Topic: IKEY-AUDIO M3................(Have you tested this, any feedback???)

[sunjan]

someone must have tested one of these out.
It's been out for over 8 months.

Answers your question doesn't it?

I don't get this. Ikey launched a bunch of stuff (incl. the M3) over a year ago at NAMM 2009, but they haven't bothered to update their website ever since. Granted that the new products only have been shipping since December:
http://www.ikey-audio.com/namm.html

No product page, no specs, nothing. And the welcome page says "Under construction - coming soon December 2009".

Kinda tells you what customer support you can expect from them. 

Anyway, here are two reviews for you. Not that they say anything useful though, just the usual marketing regurgitation...
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazona.de%2Findex.php%3Fpage%3D29%26do%3Ddetail%26news_id%3D1093&sl=de&tl=en
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.player.de%2F2009%2F12%2F04%2Faufnehmen-und-abspielen-gleichzeitig-mobiler-digitalrekorder-ikey-audio-m3%2F

[igene]

Thanks for the bit of research.
Written poorly by non english speaking ad person.
I appreciate any bits of info everyone has supplyed so far...
but I don't want anyone to think I have no idea what good recording
decks are. I've been taping since '87 and have owned many good decks
(most of which I still own).
I just didn't know anything about Ikey-audio other than being aware
of their USB recorder device.


I'm not totally convinced it's a POS, but I'm not buying it as of now.

I still want someone to say - "hey, I bought it and love it" or "this thing just sucks ass..every time I ..."

>you know what I mean.

too bad Casio doesn't make decks anymore.

[kirk97132]

someone must have tested one of these out.
It's been out for over 8 months.

Answers your question doesn't it?

I'm just saying Sun, that a site like this where basically any piece of gear that works decent or above for recording has been tried, this piece has not even been touched.   IF I were looking at gear and no one here had tried it I'd pass over it based on that alone

[igene]

fair enough.

Just trying to get an assessment.
Never even knew this existed.

just had to poke around.

[you never know!]


I've been looking at the DR-07, is it basically like an R-09 by Tascam?

[sunjan]

I've been looking at the DR-07, is it basically like an R-09 by Tascam?

Yup, they're quite comparable:
http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/compare-full-view.html

Many users prefer R-09HR, based on lower noise, smaller cubic footprint and 96kHz sample frequency. But if you're willing to settle for less, the DR-07 is still great value for money.

[prof_karp]

Hey, I think I can help answer some of your questions...

I bought an M3 on Musician's Friend about a month ago. I've been using it at my band's rehearsal space along with a Sterling Audio condenser mic into the Line Input. With this setup, recording as a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz Sampling, we get some really good audio... definitely demo quality with just a single room mic. I've also used it to record my DJ sets, where I aux send into the M3 input... I usually do this on 320 kbps MP3... These come out really excellent, partially because it's just capturing audio that's already recorded, but it also has good transparency, as the recordings sounds REALLY close to their original recordings...

And for the price you can't beat this thing. I was looking around for a while and decided to give this thing a shot just based on the price. I am very happy with it. So happy that I'm thinking about picking up an HDR7 which is a similar unit from Ikey but with 24-bit and 96 kHz sampling with built-in X/Y condensers...

As for customer service, I can't really answer this because I haven't had any problems with my unit where I need to call them.

[igene]

Since I started this post, I have yet to buy a backup deck.
I still have a desire to get the M3.
Thanks for the review, it helps a lot.

You may want to look at the Tascam DR-08
It just came out. Around $160 - $175 range.
Built in mics that position into different patterns and they are directional mics.
lots of cool features - like a record timer. Set it to start whenever, and no battery drain.

http://www.tascam.com/products/dr-08.html

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=TAS-DR-08&type=store

good luck.

[sunjan]

I bought an M3 on Musician's Friend about a month ago
With this setup, recording as a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz Sampling, we get some really good audio...

And for the price you can't beat this thing.

Actually, you can. Medeli  DR2 (AKA Alesis Palmtrack) is retailing for $99 these days, and does 24/48 instead of Ikey's more limited specs. Not to say that the Palmtrack is a great device, just pointing out that there's fierce competition in this price bracket.
Or if you want to compare 16-bit recorders, pick up an Iriver on ebay for $80 or so.  the Ikey doesn't stand a chance.

[igene]

actually, since the last post - I bought a TEAC VR-10
It's the size I want with the same specs as DR-08 (w/ rec. start timer) 16 - 24 / 44.1 - 96
int. mics sound good and specs say 6 hour REC. time onto a microSD (takes up to 32GB card)

$150. from sound prof.
 

SOLD !!!

[mslocum]

Don't buy the Ikey Audio M3!

I just got one from B&H on Friday. I used it for the first time today. The first recording stopped on its own after 1 minute. It recorded on the second try, but then the back-light on the screen shut off. I tried again a couple hours later and I couldn't even get it to power on. It did power on by itself about 30 minutes later since I mistakenly left it in the on position. It appears to be working properly again now, but I'm sending it back for a reliable unit.

In regards to power:
The batteries that came with it were dead. Ikey doesn't make a power supply, but I was able to buy one that fit the spec from radio shack. Kind of annoying.

I can't really speak to quality since the source might not have been the greatest. I did not like the user interface at all. It was clumsy with very few options or controls. I did discover in the manual that the controls can be locked by holding down the time and format buttons at the same time. The controls over all are very poor in quality and not very intuitive. The construction is overall cheap and the lcd screen was installed crooked.

After reading what others have said I think I'm going to spend another $30 and buy a Tascam DR-07 instead. I guess this is what I get for trying to be cheap.