Tapers,
My Sony PCM-D50 fell in a river while I was recording endangered species. I rescued the PCM-D50, but since then, the mics volume is unbalanced, as such, the right mic delivers only about two thirds of the recording volume as the left one; but this seems to appear gradually, i.e if the input signal is lower than 100Hz, the mics are balanced, while the discrepancy increases with the input frequence; so it's relatively difficult to compensate in processing; as the discrepancy isn't linear.
I have several options:
* one would be to get the PCM-D50 serviced, but since I owned it for >6 years and there are no Sony shop around, it would have to be done by a third party I suppose, would you advise me someone who can service those recorders near Seattle, WA?
* try the repair myself, using another PCM-D50 from an auction website (not much to lose).
* "upgrade" to a PCM-D100.
* purchase something from a different brand.
The use of external mics is of course an option, but I would like the unit to be compact, I do quite a lot of hiking and backpacking to track those animals. I have been using a PCM-M10, but the quality isn't what the PCM-D50 delivered (although the PCM-M10 is quite good really, it has its own limitations). Recording in mono isn't an option. I do my recordings in 96kHz/24 bit, but wouldn't mind 192kHz (the recordings are not meant to be replayed, rather, analysed by sound processors to extract a meaningful "message").
Thank you