Topic: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?

[behindpropellers]

Used to tape years ago. Miss recording shows, still go to a fair amount of shows with my Wife.

Thinking about grabbing a set of 4061's and a recorder. I have a mini-me leftover but I'm thinking about just going 4061s->BBox->recorder.

Thoughts?

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

You're about to get a flood of responses. Most (if not all) of them will tell you to get the M10.

The battery life is scary. And it's easy to use.

[aaronji]

If you don't need the XLRs, the M10 is considerably smaller...

[twalker]

Small and terrific sounding rig = 4061>MMA>M10. Battery life is scary, and if you want to (cough) st*@/th (cough) it is tiny enough to do so.

[sk-1]

Yet another vote from me for the M10. Honestly, that bastard is a king among recorders and will be remembered fondly throughout the ages. And yes, for a third time the battery life is scary. It just won't quit. Someone at Sony made a pact with the devil for that one.

[H₂O]

dr-100mkii
 - bigger
 - has xlrs (balanced input) that support +48 phantom
 - has SPDIF input (can be finiky - works only with gear that properly formats the SPDIF signal (V3 w/ firmware update, USBPre2, etc))
 - can hot swap batteries (has dual batteries)
 - pre-amp is good

m10
 - tiny
 - unbalanced input only
 - pre-amp is ok but external is recommended
 - incredible battery life (20+ hours on a pair of AA's)

[Javier Cinakowski]

You actually think the tascam has a nicer preamp than the sony?

[H₂O]

According to the review tonedeaf did - the tascam's pre amp worked well using condenser mics in loud environments which is the first low end recorder I have heard to be the case

[BusDriver]

I'm very new to DR100II and don't really like so much menu. I love the M10. DR100 2 weeks old and likely for sale. Extra battery, AC power, 16 GB card. I'm sure it is a swell unit. I just have steep learning curves for most things. And ... change = bad, same thing = good.

[fmaderjr]

According to the review tonedeaf did - the tascam's pre amp worked well using condenser mics in loud environments which is the first low end recorder I have heard to be the case

And Tonedeaf has also said that the M10 has an excellent preamp (for those not looking to power condenser mics with it). 4061>MMA>M10 would be a great combo, though I'd be inclined to substitute the less expensive CA-9200 for the MMA, which also works well with the DPA's.

[stevetoney]

Im not inclined to vote one way or the other on which has better pre.  I think my own criteria might be different than others anyway.  Most people seem to rely on noise specs as the basis for their evaluation. All I do is listen to what the damn thing sounds like which is fairly subjective to what flavor I want from my pre.  I will say this.... for less than 300 dollars the dr100mkii sounds freaking amazing.  See sample in the link below.

http://archive.org/details/macpodz2012-04-19.mk4_16bit

[acidjack]

I won't opine on the pres but if your planned rig is 4061>BB>deck then the M10 is all you need and is smaller and a little less expensive.

Conversely, having XLR inputs and P48, the DR-100mkII is more versatile and could be more useful to you if you wanted to run phantom-powered mics later. 

[faninor]

Off topic, but get the higher sensitivity 4060s. I run DPA 4060s > DPA battery box > Tascam DR-07. Used to use the DPA MMA6000 preamp but I think the sensitivity of 4060s is just right for use at concerts so I switched to a simple battery box.

[twalker]

Off topic, but get the higher sensitivity 4060s. I run DPA 4060s > DPA battery box > Tascam DR-07. Used to use the DPA MMA6000 preamp but I think the sensitivity of 4060s is just right for use at concerts so I switched to a simple battery box.

Good to know.  Which BB are you using?

[fmaderjr]

Off topic, but get the higher sensitivity 4060s. I run DPA 4060s > DPA battery box > Tascam DR-07. Used to use the DPA MMA6000 preamp but I think the sensitivity of 4060s is just right for use at concerts so I switched to a simple battery box.

I second that for anyone but a dedicated stack taper.