I agree with O-Canis. For many years I recorded with a Sony pro walkman, and the little stereo mic it came with. The recordings usually ranged from good, to ok. Eventually I got a sharp MD which was very good for live recordings. I started to meet other tapers, and learned a lot of useful information. I then bought a battery box with a pair of AT 853 mics from a friend. That alone made a huge difference, and many of my recordings now were excellent. What I started to notice at that point, was I now found myself moving my focus from recording quality to sound and tonal quality. In many ways my recordings were just as nice as other's who had much more expensive equipment, but tonally, theirs might be crisper, or have fuller bass, or more dynamic range. I still loved the improvement in my recordings and their "listenability". So I have continued to progress slowly. I added a JB3 which after a MD was fantastic. I added some external battery power. Then I added a Microtrack 24/96, which I really like, and just recently have purchased (here on the yard sale) a modified UA-5, which I always wanted, but was in no hurry to get. I also added a SVU2 for metering, but this was all over a 2-3 year period, not so much because of the money, but because it took me a while to figure out what was what, what I liked, what I liked a lot, etc. I still have much to learn about mics, and positioning, but I have been happy with my recordings ever since I got the better mics. I am sure there are more purchases ahead of me, but what I have found, is that you can get great recordings with a limited budget, and this is a great place to ask a lot of questions. Then it is up to you and your ears to find what makes you happy. I made my first field concert recording in 1971, and it was on a Concord Cassette recorder with a pencil mic. The cassette was a type one, no Dolby, because those things were just about to hit the market. I recently transferred that show to CD, and I can safely say that good mics to a battery box to a jb3 (or even a MD recorder) is light years ahead.