Topic: A/D of various recorders dr100mkii, m10, r44, others?

[it-goes-to-eleven]

The best one could do to compare converters would be to know what part number was used and whether it was held to be better or worse than any other.

Let a marketing department tell us what we like?

The spec sheets are filtered and approved by marketing.  On paper the original microtrack had specs as good as the 722.  And in practice it was quite noisy. The specs for an a/d are almost meaningless by themselves because a/d's are entirely dependent on the quality of the device implementation, and other implementation decisions, like the power supply.

Listening really is the best way.  And the v3 remains a really great device for evaluating them, because it has a decent built in a/d, and it has an excellent line out section that is not routed through the a/d.  That doesn't allow direct comparisons of two third party a/d's, but it does allow them to be fairly easily compared to the v3's a/d, with a minimum of compromises.

[Elana]

I would run v3>optical out>Sony D50 and be done with it. Run the dr100mkII as the backup

Thanks I'll look into that.  Is the D50 more reliable? I thought I read something that it had similar DIN Unlock problems w/ the V3?

[Elana]

If I didn't spend so much on my V3, I wouldn't mind just running the R-44 alone at all.

Also good to know.  Have you run both digital and analog out from your V3 into the R44?  I'd only really consider the R-44 at a good price... getting a second sub-$350 recorder is the more economical option.

[noahbickart]

My Naiant Littlebox has 3 line level outputs (one on dual RCAs, one on an 1/8th inch mini jack, and another set of RCA's which are post M/S matrix).

Look for some m10 / da100mkii comps from Phish this summer.