.