Anew recorder from Tascam

[voltronic]

No hatred at all. I am a DR-70D owner and was the first to ever report on here about personal card issues months ago.

Then the flood began...

I was simply joking around and, quite frankly, Tascam deserves the jokes at this point...at the very least. I still like and use the recorder, btw.

OK I read that as serious. 

$599?  Hmm, I wonder if the new features on this thing are really worth double the original list price of the 70D?  As the owner of a modded 70D, I wonder if they have upgraded the opamps or the preamp circuit in general.  They're described as "HDDA" which the same generic marketing term used with the 70D and a couple of their other recent recorders.  Clearly it has a new DAC and DSP, but if the analog section isn't upgraded then the price seems hard to swallow.

EDIT: I suppose timecode input would make it quite attractive to the target audience.  Are there other audio recorders with TC input this price?  The closest I can think of is the F8, but that has a high-precision TC generator as well, which is one of several reasons that deck is probably a much better value than this new Tascam.

In terms of price and features, this reminds me of what Sony did going from PCM-M10 to PCM-D100.  I know a few people here have the D100 and really like it, but the price is much higher for not much more functionality (though I'm sure a quality upgrade).

[H₂O]

Timecode sync and the HDMI insertion of audio is a great feature for a videographer


The features added won't be too beneficial for us unless you do a lot of Video work and have a compatible camera and standalone HDMI based video recorder (i.e. VideoDevices PIX, AJA, etc)

[voltronic]

Tascam US product page:

http://tascam.com/product/dr-701d/

Aside from what H2O mentioned above, the cascade recording seems pretty cool.

And answering my own question on the opamps and DAC:

The microphone preamps have a significant impact on the quality of the recorded audio. The DR-701D features TASCAM HDDA mic preamps. The differential mic preamp circuits use discrete architecture, built with carefully selected components. For example, Texas Instruments OPA1652 op amps were selected for their high quality and low noise – with even better audio performance than the previous DR-70D model. As a result, the unit boasts an equivalent input noise of -124 dBu or better.

The A/D converters, which convert analog signals to digital, are made by Asahi Kasei Corporation and are equivalent to those used in the top models in the TASCAM DR series of linear PCM recorders. High audio quality HDDA circuits faithfully convert the amplified audio to digital. Resolutions up to 96kHz/24-bit are supported when recording 6 tracks and 192kHz/24-bit when recording 2 tracks.

The specs on those opamps are almost as good as the LME49720MA used in the JW Mod for the 70D.  That chip is now designated end-of-life, BTW.

Never heard of the DAC manufacturer - anyone know about them?

[2manyrocks]

I want to see a notarized affidavit of approved cards first with a 12 month money back guarantee.

[Len Moskowitz (Core Sound)]

The user manual describe how you set levels in the same way as the DR-70D. It says you should watch the meters and adjust the level controls.

It doesn't make any mention of giving feedback about the absolute levels being set.

If that's so, matching levels tightly across channels will be difficult or impossible, like the DR-70D.

[voltronic]

The user manual describe how you set levels in the same way as the DR-70D. It says you should watch the meters and adjust the level controls.

It doesn't make any mention of giving feedback about the absolute levels being set.

If that's so, matching levels tightly across channels will be difficult or impossible, like the DR-70D.

Actually I think setting levels will be much easier.  Go to the video linked in the first post, and look closely at the display shown at 1:43.  You'll see that there is a per-channel numeric level setting to the left, and a per-channel dB readout to the right.  This is my #1 request for 70D firmware.

Also, from this bit from the US product page should also help:

In addition, the gain adjustment knobs are designed so they are not moved with a slight touch, making unintended moves less likely.

All that said, I agree with BonoBeats that the 680mkII is probably going to be a better value for what we do.  Especially since their description of the preamps and DAC may indicate that they very well might be the same as those used in the 680.  That was also the early speculation on the 70D which turned out to be false, but they pretty much say that the DAC is the same as on the "high-end DR series" and some of the specs seem to indicate it may be the same preamp circuit.

[willndmb]

Do they have a list of approved cards yet?

yes,see below...


Approved card list



End of list

[Len Moskowitz (Core Sound)]

Actually I think setting levels will be much easier.  Go to the video linked in the first post, and look closely at the display shown at 1:43.  You'll see that there is a per-channel numeric level setting to the left, and a per-channel dB readout to the right.  This is my #1 request for 70D firmware.

Yes, it looks like you're right: the left side numbers seem to go from 1 to 100, changing with the rotation of the knob and then staying stable.

I wonder what the scale is in dB per step? And I wonder how well they'll track across channels?

The DR-701D is appreciably smaller than the DR-680MkII: 6.65" x  2.24" x 4.47" for the DR-701D (with the top DSLR mount) versus 8.5" x 2.2" x 7.4" for the DR-680MkII.

I wonder why they didn't show this at AES in NY two weeks ago?

[aaronji]

I wonder why they didn't show this at AES in NY two weeks ago?

Perhaps because they are idiots?  Seriously, I don't think they have any strategy for their recorder business at all, other than to flood the market with as many different models as they can.  They have probably released as many recorders as Sony, Roland, Marantz, and Olympus combined (and probably more).  They must have an army of designers and a huge QC department, unless, of course, they are just slapping a Tascam label on anything they can get their hands on...

[Life In Rewind]

Do the HDMI connections = Digital I/O?

[F.O.Bean]

The user manual describe how you set levels in the same way as the DR-70D. It says you should watch the meters and adjust the level controls.

It doesn't make any mention of giving feedback about the absolute levels being set.

If that's so, matching levels tightly across channels will be difficult or impossible, like the DR-70D.

Actually I think setting levels will be much easier.  Go to the video linked in the first post, and look closely at the display shown at 1:43.  You'll see that there is a per-channel numeric level setting to the left, and a per-channel dB readout to the right.  This is my #1 request for 70D firmware.

In addition, the gain adjustment knobs are designed so they are not moved with a slight touch, making unintended moves less likely.

All that said, I agree with BonoBeats that the 680mkII is probably going to be a better value for what we do.  Especially since their description of the preamps and DAC may indicate that they very well might be the same as those used in the 680.  That was also the early speculation on the 70D which turned out to be false, but they pretty much say that the DAC is the same as on the "high-end DR series" and some of the specs seem to indicate it may be the same preamp circuit.

I HIGHLY doubt that we'll see the numeric level value on the 70D, since the 701D now has it

[H₂O]

Never heard of the DAC manufacturer - anyone know about them?

http://www.akm.com/akm/en/product/detail/0019/

AKM made the AD's in the DR-680, 680mkii, DR60/70 etc

[Fried Chicken Boy]

Do the HDMI connections = Digital I/O?

Was wondering that myself since HDMI currently supports up to 24-bit/192kHz.  But on Tascam's website they state that this I/O is used to master/slave two decks in sync, or output an audio signal to another device; as far as I can see, no mention of the device itself being able to record an audio signal via this input. 

Interesting feature set (SPDIF or AES would've been nice) but with the issues people have been having with the DR-70D, I wouldn't touch this deck with a 10-foot pole. 

[Len Moskowitz (Core Sound)]

Interesting feature set (SPDIF or AES would've been nice) but with the issues people have been having with the DR-70D, I wouldn't touch this deck with a 10-foot pole.

If the channels match and track well, and the pre-amps are reasonably quiet (the spec sheet says it has an EIN of - 124 dBu) , this will be the smallest four-channel recorder that does that. I'd buy it immediately.

[2manyrocks]

As I read tascam product page, this one will gang channels.  They are using Texas instruments op amps so I guess no mods are needed. 

The HDMI is a feature i was not acquainted with.  It looks like some cameras like the Panasonic gh4 will output both time code and start/stop information over HDMI.  Presumably this means you can start recording and stop recording on the 701 just by starting a video recording on a gh4, and then the two devices are synced via time code signal from the camera over HDMI cable. 

I gather you can also sync multiple 701s via the HDMI port, but that would seem an expensive way of adding more channels given the $599 price tag of the 701. 

If you have the right camera and want to sync with the 701, could make sense for that use, but for pure audio recording, I think it will be a hard sale to convince tapers to spend twice as much to get a 701 instead of a 70d.