Topic: Zaxcom Maxx

[John Willett]

http://www.zaxcom.com/pr-oscarsnoms2008

 

That link is Zaxcom marketing (which they are very good at) - it says nothing about the quality of the recorder at all.

Sound Oscars go to superb recording engineers, and superb engineers can make great sound with anything they are given.

I did say that Zaxcom have great ergonomics and this may be more important to a film recordist than overall sound quality, especially as much sound in modern films is done in post with less location sound being used in the final film.

[George2]

Good for dialog. These are setup for film dialog recoding, and Maxx contains a 2 channel transmitter for wireless camera hop.
Zaxcom uses there own proprietary recording format MARF. Mobile Audio Recording Format, and then the recorder makes another file ... or you on computer with Zaxconvert software.. make BWF files to the sample and bit rate you want.
Zaxcom won't tell you what MARF is....we all think it's 32k sample rate, unknown bit depth, as the bandwidth goes to 16k.  Good thing about MARF. If you loose power the file is there up until the time of power lose.
Feel free to chime in here.....I have only owned one Zaxcom product.

[H₂O]

32khz? That's not so great - which recorder did you own?

[George2]

Great for dialog.

[DATPAT]

we`ll i finally picked up a maxx. i am really happy with it. i wasn`t happy with the 5 month delay in the products release, nor was i happy that they wouldn`t honor the pre sale pricing for those that waited 9 month`s for the release. but i will tell you the pre`s sound as musical and clean as any i`ve used. The main reason i grabbed it though was because of the ability to chain the inputs gains to one fader for use with my soundfield. Overall for the money i think its the best pro 4 track field recorder under 4k.

[bt2002]

Hi

I have been playing with a Maxx.  Please note that I am not a pro sound person or audio engineer.  I do work with sound in my work.  For perspective I also use an RME Fireface 800, SD (Sound Devices) 702, Zoom H4N, and some other small recorders of various vintages.

The attraction to purchase the Maxx after already being a happy SD owner was needing to record four ISO channels with budget concerns.  The Neverclip was appealing also.  Another great feature is the screen that shows timecode.  I imagined on a multi-camera shoot I could place the Maxx where the cameras could shoot it at any time and that would help sync in post.  I have not yet experimented with these features.  I have read on forums that Neverclip works only with hard wired mics, not wireless.  This makes perfect sense but did not occur to me when I imagined Neverclip.  Neverclip, by the way, is a patented way of recording using two AD converters to get extended dynamic range such that clipping is not possible.  The timecode screen gives frame accurate info but of course audio is sliced much finer.

I have been playing with it and I find it very complex and feature laden.  At the same time it is well thought out and executed.  This is not a machine you can just pick up and press record and expect it to take care of you.  Maxx is designed for professionals and I believe if you are willing to put in the time  it will reward you with versatility that is hard to match at anywhere near the price.  Build quality feels similar to SD to me. Zaxcom has been extremely responsive to users.  I have contacted them twice and got almost instant responses from very informed people that solved the issues.  fixes and updates have been coming out constantly chasing down small obscure bugs and feature requests.

One issue to note.  The original specs listed audio range of 20Hz - 20kHz.  It turns out that in the world of recording voice for film and TV a HPF (high pass filter) to reduce mic handling noise is highly desirable and sounds down at frequencies below maybe even 70Hz are unwanted as they affect metering and limiting and such.  Maxx was introduced with an always on HPF at 50 Hz that rolls off frequencies steeply below that. Due to a clamor of customer comments this has already been changed to 28Hz as a running production change.  My unit has been accepted back for the change to be made at no charge.  Most purchasers will just keep the 50Hz units as that design is excellent for film and TV.  I record some music so I prefer the option of full range audio.  I should note that MAXX has excellent adjustable HPFs, the issue is just what part is always on.

In my testing the sound quality is just terrific.  Great pres.  But at this price you would expect that.  My bill came to about $3300 including the optional 4 channel recording, Pelican case, 2 sets of batteries, charger, optional power supply, tax and CF card.  I think the base price is about $2400.

I think Zaxcom has a BIG win with the MAXX.  Zaxcom is also following up the superb design with absolutely superb service.

[DigiGal]

I stopped at the Zaxcom booth at the AES 135 Convention to see this recorder and it appears to have potential.  I'm satisfied with my current rig but I will not rule this one out just yet when I'm ready to jump to more channels.  They are now including the AES option with 4-channels of audio on 2xAES / AES42 inputs with sample rate conversion, it is no longer an additional cost option.  The NOLA rep from Pro Sound had high praise for their preamps and converters, all things considered he likes them better than Sound Devices.  Sound Devices and Zaxcom are both made in the USA.

Certainly this recorder was developed for voice capture in the film/video field.  Frequency response is now 28Hz to 22 kHz (48 kHz sampling-rate) starting with serial #10107 and above, prior to this filtered down for 50 HZ – 22 kHz to optimize voice capture as bt2002 referenced in the previous post. 

It's new this year but there are some Zaxcom Max recordings on LMA already.  Looking forward to hearing more from this device and any additional user feedback on this forum.

How they'll ultimately fare with real world music recording is yet to be proven, it may be worth renting one to try it out.

[H₂O]

So for $3k you can get a new a Zaxcom Maxx or for $4.3k you can get a SD744t

Not a fan of the older 7xx pre amps so for me if I where looking for a top end 4 track recorder it's a no brainer (even with a used 744 at the current market rate under $2700)

I wonder when SD is going to retire the older 7xx series - they have been on the market for 8 and 1/2 years

They need a nice update to match the feature sets of the newer recorder's - I.e. AES-42, color touch screen, mixing, etc

I know the sell a lot of 788's but I can't see them selling too many of the rest except to the kool-aide drinkers

Personally I am not in the market as I love my hs-p82

[DigiGal]

I agree Sound Devices is overdue for a product refresh of the 7xx series.

Perhaps their recent price increases across the board are being applied to R&D to that end as part of something like a 1% solution.  If not they could be pricing themselves out of the market.

They are not stagnant though, their recent 664 Production Mixer/Recorder, MixPre-D, USBPre2, and the 788 all demonstrate they are moving forward.

I am satisfied with my recording rig now but know that adding more channels would be the way to go down the road. Sound Devices has proven themselves to be a quality support oriented company, relying on kool aid drinkers however is not a competitive or sustainable strategy with some of the products that have been released now.

I had originally thought a 744 would be the path to go but even used at this point doesn't make sense. If they do a refresh the resale values on the then legacy units would most likely tank.  I'm not ready to make a recorder change yet, it's in the future just keeping abreast of the evolving market and exploring options.