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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: behindpropellers on April 23, 2012, 09:41:39 PM

Title: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: behindpropellers on April 23, 2012, 09:41:39 PM
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?
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B) on April 23, 2012, 10:06:51 PM
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.
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: aaronji on April 24, 2012, 05:16:35 AM
If you don't need the XLRs, the M10 is considerably smaller...
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: twalker on April 24, 2012, 06:56:44 AM
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.
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: sk-1 on April 24, 2012, 08:35:39 AM
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.
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: H₂O on April 24, 2012, 09:18:51 AM
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)



Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: Javier Cinakowski on April 24, 2012, 02:02:46 PM
You actually think the tascam has a nicer preamp than the sony?
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: H₂O on April 24, 2012, 03:16:30 PM
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



Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: BusDriver on April 24, 2012, 09:30:02 PM
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.
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: fmaderjr on April 25, 2012, 07:41:39 AM
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.
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: stevetoney on April 25, 2012, 10:39:47 AM
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
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: acidjack on April 25, 2012, 11:34:49 AM
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. 
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: faninor on April 25, 2012, 11:45:18 AM
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.
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: twalker on April 25, 2012, 12:30:11 PM
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?
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: fmaderjr on April 25, 2012, 01:35:09 PM
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.
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: adrianf74 on April 25, 2012, 03:16:08 PM
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.

Or in small rooms (under 500 people).  I've been too many overly loud SPL shows over the years in smaller clubs.
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: faninor on April 25, 2012, 09:32:30 PM
I use the DPA MPS6010:

http://www.dpamicrophones.com/en/products.aspx?c=Item&category=128&item=24261

DPA makes a bunch of similar battery boxes with different output connectors. I don't stack tape anymore now that I use the 4060s, but I've recorded at loud, small clubs and only once have I had any distortion due to high SPL -- and that was very brief (maybe 10 seconds out of the entire show).
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: F.O.Bean on May 03, 2012, 02:35:35 AM
The tascams battery life is AWFUL, especially compared to the M10
Title: Re: Sony M10 or Tascam DR-100II ?
Post by: Jethro on June 20, 2012, 12:21:18 PM
Well, this and other threads convinced me to pick up the M10. Having phantom power would have been nice, but the battery life of the Sony is what sold me.
I guess that makes me CA-11 > CA-9100 > M10.
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