State of the Recorder - FAQ? (another 'what to buy' thread)

[relaxing]

I'm interested in stealthy taping with a sub-$400 recorder.

It seems like the options for recorders are:
1) DAT - on the way out, not an mp3 player
2) MD - not interested in lossiness, flips
3) Flash - again with the flips
...which leaves me with
4) HD recorders (aka MP3 players)

Now everyone here likes the JB3, and I do too, except it's old and clunky.  It kills me that there are sleek new players out there that all seem to be crippled in some way.  The JB3 alternatives seem to be the iRiver H120 and Archos Gmini something or other, but information about taping with these seems to be scattered and conflicting. 

So here's my question:

Who tapes with a non-JB3 HD recorder?  Are the rumors about digital artifacts true?  With both line-in and digital-ins?  Do you put up with filesize limitations?
I'm not a nazi about bit perfection, but I do hate clicks in my recordings.
And are there any upcoming products to wait for?

JB3 owners can try to convince me that the nomad is stealthable and I should trust one off ebay.

Thanks in advance!

[The Kilted Taper]

JB3 owners can try to convince me that the nomad is stealthable

Are you not convinced it is? With the amount of shows stealthed with it, how can you not be?

Do you put up with filesize limitations?

For the JB3??? 3 hours a pop isn't very limiting. I know it happens, but I haven't been to a show yet that has gone 3+ hours without some sort of break...I may be reading your question wrong though.

I think right now we are quite limited with a $400 budget. There are other HD recorders out there, but 2 - 3+ times that cost. The biggest problem with some of the others you mentioned, no digital in.

[relaxing]

JB3 owners can try to convince me that the nomad is stealthable

Are you not convinced it is? With the amount of shows stealthed with it, how can you not be?

Do you put up with filesize limitations?

For the JB3??? 3 hours a pop isn't very limiting. I know it happens, but I haven't been to a show yet that has gone 3+ hours without some sort of break...I may be reading your question wrong though.

I think right now we are quite limited with a $400 budget. There are other HD recorders out there, but 2 - 3+ times that cost. The biggest problem with some of the others you mentioned, no digital in.

No, filesize limitations on other players (the iRiver I believe.) 

I guess I'll accept that the JB3 is stealthable, but I just want to make sure I can't get away with something smaller first.

For just starting out I'd take analog in and invest more money in mic's and pre's (does that sound wise?  the ADCs can't be *that* bad...)

And these $1000 recorders - are they actually smaller than a JB3?  All the ones I've looked at were larger field recorders.

[relaxing]

Also, pro's and con's to PDA recording? (aside from price)    These seem to be under-discussed...

[thierryhenry]

Neuros 2.0 is small and supports WAV recording. The A/D isn't as good as the JB3's though, but still a very small (a little more expensive than JB3, like $300) machine..

[Brian Skalinder]

Neuros 2.0 is small and supports WAV recording. The A/D isn't as good as the JB3's though, but still a very small (a little more expensive than JB3, like $300) machine..

Have they added a digital input with the 2.0 recorder?  Or sorted out the line-in audible artifact problems (i.e. clicks)?

[Popmarter]

Look out for the Marantz Pmd660....with CF

[relaxing]

Look out for the Marantz Pmd660....with CF

Price looks a little steep, plus I'd need at least a 2gb CF just to get a whole show with no flips, so that's another $125.   Still, I'll keep it in mind.


I want to hear from Neuros/Archos/iRiver tapers!

[rerem]

soundproffessionals.com has the Neuros,Marantz,edirirol, units and a slight discount. Don't know if current Neuros units have diginoise issues-indeed,I think this site would not tend to carry a product with a serious flaw. That the Neuros can be had with big HD's,and dedicated powerpack,mic power,etc is pretty cool. The Edirol,able to do 24 bit at under $500 is neat,though the CF's add cost. No moving parts is a plus