Ok, this is my first post here, but some of you will surely know me from elsewhere in the past. What a way to celebrate 25 years of taping....ugh. In late 2008 my D7 died, and my choice of replacement was the MTII, purchased in early 2009. Now, 3 months after the warranty ran out, the MTII is dead and I'm stuck with a $200 paperweight (and will NEVER buy another M-Audio product again). As an active taper, I need to purchase another deck (ok, I guess we're calling them recorders these days) quickly and cheaply. In years past, the choices were simple...."you need the D6" or "you need any of the Sony portable DAT decks". Now it seems there are dozens and dozens of small recorders available, but no obvious choice as to which is *the* recorder to get. The MTII seemed to be the obvious choice since it had a digital input for transferring DATs, was capable of 24/96, and the price was right....but I need something that will last, especially since $200 is a lot of money to me (I'm poor, I'll admit). What can I get for $200 or less (preferably less, since I just made this expenditure last year, and now have to make it all over again) that isn't junk? I really liked the MTII's digital input and stealthability.....but it dosen't appear that such an all-around solution is available in my price range. Is there anything out there that is a "respectable" stealth recorder that is capable of 24/96, affordable, and will actually last more than 15 months? I don't want anything with cheesy built-in mics (useless....how are you supposed to use these and keep the deck well-hidden? all they do is take up extra space and add to the cost of the deck). I want to either have a decently sized internal memory / hard drive, or be able to swap out memory cards for more recording time. Stealthability is a must, yet I want to be able to get all the performance that I can (at least to the point of it being considered a "respectable and serious" deck), since I have a pair of Nak 300's that I run in taping allowed situations. The MR-1 appeared to be an acceptable solution (stealthy, and an input stage worthy of 24/96 transfers of my old analog masters) but these no longer seem to be available at the reasonable prices they were selling for on closeout. Would I do best by looking for a used MR-1? (I have no problems with buying used if the deal is square....that was the only way I was able to afford a D7) Or is there another respectable stealth recorder available for the limited amount that I have to spend? I'm obviously not going to find anything with a digital input in my price range, so I'll need to also come up with an affordable way to transfer my DAT masters....I saw something called an ESI U24XL mentioned in another thread, and the price is right.....but is it bit-perfect, or does it resample the input? I'll admit that I'm distressed by my situation (I really can't afford to just go out and buy another deck, especially since I just did that last year) and very confused by all of the many choices in the low end of the market, with none of them being the obvious way to go (no one seems to publish meaningful specifications anymore).....I've already torn enough of my hair out over this situation, so perhaps someone here can tell me what is and what isn't....