Topic: Marantz PMD620 VS Sony PCM-M10

[aaronji]

Has anyone actually measured the PIP voltage of the PMD620 when running on AAs?  I know the specs claim 5V, but I know fron direct measurements of some Tascam devices that claim 5V, they supply less when on AA power.  Wondering if the PMD620 is the same or actually has circuitry to boost PIP above the input voltage.

A couple of people have measured it: guysonic at 4.4V (http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,91816.msg1265738.html#msg1265738) and goodcooker at 4.6V (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=133221.msg1745857#msg1745857)...

[fmaderjr]

Has anyone actually measured the PIP voltage of the PMD620 when running on AAs?  I know the specs claim 5V, but I know fron direct measurements of some Tascam devices that claim 5V, they supply less when on AA power.  Wondering if the PMD620 is the same or actually has circuitry to boost PIP above the input voltage.

Unloaded it supplies 4.6 volts-I don't know how to test it with a mic attached.

However, I have used it to power DPA 4060's and CA-14's at loud shows without a battery box and it seems to work perfectly. That's the main advantage to the 620 over the M10.

If you want to be able to run practically any mini-mics w/o a battery box, get the 620. If you are going to use a pre or a battery box anyway, get the M10. The M10 will run many mics without a battery box also (such as the AT853's) but I wouldn't risk using it to power more power hungry mini-mics like DPA's or CA-14's

[jb63]

If you want to be able to run practically any mini-mics w/o a battery box, get the 620. If you are going to use a pre or a battery box anyway, get the M10. The M10 will run many mics without a battery box also (such as the AT853's) but I wouldn't risk using it to power more power hungry mini-mics like DPA's or CA-14's

So is this the reason that a PMD620 seems impossible to find for under $350?

Seriously, I'd love to try out one of these, but for a solid year I haven't seen one go for less than the price of 2 M10s.

What do you guys think about THAT?!

[sunjan]

B/H are having a used unit in at $290:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/800747976-USE/Marantz_PMD620_PMD620_Professional_Handheld_Digital.html

But apart from that, google shopping clock them all at $349 or above...

[andromedanwarmachine]

Hey Noam,

when you say (regarding the AGC on your old HiMD) that you could record from the balcony "as if recorded from the front row, because it automatically equalized everything"

do you mean it equalized the levels or that AGC has tone adjustment built in depending on gain...?

sorry everybody- this is a bit off-topic

JimP

[noam]

Equalized levels.

Noam

[andrea doria]

you'll find some stable 3v or 4,5v newer and older pip recorders to work with dpa 40xx, especially with 4063. best you have 2 mono ins like the older Korg.

but like all mics mini dpas still are richer sounding on sd, sqn or other pro gear. it's easy hearable, but it starts a loss of belief in minimalisation. sound physics is why neumann, gefell, schoeps do no lapels.

to win back the advantage of minimalism we need a small sized best sounding preamped all in one recorder. a fine, powerfull, neutral scale from lows to highs without a cheap colored user hype. without bundles of toyish features and inbuilt compromised mics. no more than 200g. who is nearest? may be it would break the formula "smaller is cheaper".  http://www.taperssection.com/Smileys/throwback/evil.gif

[BitRater]

you'll find some stable 3v or 4,5v newer and older pip recorders to work with dpa 40xx, especially with 4063. best you have 2 mono ins like the older Korg.

but like all mics mini dpas still are richer sounding on sd, sqn or other pro gear. it's easy hearable, but it starts a loss of belief in minimalisation. sound physics is why neumann, gefell, schoeps do no lapels.

to win back the advantage of minimalism we need a small sized best sounding preamped all in one recorder. a fine, powerfull, neutral scale from lows to highs without a cheap colored user hype. without bundles of toyish features and inbuilt compromised mics. no more than 200g. who is nearest? may be it would break the formula "smaller is cheaper".  http://www.taperssection.com/Smileys/throwback/evil.gif

Your last paragraph highlights one of the things I liked best about the Marantz PMD620 I had. It was a no-nonsense, straight-ahead kind of recorder. I would gladly give up the four or six track record capability, variable mic patterns and other gewgaws that are increasingly common now, and trade them for a recorder that simply does two tracks very well and has excellent mic preamps.

[andrea doria]

this summer we ran in a river landscape some dpa and dynamic md 441 with small recorders. we had 2 mr1 korg, 2 Microtrack (the better preamp is the older one) and 1 sony m10. for the dpas (4063) we needed pip 3v or 5v (microtrack has). The Korg MR1 ran shortly till battery was exhausted, needed reloading with a field solution. But it sounded best of all, nearer to professional gear, preamps clearly hissed a bit, but without problem near a hissy running river. MT 24/96 was quite good sounding too, but a bit too crisp (like good amateur gear). both MTs sat out from humide air. the contacts of the cf-cards caused it.

The M10 is a reliable, easy too handle machine, especially with the dpa (4063) and dyns, no batt problems (2 AA ran a week) and so on, but in my ears it sounds not as best. like the older MT24/96 (not bad like many people claimed) it has nearly no hiss. On dynamics we needed specially soldered symmetric/asymmetric (it's a bad direction) cables or caught a really insufficient sound profile. after all: the sound of M10 seemed us to be a step restricted; colorated differences between pro and user gear?

our landscape experience let us feel the lack of a pro sounding small recorder. some middle dimensioned recorders (Marantz, Fostex, Sony) soundwise are nearer, meno coloured, but loosing the advantage of smallness, but only nearer, not quite target reaching.

We had no pdm 620, but some weaks ago i heard 620s tracks, for my ear it's half stepping to pro sound, but still coloured; so Korgs old Mr1 preamps are sounding better, more neutral with a kind of good saturation but a little hiss, but the need of external power solution not only annihilates the smallness, it causes unstable connections. so where ever possible we turned back to heavier pro sound gear. Yes: the Korg with two symm intros was not a bad start. But whereto runs it nowadays.

let's try to discuss the question of sound. in real work it's most important, but not easy to debate. noise and sound quality are different shoes.