And also interested to see that you assigned values from -1.5 to +5
to the categories. That helps explain the wide range of final ratings.
I would encourage others to grab the worksheet, and assign your
own values to the categories so you can arrive at your own rankings.
For example, you may not want to assign a higher score to a recorder
that samples at 24/192 because you don't use a data rate that high.
Or you may not give a higher score to a device that has digital inputs
because you use an external pre that doesn't have digital out. Or
maybe XLR inputs are essential, so recorders that don't have them get
a zero in the input category.
You might want to add your own categories, too. For example, are the
controls for limiter, low cut filter and mic sensitivity activated by
switches on the outside of the recorder, or are they choices in the menu
system?
Thanks for the feedback Flintstone.
You pinpointed exactly the issues where I struggled with the grading. Assigning "value" to various input jacks all depends on which gear you pair up the recorder with.
To generalize, I had to imagine "average Joe Taper", wanting to achieve the best sound without compromising, looking for a trouble-free concert recorder with good value and possible upgrade path. Joe Taper could be rich or poor, so we can't assume that he's just shopping for entry-level gear.
It makes sense to split the charts between Joe Open Taper and Jane Non-Open taper, because Open would likely appreciate XLR, phantom and outboard gear expandability more.
In it's most basic form, it should be enough to grade each category in three brackets:
1. not good enough
2. just good enough/useable
3. more than enough
Take battery life, for instance. 2 hours is not enough, 4-5 hours is just (barely) enough, and anything above is more than enough. So there's little benefit ranking a recorder with 30 hours battery life higher than one with 15 hours (analogous to your comparison of 192kHz above). I tried to take that into consideration.
But perhaps I should revise the scale completely?!
I've been looking at car comparison sites, which often assign a certain weight to each aspect, which then sums up to 100%.
Perhaps this ratio topic is important enough for a thread of it's own, but I was speculating that a non-open taper would prioritize roughly like this:
Sound/component quality: 25%
Inputs/Preamp/Outboard needs: 20%
Battery: 10%
Bitrate/frequency: 10%
Media type: 10%
Handling/UI: 10%
Size: 5%
Mics: 5%
Channels: 5%
Issues usually affect one or a few of the above, so no need to grade it separately. Does that make sense?
I didn't give much weight to the size, because I assume that within the pool of stealthable recorders, as long as they are stealthable, they are more or less equal. If it's too large to be stealthable, it's outside of the selection criteria anyway, if you get my idea.