What's coming @ around $300?

[Brian Emerick]

The M10 is still a "fan favourite" around these parts.  I upgraded to an M10 from an Edirol R09 and it was the best move I ever made.  As was mentioned above, new models of digital recorders aren't released every six months so you can rest easy that your M10 will be current for some time to come.  You can find it for around $220-$230 if you look around.

regular R09 or R09-HR?  I can't see a reason to upgrade from my HR

[hi and lo]

The M10 is still a "fan favourite" around these parts.  I upgraded to an M10 from an Edirol R09 and it was the best move I ever made.  As was mentioned above, new models of digital recorders aren't released every six months so you can rest easy that your M10 will be current for some time to come.  You can find it for around $220-$230 if you look around.

regular R09 or R09-HR?  I can't see a reason to upgrade from my HR

From what I've read (but not having owned an HR), I think agree with this statement. The M10 is the better overall unit for a variety of reasons, but the HR has a line input capable of handling a much hotter input w/o overloading (the original R-09 has brickwalled many recordings) and I've always liked the A/D on these units.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[msteeln]

The M10 is the better overall unit for a variety of reasons, but the HR has a line input capable of handling a much hotter input w/o overloading

That's sounds like important input, and since I've still trying to get the M10 I can reconsider if this is pertinent to my needs. What circumstances would overload the input?

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

A very hot SBD might over load the input of the M10, although I haven't heard anyone complain about that. Worse comes to worse you can attenuate the signal into the M10 if you happen to find a SBD that outputs too hot of a signal.

For me the biggest selling point of the M10 is the battery life. It's so nice to not have to worry about running out of juice.

[msteeln]

Cool, I don't know many sound guys now and most my recs will be from the crowd, so I'm hoping to pull the trigger asap.

[mattmiller]

From what I've read (but not having owned an HR), I think agree with this statement. The M10 is the better overall unit for a variety of reasons, but the HR has a line input capable of handling a much hotter input w/o overloading (the original R-09 has brickwalled many recordings) and I've always liked the A/D on these units.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Are you comparing the HR to the M10 or the HR to the original R-09?  The M10 is absolutely capable of handling a hotter input than the HR.  I owned the HR and got rid of it in favor of the M10 primarily for this reason (and a little bit for the battery life, which is at least 4 times longer on the M10).

[Brian Emerick]

never had an issue with hot input on my HR.  Dunno.

[mattmiller]

never had an issue with hot input on my HR.  Dunno.

What level are you recording at?  When I had mine, I asked around and was told that if you have to turn it down below 30 (on a scale from 0 to 80, if I remember correctly), then you're pushing the limits of the input regardless as to whether the meters show you clipping.  This was in response to a question I had about getting some intermittent distortion at a show where the recording level was somewhere in the teens.  I picked up a -20dB attenuator cable to help out, and that worked out fine, but still opted to trade it for the M10 so that I wouldn't have to rely on the attenuation.

It may be that the SBD feeds you're getting just aren't as hot.

[Brian Emerick]

I rarely record SBD, maybe that's the difference.  But I normally record at about 65.  I withdraw my comment since I can't really speak to SBD recording very well.  Almost all mics for me, with the CA-9100

[acidjack]

I rarely record SBD, maybe that's the difference.  But I normally record at about 65.  I withdraw my comment since I can't really speak to SBD recording very well.  Almost all mics for me, with the CA-9100

IMHO, one shouldn't be recording SBD with just a single -HR or M10 anyway, as a straight SBD is in 90% of situations useless and the lazy man's way out.  I see too many jokers at shows who are some idiot that knows nothing about taping and thinks "plugging into the board" makes a "sick recording" for their stupid internet video.  It annoys sound engineers who have to accommodate people with no gear, and it annoys people who actually give a damn about the quality of their recordings (i.e., people on this board). 

[/end rant] But anyway, I'd suspect an -HR or M10 is fine as long as your SBD patch cables have an attenuator, which I'd think you'd need with either.  FWIW I don't see a reason to upgrade the -HR to the M10 either; I like the M10 slightly better overall, but I only bought it b/c I broke my -HR.

[sunjan]

Within the basic affordable models, I havn't seen much new and exciting product for at least a year and am ready to spring for a Sony M10. What's looming just over the horizon...

If you're looking for the latest gossip, wait for Summer NAMM this weekend: http://www.namm.org/summer/2011
There might be some new recorders announced there, but you'd probably have to wait another three months or so until the gear actually becomes available.
That said, the chances that something below $300 better than the M10 would be launched this time are fairly slim, IMHO.

[F.O.Bean]

Just get the M10 and be done w/ it. I just recorded my 3rd 30+hr festival of the year w/ my M10[plus some Phish shows], and it has been nothing but reliable

[Ozpeter]

I guess it depends what you want to do. 

The M10 has a lovely look-and-feel (build quality and display) and a fine mic preamp - as long as you don't want phantom power.  Nothing wrong with its line input but that's true of most such recorders these days.  But the built in mics are for emergency use only, being closely spaced omnis.  That's no way to record stereo - you won't find anyone recommending such an arrangement in the recording tech literature.

Maybe hold out a couple of months for the Zoom H2N - it may well have many of the qualities of the M10 (eg long battery life) but with much better built in mics.  Biggest question mark will be over its mic input, which hopefully will be better than the hopeless one on the original H2.

http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=2080

[msteeln]

Had the M10 for a while now, still in the box, but now that I just paid for a new Panasonic TM-90 cam ($300!) I'll be focusing on learning to drive the Sony without distractions.
Thanx for all the input, I'll be interested in the H2N.

[F.O.Bean]

Had the M10 for a while now, still in the box, but now that I just paid for a new Panasonic TM-90 cam ($300!) I'll be focusing on learning to drive the Sony without distractions.
Thanx for all the input, I'll be interested in the H2N.

You still haven't used your new M10?