Topic: Sick of my D7....what should I get?

[Brian Skalinder]

If you want cheap, look at a used R1.

I always forget about the R1, now that the R-09 is out.  Good idea.

[Massive Dynamic]

I'm amazed so many people are recommending a playback unit with a nonremovable proprietary lithium battery, for which the recording function is an afterthought.  I haven't used one myself so I can't say they're wrong.  But it wouldn't have occurred to me to suggest anything other than an R09 for this purpose.  It's a real dedicated recorder, solid state (no whirring hard disk), and runs 7 hours on rechargeable AA's.  I have a PMD660 right now but am going to switch to an R09 when I get some cash together.

I just got my h120 rockboxed, so I don't have enough experience to say whether it will perform as well as my M1. However, it is 1/10th the cost of the next cheapest hard-drive based recorder, the R4. The battery is removeable (with some effort), are there are lots of replacement batteries with higher mAh than stock batteries. You can even recharge the internal battery with an external AA pack. With Rockbox, the h120 has bit-perfect optical I/O, something the R09 doesn't have. It's only 16-bit and may not be the best option for the poster, but I'm anxious to see what mine can do.

[gewwang]

I just got my h120 rockboxed, so I don't have enough experience to say whether it will perform as well as my M1. However, it is 1/10th the cost of the next cheapest hard-drive based recorder, the R4. The battery is removeable (with some effort), are there are lots of replacement batteries with higher mAh than stock batteries. You can even recharge the internal battery with an external AA pack. With Rockbox, the h120 has bit-perfect optical I/O, something the R09 doesn't have. It's only 16-bit and may not be the best option for the poster, but I'm anxious to see what mine can do.

From the R1/R-09 point of view:

- no hard-drive, which is fine because a 4gb sd or cf card is cheap and will hold a 4 hour show at 24/44 or 6 1/2 hours at 16/44
- takes 2 AA batteries, anyone that's run a d100/m1 or minidisc knows the advantages of a device that supports a pair of AA batteries with runtimes ~ 6-7 hours on a full charge
- no digital in. So ask yourself, what a/d would you be running into the device at 16 bit? a modsbm? edirol ua-5? V3? minime? I have run a-b with the R-09 and R1 adc vs the modsbm and v3 at 16/44 and 24/44 and the comparison was too close to determine one much better than the one.

[Massive Dynamic]

I just got my h120 rockboxed, so I don't have enough experience to say whether it will perform as well as my M1. However, it is 1/10th the cost of the next cheapest hard-drive based recorder, the R4. The battery is removeable (with some effort), there are lots of replacement batteries with higher mAh than stock batteries. You can even recharge the internal battery with an external AA pack. With Rockbox, the h120 has bit-perfect optical I/O, something the R09 doesn't have. It's only 16-bit and may not be the best option for the poster, but I'm anxious to see what mine can do.

From the R1/R-09 point of view:

- no hard-drive, which is fine because a 4gb sd or cf card is cheap and will hold a 4 hour show at 24/44 or 6 1/2 hours at 16/44
- takes 2 AA batteries, anyone that's run a d100/m1 or minidisc knows the advantages of a device that supports a pair of AA batteries with runtimes ~ 6-7 hours on a full charge
- no digital in. So ask yourself, what a/d would you be running into the device at 16 bit? a modsbm? edirol ua-5? V3? minime? I have run a-b with the R-09 and R1 adc vs the modsbm and v3 at 16/44 and 24/44 and the comparison was too close to determine one much better than the one.

For me, the hard drive is the most important feature of the H120. Recording a 5-day festival is easy with DAT, not so much with CF cards. If all I recorded were concerts, the R09 would probably be my choice, as well.

EDIT: I run a T+UA-5, but you can also run line-in to the H120.