Already answered by everyone above, but since I typed this, damned if I'm not going to hit 'post' anyway..
You're not alone.. certainly not on this site. Unfortunately there just aren’t enough of us for a manufacture to build something specifically for our needs.
I’d like the same features you describe and I’m sure there are many others around here that would as well. Yet the number of people who want a small recorder like this are most likely not significant enough for large manufacturers to target with a specific product. As I see it, the target market for small handheld recorders are musicians, bloggers & reporters. They primarily want recorders that are small, inexpensive all-in-one machines that work without any required outboard gear and that means including mics and preamps. The internal mics make the recorder slightly larger, the preamps take little board space and probably add no significant bulk. The components used for both of them are inexpensive off-the-shelf stuff so their inclusion is unlikely to add a significantly to the overall price of the recorder. Partially because of that, and partially because the overall cost of these recorders is amazingly low because of their mass production, elimination of the mics and preamps would not reduce their selling price by 50%. Perhaps ironically, introduction of a handheld recorder that eliminates those things would probably come with an increased price, since any such recorder would target a smaller niche market.
The handheld stereo recorder that comes closest on paper to what we want is the M-Audio Multitrack (no internal mics, digital in/out as well as mic preamps) but its problems and compromises far outweigh any real-world advantage for most here.
Another significant market is sound for ENG/video/film. Recorders targeting those applications need professional features like a tougher build quality, balanced inputs, multiple channels, etc. These machines are in some ways closer to what you want in that they are multi-channel and have no mics, but they are larger (certainly not handheld), are considerably more expensive because of the better build quality, pro features, and the overall smaller number of machines manufactured in comparison to handhelds, plus most include mic preamps on at least two of the channels. These have also become less expensive and smaller, but they will probably never get down to handheld size simply because of the size required to handle all the required input and output connections (multiple balanced XLRs, TRS jacks, digital connections, sync, clock, etc).
In light of all that, I was somewhat surprised and pleased to find 4 channel capability in the inexpensive, hand-held Tascam DR2d, which may have been developed at least partially to compete with the Zoom's 4 channel capability. It still includes the 'market required' mics and preamps, but gets closer to the simple multi-channel ADC > flash-storage idea. It’s not perfect, but it’s the smallest, least expensive option I've found for 4 x ADC > SDHC. In a perfect world I’d have an inexpensive pocket recorder with 6 or 8 channels, input on a single connector with a break-out cable, good preamps and mic powering (if I’m dreaming, then why not go all the way and eliminate the need for an outboard preamp altogether?)
Since the world isn’t perfect I can live with the DR2d’s compromises for now, and recently picked up a DR-680 for when I need 6 or 8 channels. The 680 is the smallest, least expensive recorder that I’d place near the bottom of the typically much more costly ENG/video/film recorder category. Unlike the handheld DR2d it has no mics, but does have balanced connections, 6 decent preamps and digital in/out.
I don’t mean to shill for Tascam, but at the moment they seem to be the ones to beat for low-cost multichannel recorders.
Even if internal mics and low quality preamps with sub-par mic powering are effectively like unnecessary vestigial organs- toenails or an appendix our uses, these things are part of the evolutionary baggage of a device molded by the natural selection pressures of its target market.
Fortunately we can dress up these brown horses like pink unicorns.
Topic: ADC & Bit Bucket by itself - no mics/pre? (Read 6222 times)