Topic: Sony PCM-A10 (Part 2)

[guitard]

does anyone have any idea why something like this could happen?

Murphy!

[DavidPuddy]

Has anyone attempted changing out this thing's battery?

[Brian Emerick]

Is there any consensus on the A10's internal mics?
I used them once for a quieter acoustic set, and then the other night for a louder full band set. I think both sounded fine, but did not have any other tapes to do a real side-by-side comparison. I did a search on here and saw conflicting opinions. I think I might record more if I can stick this thing somewhere good, use the internals, and control it with my phone. I have some AT853's and a CA9100 that I would normally use, but the internals are so much more convenient...

Thoughts?

internals from a couple weeks ago:

https://archive.org/details/fruitbats2025-10-25.flac24

CA-14 cards, same location:

https://archive.org/details/jk2012-05-17.ca14.flac24

Both sound good to me. Which way do you lean?

Always external if possible because you can have better placement and aiming, and analog controls with the CA battery box.  But honestly at quiet shows, internals are about 80% of something like a CA-14 IMO.  Not bad at all.

[DavidPuddy]

Is there any consensus on the A10's internal mics?
I used them once for a quieter acoustic set, and then the other night for a louder full band set. I think both sounded fine, but did not have any other tapes to do a real side-by-side comparison. I did a search on here and saw conflicting opinions. I think I might record more if I can stick this thing somewhere good, use the internals, and control it with my phone. I have some AT853's and a CA9100 that I would normally use, but the internals are so much more convenient...

Thoughts?

The internal mics are pretty bright to me but maybe it's because I'm used to listening to Schoeps pulls these days 

[robgronotte]

Is there any consensus on the A10's internal mics?
I used them once for a quieter acoustic set, and then the other night for a louder full band set. I think both sounded fine, but did not have any other tapes to do a real side-by-side comparison. I did a search on here and saw conflicting opinions. I think I might record more if I can stick this thing somewhere good, use the internals, and control it with my phone. I have some AT853's and a CA9100 that I would normally use, but the internals are so much more convenient...

Thoughts?

The internal mics are pretty bright to me but maybe it's because I'm used to listening to Schoeps pulls these days 

What do you mean by "bright"?

[kozakz]

Is there any consensus on the A10's internal mics?
I used them once for a quieter acoustic set, and then the other night for a louder full band set. I think both sounded fine, but did not have any other tapes to do a real side-by-side comparison. I did a search on here and saw conflicting opinions. I think I might record more if I can stick this thing somewhere good, use the internals, and control it with my phone. I have some AT853's and a CA9100 that I would normally use, but the internals are so much more convenient...

Thoughts?

My openion is that the A10 internals are very close in quality to an AT853. It is an excellent safety backup for any rig.

[morst]

The internal mics are pretty bright to me but maybe it's because I'm used to listening to Schoeps pulls these days 

>What do you mean by "bright"?

As a member of Team Neumann (my KM140 set has a presence rise in the upper treble, ostensibly to make German language speech more comprehensible?) I find Schoeps to be rather bold in the mid and upper bass registers.
Everything is relative, but DPA are the "flattest" I've found.

[neutrino]

Has anyone attempted changing out this thing's battery?

If you can find a replacement battery, it should be pretty easy for anyone with some repair experience to replace the internal. The back of the unit does have a slight hinge/slot in the bottom of the housing that is important to remember so you don't mangle the plastic housing taking it apart or putting it back together.

[robgronotte]

Based on my experience, the battery will last far longer than the unit remains usable.

[morst]

My A10 has a battery that doesn’t last very long anymore, less than two hours
since I noticed the battery issue, I’ve also noticed that it’s becoming increasingly likely that I’m not able to safely dismount the A-10 from my Mac without restarting the computer. I don’t know if that’s connected, but they both seem to be happening
I have seen the must format warning on the SD card once or twice as well. And it resolves with either a restart or coming back a few days later.
my original A-10 had one channel of the line input, which was bad, and this machine is one which was sent to me as a replacement by Sony service in New Jersey.
I am able to work around the short battery life by simply stabbing it into a power bank while I tape, but the whole thing is just getting flakier and flakier.

I did a battery run time test the other day and got just over 4 hours on the internal.
#flaky

[Brian Emerick]

Based on my experience, the battery will last far longer than the unit remains usable.

yeah I've never once run out of battery but I don't tape 5 hour shows.