Topic: Looking for options on digital bit- bucket recorder

[mmadd29]

I just had my backup ihp120 shit the bed.  This has me thinking it's time for another recorder.  I like to have backup's in case of issues.

All I really need is something that will take a digital signal from my UA5 and I would be set.  I haven't kept up on what is happening with recorders, so have no idea what available.  I do all open taping so size doesn't make a difference.  I have a couple of racks all my equipment is in, and if they made a rack unit recorder, I'd really be interested.

Any suggestions, tips, comments, or anything else is appreciated.

[willndmb]

microtrack and d50 are the small ones i can think of

[mmadd29]

Forgot to mention I don't want any m-audio products.....

What is a D50

[willndmb]

d50 is sony

[rastasean]

or you can pick up another hp120. 

[stevetoney]

Excellent call on avoiding M-Audio.  I've owned both the MT2496 and MTII and they both really suck for what we do and even though they're significantly less expensive, they end up being a waste of the $180 (IOW you're better applying that money to a higher priced recorder than trying to bandaid this thing to work for you), mainly because of the internal battery situation, but there are various other reasons that have been discussed in numerous other threads. 

I now have the Sony D50 and I can say that, as much as I hate to admit it because I'm not much of a Sony fan, the D50 is a really great portable recorder.  On the minus side...higher initial price, its digital input is optical only (no SPDIF), and proprietary flash media (unless the internal 4GB memory is sufficient for you, you must purchase Sony ProDuo flash media).  On the plus side are the all metal construction and really solid feel, a nice feature set and menu set, no real design weaknesses that I've identified, it runs FOREVER on a set of four AA batteries, and all metal construction.  Did I mention that this unit has all metal construction?  Actually, I think as far as features, I like the 20+ hour run-time as much as the all-metal construction.

If SPDIF is a requirement for you, then the next best recorder to go for, IMHO, would be the Marantz PMD-661, but now you're up around $600.

If used is an option and size is not, there are some great deals out there on the PMD-671 for less than you'd pay for a 661.

Working up from the lower end, these are bitbucket options that I know of.

[Todd R]

I have a Sony D50 and love it -- great recorder, very well thought out (intuitive, good menus, etc), rugged, excellent-sounding line/analog input, good battery life using easily replaced AA batteries, and takes an optical spdif digital input (minor quibble with Steve, optical is a spdif input -- the spdif standard allows the use of an optical input/output or coax input/output for signal transmission).

The optical only digital input of the D50 can be more limiting for some, but since you use an UA5 and have optical output, the D50 is a great choice.  You can pick them up used for $325-375 if you look around (probably ebay since they don't come up used here too often).  Short of going the M-Audio route, this is probably your cheapest option for a digital-input 24bit recorder.

[stevetoney]

^ Right Todd.  I've made that same mistake before.  I keep thinking that the coax connection is SPDIF!  Thanks for reminding/correcting my misstatement.