Topic: Tascam DR-100mkii Recording Test - XLR & SPDIF

[dogmusic]

I got delivery of my DR-100mkii today, and since I've been following Steve's excellent review, http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=152321.0, I found I could get right down to a quick recording test.

The test won't satisfy most of the tapers here; it's only acoustic piano. But I thought it might help getting the feet wet on this new machine.

I did two short recordings: one with my Beyerdynamic MC930's going straight into the XLR inputs. Record level was at 8.0.

***[NOTE: I realized today (Dec 20) that I had left the mic gain switch on the rear of the recorder at L [low] which is why the record level is so high.]

The second test was using the same mics going into an SD USBPre2 and out the SPDIF of the Pre2 into the digital input of the DR-100mkii. (I had no problems locking with the Pre2)

Both recordings were done at 24/96.

I have also included two recordings for each of the set-ups of what I'll call my "room tone". I live beside a river which at this time of year is rising to its winter level. There's a constant white noise of rushing water in the background which might be mistaken for inherent recorder noise. So I made these recordings of just the room and then opened the door so you can hear what the river is adding.

My apologies for the less-than-ideal conditions.

DR-100mkii XLR RIVER - http://www.box.com/shared/t1es0fbhxxtlcy24jbrv

DR-100mkii XLR PNO - http://www.box.com/shared/ibrp1tkn3txk5oukmn2c

DR-100mkii DIG RIVER - http://www.box.com/shared/a0atbs2z9i3j1scs8ox3

DR-100mkii DIG PNO - http://www.box.com/shared/zvtsfthkso9m1h4cvq5s

[hi and lo]

Surprised no one has commented on this yet. I had a post written up last night but decided to hold off until a few others chimed in. Looks like I shouldn't wait.

The PNO clips weren't bad. The XLR source definitely sounds good enough for most purposes. There is a noticeably higher noise floor, but it's still within acceptable limits.

However, once you listen to the RIVER clips, things go south quickly. There is a ton of hiss in the XLR recording (I assume you had the DR100's gain maxed) while there is none in the DIG clip.

Hearing that RIVER clip, I almost wonder if there was something else wrong in the signal chain. I was disappointed with the amount of noise being heard from the mic pres.

[dogmusic]

Surprised no one has commented on this yet. I had a post written up last night but decided to hold off until a few others chimed in. Looks like I shouldn't wait.

The PNO clips weren't bad. The XLR source definitely sounds good enough for most purposes. There is a noticeably higher noise floor, but it's still within acceptable limits.

However, once you listen to the RIVER clips, things go south quickly. There is a ton of hiss in the XLR recording (I assume you had the DR100's gain maxed) while there is none in the DIG clip.

Hearing that RIVER clip, I almost wonder if there was something else wrong in the signal chain. I was disappointed with the amount of noise being heard from the mic pres.

I added a note to my initial post that I had forgotten to increase the mic gain switch from L to M or H. My record level was 8.0 which I thought at the time was too high, but I had read posts about the first DR-100 complaining about the high gain necessary.

I'll try another XLR recording with the gain switch at M and H, and see if that makes a difference.

[hi and lo]

Cool! Thanks for doing this of course. I think I failed to mention that in my quick post this AM. 

[stevetoney]

I can't add anything to the test other than to say that when I set the unit up for monitoring through the internals, I hear a decent amount of noise when high mic sensitivity is selected and the level knob is cranked. 

At a $330 price point I didn't buy this expecting recordings using the XLR connectors in the mic in setting to be either all that noise-free or glorious sounding...although it would be a plus if they did sound great.  I'm sure Busman or Oade will be able to address whatever shortcomings we may identify through these tests.

[Javier Cinakowski]

I have been looking very closely at these DR units from tascam.  The DR40 and DR100mkII both have xlr line inputs that are rated for pro line level.  However, they just don't seem to compete with the ridiculously quiet Sony M10.  I can deal with 1/8" jack for now...

[datbrad]

Hope Busman will look at it. Doug told me a while back that he had no interest in mods for any of the Tascam recorders other than the P2 due to some reason related to surface mount components and Chinese circuit boards, opposed to the Japanese boards with through hole circuits in the P2.

[dogmusic]

Hearing that RIVER clip, I almost wonder if there was something else wrong in the signal chain. I was disappointed with the amount of noise being heard from the mic pres.

I had normalized the piano recordings in Audacity, but I probably shouldn't have done it with the RIVER ones.

And I had neglected to change the gain switch, forcing me to raise the record level quite high. This time, the gain switch was at M and the record level was at 5.0 instead of 8.0. [The H setting seemed to be too high.]

For the files below,

1. DR100mkii XLR PNO #2A is the piano recording unprocessed.    http://www.box.com/shared/i0t9r21f313zgfug1r8q

2. DR100mkii XLR PNO #2B is the same piano recording normalized in Audacity.     http://www.box.com/shared/2e83h1ylkhzxuvzlu7k3

3. DR100mkii XLR RIVER #2 is room tone at the same settings as the piano recording but also unprocessed.     http://www.box.com/shared/po0qblz5db2698ko12i0


**NB - I want to remind everyone that there is a loud river in the background of these recordings. It may make it impossible to discern what the real noise level of these preamps is like.

[newplanet7]

Can someone explain to me what the L M H switch on the back actually does and why it is needed
when you manually set the levels running xlr mic in?
I guess I've never heard of a Low, Medium, High switch when using xlrs.
It adds a certain amount of gain?
Also what other p48 xlr recorders do this, as I haven't heard of it.

[hi and lo]

Can someone explain to me what the L M H switch on the back actually does and why it is needed
when you manually set the levels running xlr mic in?
I guess I've never heard of a Low, Medium, High switch when using xlrs.
It adds a certain amount of gain?
Also what other p48 xlr recorders do this, as I haven't heard of it.

I'm speculating a bit, partially based on previous experience, but it basically affects the first stage of gain and quantity applied. The dial is then used for fine tuning of the second gain stage. This allows you to have a very large gain range while allowing the dial for fine tuning. That switch has no effect when recording line-in.

The DR-680 has this, as well as most recent tascam recorders I would assume.

[newplanet7]

Thanks brother! I just have never heard of this for xlr.
I am assuming the output of the mic would play into this as well. I imagine with each setting and adding gain
greatly affects the s/n ratio.
Say, leaving it on low and using the gain knob/wheel to adjust to a fitting level you would presumably
be adding a ton of of noise as opposed to using medium and using the wheel less.

Basically, I am wondering what the standard increments for gain being added through the switch are.
It just seems weird to me I guess because I have never heard of it for p48 mics.

[stevetoney]

Thanks brother! I just have never heard of this for xlr.
I am assuming the output of the mic would play into this as well. I imagine with each setting and adding gain
greatly affects the s/n ratio.
Say, leaving it on low and using the gain knob/wheel to adjust to a fitting level you would presumably
be adding a ton of of noise as opposed to using medium and using the wheel less.

Basically, I am wondering what the standard increments for gain being added through the switch are.
It just seems weird to me I guess because I have never heard of it for p48 mics.

Not sure if it works the same way as the Sound Devices, but if it does, it's actually a nice feature.  The SD-7XX have a feature, but it's not a switch...it's selectable via the menu and the choices are either low scale and high scale or whatever it's called.  I can't remember exactly what the setting is called but it shifts the gain scale of the unit up or down.

[braweave]

How is this thing as a bitbucket?

I am thinking of picking up an SD USB pre 2 > Tascam Dr-100mkii

[jbell]

With the USBpre2 you could use a D50 since USBpre2 has opti out!!  You can find a used D50 for $350.

How is this thing as a bitbucket?

I am thinking of picking up an SD USB pre 2 > Tascam Dr-100mkii

[dogmusic]

How is this thing as a bitbucket?

I am thinking of picking up an SD USB pre 2 > Tascam Dr-100mkii

I think it works great. No connecting or locking problems. I made a recording of acoustic piano using my USBPre2 here:

DR-100mkii DIG PNO - http://www.box.com/shared/zvtsfthkso9m1h4cvq5s

Beyerdynamic MC930's>USBPre2 [SPDIF out]>TASCAM DR-100 MK II [SPDIF in]

As I said before, there is the sound of a rushing river outside, so you may hear some white noise in the background which is NOT the recorder set-up.