I am contemplating purchasing a new portable recorder and was interested in comments from owners on which of these two machines to purchase. I presently use an external a/d converter and go in spdif/ both of these machines provide digital inputs. The only real difference that I see is the Sony is optical in vs the Tascam providing coaxial spdif in. My a/d provides both coaxial and optical spdif output.
I read both manuals briefly and see that the Tascam will perform auto file splits when the 2GB maximum file size is reached and that you may also perform a manual file split at any time. The Sony appears to only have the manual file split function unless I missed something. I would love to know if the Sony does auto file splits.
The Sony seems to have the best battery life according to its manual it should return around 12-13 hours of recording time. The Tascam has a great battery option in that you can configure a primary and secondary battery in the software and hot swap batteries without losing a recording. Since both machines are approximately the same size are there any features or reasons to purchase the Sony over the Tasacam if price is not the issue? I can get a Sony D50 for $375.00 with a case and Rykote windscreen vs the Tascam which can be had almost everywhere for $329.00.