I just ordered mine
I just ordered mine! WooHoo!!!Besides longing for the flexibility afforded by the 2 extra channels, I've been pretty sick of the cheeziness and pathetic analog input stage of my Microtrack, and have been scheming for pretty much the year+ these TS threads have gone on to pull it together for an R-44. Today was the day!
I went for the Oade super modded version, which, due to my profound respect for Ozpeter, I almost felt guilty about, as I cannot argue his point that there's no objective/measureable data supporting any superiority of any of the 'mods', nor is there even sufficient information to qualitatively describe what about them sounds different from 'stock'. It would seem that most who buy a modified version assume that whoever would put the effort into these modifications, and possesses the knowhow to perform them, must know that they in fact improve the sound/performance of the device. I certainly was subscribing to that view, and perhaps still do to an (hopefully sober) extent.
I see it as similar to how we all know there are many high dollar mic pre's (studio and mobile) and most have their ardent devotees. Not all the most highly regarded ones show the best laboratory specs for linearity, distortion, noise, etc. They are 'flavors'. In the case of a modded recorder, one is simply trusting that he will like the flavor he orders. I trust that I will like the flavor Doug Oade has created based on my judgement of Doug. As an old school Deadhead, I'm like: "This guy created The Brick for cryin' out loud!" He was the guy working hardest to get the best possible live concert capture back when the Dead were the only band even allowing that. He's like the grandaddy of concert taping! One could argue these are silly reasons for believing his tweaks produce a better piece of kit, but I don't find it unreasonable to suppose that his status as an extremely seasoned veteran recordist gives him credibility as to what could make a recorder sound "better". My own personal status makes me more than happy to trust his judgement
Plus, I have at least heard
a few Oade mod R-44 recordings, and they sounded quite nice to me. And over the years I've heard many superb recordings by Doug and/or made on equipment he built. It's a very warm fuzzy association for me, so, what the heck.
Not sure why I'm feeling the need to justify myself, the important thing is... [see beginiing of post]!
Peace,
Sanaka