Topic: Sony D50 in the field ?

[Outrageous]

Plugging in a Sennheiser ME66/K6...and I found it to be excellent.

The 0-20 switch on the side of the D50 appears to be just a "pad."  Engaging it at 20 will prevent mics that are too hot from overmodulating.  But it's just a pad.

Glad to hear you had good results with the ME66--thanks for the report.  I'm not sure what to make of some other people having less than stellar results with external mics.

As far as the attenuation switch, this is what my understanding was as well.

[udo]

The self noise on my omni mics is quite low I have not measured it but its much MUCH lower then my cardioid mics. I would say if you are having noise issues its with the preamp on the Sony try an external preamp with my mics. Then you will see how good the self noise is on my omni mics. Dont get me wrong I am not going to compair these to DPA mics for self noise but when I use one of my 9000 or 9100 preamps with these mics the self noise is almost none existent.

Here is a link to me playing guitar into a himd mic input with a pair of my omni mics this shows the noise floor is very low. http://www.freedrive.com/file/fe239dc20857d3b957d45116c7dd486b

I do not mind the self noise, since I really only bought them for outdoors stealth binaural recordings - where I do not want people to come to me and ask what I am doing. And I have to say that I am totally happy with the product. I quickly recorded a couple of craws in front of our music school here, and believe the spacing, the depths and clarity of the microphones is fantastic. And the croackie mounts make a super easy binaural setup. Exactly what I wanted them for.
And of course, for recordings super silent "moves of ants in the grass" I will need microphones that are made for that job (and cost ten times as much) as the Sennheiser MKH mics. I would never expect a very small 120 dollar mic to give me that kind of noise floor. And by the way, the noise floor and overall sound is so much better then OKM binaural mics, or some of the other mics of that size and price range I have heard.
Here is the file:

[Outrageous]

I quickly recorded a couple of craws in front of our music school here...Here is the file:

I had to listen to the file to see if that's what you meant by "craws"--sure 'nuf, them's craws.  I'd say the self-noise of the mics is safely embedded in the background traffic noise.

[Sloan Simpson]

Picked up my D50 on Friday and did 5 bands' sets with it this weekend.  I'm in love 

I run Neumann 184's> Lunatec V2.  I've been using a JB3 with no external A/D the last several years (due to inertia and most of my exhaustible income being redirected to vinyl acquisition).  I ran the D50 at 24/48 this weekend, and don't know if the improvement I hear is the 24-bit (tweaked and then dithered in Wavelab) or just plain superior converters over the JB3, but I'm happy.

Super-easy to use, no surprises to report.  I'll post a track or two later if anyone wants to take a listen to the A/D quality (don't have the means to run any comps).

[auroboros]

A quick question. I have a D50 and have just recieved a 4gb sony HG pro duo memory stick as a present. I have one question regardin the memory stick. When recording to the 4gb internal memory, when this memory becomes full (for example after recording for 2 hours with 96kHz/24bit) will the recording seemlessly jump to recording on the memory stick? I really don't want to test this myself cause its a waste of batt unless some awesome mofo can answer me here.

cheers

[dogmusic]

A quick question. I have a D50 and have just recieved a 4gb sony HG pro duo memory stick as a present. I have one question regardin the memory stick. When recording to the 4gb internal memory, when this memory becomes full (for example after recording for 2 hours with 96kHz/24bit) will the recording seemlessly jump to recording on the memory stick? I really don't want to test this myself cause its a waste of batt unless some awesome mofo can answer me here.

cheers

No, unfortunately, the D50 will NOT automatically jump to recording on the memory stick when the internal memory is full. That would have been convenient.

You have to change the setting in the menu.

-Phil

[auroboros]

I feared that. Damnit they designed the thing why wouldn’t have that crossed their minds? Thanks for clarifying my curiosity and saving me the leg work.

[WiFiJeff]

The only "fix" for this will be to use 8GB and 16GB HG cards when these become available.  The 8GB pro duo (non-HG) works, but Sony says it is not reliable, and that you coould get flaky performance.  I have run an 8GB card without trouble at home, but have not been brave enough to take it into the field.

Jeff

[Sloan Simpson]

The only "fix" for this will be to use 8GB and 16GB HG cards when these become available. 

I haven't been paying close attention, is this something that's been announced as upcoming, or are we just assuming they will make the larger cards?

[WiFiJeff]

At AES in October the Sony Rep said the 8GB HG pro duo was coming, just about now.  But I haven't seen one yet.

Jeff

[Tony B]

Regarding digital in...you have to be careful where the digital signal is coming from. There is a problem with this machine accepting 24 bit digital signals from a lot of AD converters. Many AD converters are not compatible with the D50. Grace Design is working on a V3 AD chip up-date so the D50 can be used with it (I will be helping them test the chip this week).

I'm planning to do a comp of the internal AD converter with the 722 and V3 later this month in a concert. If someone else does it before me, it will be great.

Metering is really good!

Figured I'd bump this, as I'm thinking about maybe checking one of these out...looking for a lower-price 24/96 option that accepts an optical signal. Will this fit the bill?
Any reported problems running 24 bit from a V3?

[johnw]

works great with the v3, but you'll need to upgrade the v3 firmware. this is pretty easy though and only takes a few minutes. I think this is the only 24/96 recorder that takes optical in regardless of price. Regardless it is a very well built, well designed compact recorder. And it goes for well over 14 hours on 4 AAs.

[Tony B]

Awesome. Now to find a place that isn't trying to charge $499 for one.....

Thanks for the info on the firmware upgrade, as well!

[(Evan)]

Awesome. Now to find a place that isn't trying to charge $499 for one.....

http://www.etronics.com/p-38795-sony-pcmd50-sony-pcmd50-portable-linear-pcm-recorder.aspx

$439.11 shipped.

I bought mine from there.

[Tony B]

Sweet. Next paycheck or so!

Danke, y'all.