Sony's new $600 recorder PCM-D50 PT II

[Todd R]

I can't speak for the Fostex or R09, but I love the D50.  IME the line stage and A/D are top notch, and the deck is very robust, both on a physical level and on a firmware level.  Bottom line, works great, sounds great, very reliable.

I found mine used for a good price and just got it, without any need or plan for it.  Figured for my occasional stealth or as a backup to my 722.  I've since got rid of the 722 for a 702, and got rid of that for an Edirol R44 (Oade CMod).  Still have the D50 though and use it all the time, generally using it instead of the OCM R44 unless I want 4ch.  I'd say the line/AD stage stacks up to all those recorders.  Lately I've been forgoing my V3(digi)>D50 route and instead running EAA PSP2(analog)>D50, very compact and sounds great.

Anyway, bigs thumbs up for me on the D50 -- my favorite recorder I've ever owned except for the SD 7xx boxes.

[johnw]

Thanks Todd - that's the kind of endorsement I want to hear!

[brianp]

I'm a big fan of the D50 as well. I've done a few comparisons running line out of my Sonosax to D50 and also XLR to my Mytek 192. The Mytek always sounded better, but I'm also very happy with the D50 a/d conversion. Lately I've been running DPA 4021 > Oade m148 > D50 and it sounds amazing for such a small compact rig.

Johnw, the size of the D50 is real similar to a Sony D8 for the most part. I love it, you can throw it in your back pocket and also run it for 5 hours off of 4 AA's. Totally portable.

My only complaints are: No S/PDIF input and I wish you could control L and R levels independently.

[mrsoul]

I love my D50, best recorder I have ever own, but I have only MD experience.

It does have mini-TOSLINK input, which is S/PDIF or am I crazy?

[mrsoul]

I love my D50, best recorder I have ever own, but I have only MD experience.

It does have mini-TOSLINK input, which is S/PDIF or am I crazy?

BTW, any one interested in a used Sony RH10 with remote ?

[brianp]

I love my D50, best recorder I have ever own, but I have only MD experience.

It does have mini-TOSLINK input, which is S/PDIF or am I crazy?

You're right. I actually meant S/PDIF coax input.

[gdplusmore]

can levels be adjusted in record mode ? I read the manual but it is not clear

[jlykos]

can levels be adjusted in record mode ? I read the manual but it is not clear

The levels can be adjusted as a group, but not individually for the left and right channels.

To chime in with what some other people have said, the A/D stage in the D50 is fine.  Of the units that I have used, it is significantly better than the A/D in the Sony D8, SBM-1 (modified and unmodified), and in the Microtrack.  I preferred the A/D in my Apogee MiniMe, but the D50 obviates the need for me to carry around the unwieldy Apogee unit and the 6 volt battery that I needed to power it.

Like Todd, I run PSP-2 > D50 and this is a compact front end that sounds fantastic.  I highly recommend the D50 if you are looking at an "all in one" recorder not just because it has a good A/D stage, but because it does so many things well in a small and robust package.

[Justinasia]

Sorry for a very newbie question, but if you wanted to connect a pair of DPA 4060 to the PCM-D50, how would you go about it?

Thanks
Justin

[Belexes]

Sorry for a very newbie question, but if you wanted to connect a pair of DPA 4060 to the PCM-D50, how would you go about it?

Thanks
Justin

Mic-in/line-in for the D50 is a single stereo mini, so your mics need to be terminated as such.  I think Chris Church could build you a 9100 pre to power those mics however they are terminated.

[Justinasia]

Sorry for a very newbie question, but if you wanted to connect a pair of DPA 4060 to the PCM-D50, how would you go about it?

Thanks
Justin

Mic-in/line-in for the D50 is a single stereo mini, so your mics need to be terminated as such.  I think Chris Church could build you a 9100 pre to power those mics however they are terminated.

I tried to find out how they are terminated and it seemed to be "microdot". I have no idea what that is. Anyway, anyone who has them, what would be needed to adapt them to the D50? And, are you saying a preamp? Or, what is this 9100 pre? And how much does it cost?

Thanks
Justin

[johnw]

You are going to need someone to either re-terminate the ends into a 3.5mm jack to work with a battery box or buy the preamp or adapters from DPA. The adapters are expensive and not easy to find from what I recall. Maybe try searching the threads in the microphone section.

[Jamos]

The D50 has a preamp built-in, and it also provides some power for mics, but I don't think it has enough power for the DPA's, IIRC.  This means you'll need to either get a battery box or small external pre to power the mics.  Church-Audio builds good quality, small boxes for just this purpose.  You can pay him to solder a mini-jack on the end of your mic pair as well, if that's what you're looking to do.

Look in the "retail sales" sectiton on this board and you'll find tons of offerrings from him.

[WiFiJeff]

Since early January I have been running DPA4060 > DPA MMA6000 > D50 pretty much every day, while my Sonosaxes sit in Switzerland being diagnosed and hopefully repaired.  I recommend the MMA6000 with the 4060s very highly, a great preamp designed for these mics.  I have had no problems at all with the D50, though I do think the Sonosax MiniR82 sounds better (or maybe I just know it and love it too well).  I am using a 16 GB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo "Mark 2"card, works just great.  The transfer times via USB are longer than off the MiniR82 hard drive, but this is not a big deal.  And I love the security of a loooooong battery life. 

Jeff

[Justinasia]

Sorry for a very newbie question, but if you wanted to connect a pair of DPA 4060 to the PCM-D50, how would you go about it?

Thanks
Justin

Mic-in/line-in for the D50 is a single stereo mini, so your mics need to be terminated as such.  I think Chris Church could build you a 9100 pre to power those mics however they are terminated.

I tried to find out how they are terminated and it seemed to be "microdot". I have no idea what that is. Anyway, anyone who has them, what would be needed to adapt them to the D50? And, are you saying a preamp? Or, what is this 9100 pre? And how much does it cost?

Thanks
Justin

OK so I have done more searching on this forum and seems like Church Audio's ST-9100 is perhaps better than the DPA MMA6000 for using the DPA 4060 to the PCM-D50, right? From what I've read it seems it is smaller, cheaper and same sound quality. That's good news. One thing I don't understand though, is why do we need to use a preamp? Is it because this preamp is better than the one in the PCM-D50? And then, if the PCM-D50 is expensive (relatively) because it has a good preamp, if we are going to use this 9100 preamp why not use it with a recorder with no preamp (if there is such a thing) to save space and money?

Another question is, what about the UGLY? CA website is not functioning so it is difficult for me to really understand about these things. Seems like the UGLY will have the same sound but cheaper still? So would it be the UGLY I would want? Then, if so, would it be better to get the pre to take microdots, or get the mic ends changed to a more standard end so I can use the pre with other more standard mics? And any idea how long the UGLY (or 9100 if that is a better choice)'s batteries will last in this setup?

Then there's the "High End Binaural microphone (HEB) set". More confusion...  is that something I should be worrying about? (More closely matched etc.)

I realise I have asked a lot of questions at once. Thank you all for your patience.