Topic: Mini (3.5mm) mic jack - your thoughts - it's keeping me away from certain models

[Robobo1]

First post!  Found this forum over at gearslutz.com.

I'm looking for a small handheld flash recorder as a gift for a radio reporter/producer.  She currently uses minidisc... it's time to upgrade.

There are a bunch of options, but one thing that has cut the field down dramatically are 3.5mm (mini) jacks for mic input.  My experience with those jacks is that they are unreliable, and the plug pulls out too easily.   This is from my use of DA-8s... always had to gaffe tape the jack in place.  For this reason, it seems that my best bets are the Zoom H4 (XLR/TRS) or the new Maudio MultitrackII (TRS).  The Edirol, the new Sony... even the Nagra handhelds are out because of 3.5mm jacks!

Anyone have a modern flash recorder with a 3.5mm jack?  Any problems?

She would carry the recorder in her hand or a bag, and the mic and cable would be in her hand, never in the same place for long...

[attheshow]

Well, her current recorder is a MD which has 3.5mm jacks. Do you know if that has caused her any trouble? Also, the mic that she is using must terminate in a 3.5mm plug... Is she/are you willing to have it modded to change the termination?

FWIW I use HiMD with a 3.5mm jack and haven't yet had any reliability issues *knocks wood*.

[Robobo1]

Well, her current recorder is a MD which has 3.5mm jacks. Do you know if that has caused her any trouble? Also, the mic that she is using must terminate in a 3.5mm plug... Is she/are you willing to have it modded to change the termination?

She currently uses a F-XLR to male 3.5mm cable.  She has to hold the minidisc very still or place it on a table.  I want something solid, like what I'm used to in the professional world (SD-722, for example)...

[dunebug81]

Sounds like her recorder is worn out.  I've been using MD since `01 ( currently using the Sony RH1 HIMD )and have accidentally pulled out the mic plug 2...maybe 3 times. 

Does she hold the recorder in her hand or put it in her pocket?

[Wiggle]

A 722 for radio reporting is not only overkill but it may also serve to intimidate the person she's interviewing which will only make her job harder.

Where I work, our reporters often use MDs, Marantz 660s or R1s/R9s. Our Audio Systems team built shorty XLR>mini connectors to solve the cable pull problem. It's not elegant but it works.

[Robobo1]

A 722 for radio reporting is not only overkill but it may also serve to intimidate the person she's interviewing which will only make her job harder.

Where I work, our reporters often use MDs, Marantz 660s or R1s/R9s. Our Audio Systems team built shorty XLR>mini connectors to solve the cable pull problem. It's not elegant but it works.

I COMPLETELY agree.  I'm an audio engineer at a national radio network... the engineers get 722s, the reporters now get Marantz 660s.

The newer Marantz 660s seem like a good choice, but I'd really like to find something smaller.

I could certainly make her some cables to solve the cable problem.  But I'm hearing that the Edirols have problems with the jacks actually breaking off the machine!  What if that were to happen to her in the middle of Uganda (a likely place for her to be... hence another reason for a small rig)?

[Robobo1]

Does she hold the recorder in her hand or put it in her pocket?

She holds it in her hand.

I want to eliminate the possibility of it pulling out... hence the want for XLR... I think I'm going to have to go to a larger unit to find that... the XLR jack on the H4 isn't traditional, it's one of those XLR / 1/4" jacks, so the plug can still pull right out.

Grr.

Can't have it all!

[Ozpeter]

To reduce the chance of cable pullout, use a 90 degree 3.5mm adapter - but perhaps that might add strain to the recorder.