Hi, this is my first post here. I do mostly field recordings but this forum is a great resource none the less. Just picked up the pcm-m10 and thought I'd post a couple findings. tests were done with a pcm-m10, a microtrack1, mixpre and pair of AT3031's.
- even though the noise floor is about the same as my microtrack1, it sounds noisier because it's noise is just about perfect white noise which is more audible than the darker noise of the microtrack.
-noise floor sits around -76db using the line in, this is regardless of gain setting. (Cranking the gain right up does not affect noise floor) ...strange
-limiter sounds a bit more transparant than the one in my mixpre to my ears, I'll be using the sony limiter instead of the mixpre limiter.
-it can take all the level a mixpre can throw at it using the 1/8" tape out. I've found the ideal gain setting to be around the 4 mark on the sony.
-sounds slightly sweeter to my ears than the microtrack1 when testing with complex high frequency sounds, (metal percussion and shaker test). Good sound quality, though it's obviously no Apogee...
-internal mics are actually decent, though as you would expect the stereo separation is not that great. Would be good for collecting foley type sounds and 'close' sounds. Could be good for taping if you widened the image in post a bit with a mide/side processor.
-overall very user friendly and intuitive operation, also, this thing reeks of class even though it is mostly plastic. (only the front facia is metal)
In my opinion the only major caveat is the noise floor, if you've got a recording with peaks of -12db and then normalize it in post, all the sudden your noise is in the -60db's, which to me is audible.