Portable Digital Recorders -- newest technology?

[jkowtko]

Hi,

I have been a satisfied owner of the Marantz PMD660 for almost two years now ... great little recording unit, has XLR inputs, and the internal mics have been surprisingly good enough to let me record a pretty reasonable voiceover just by placing the unit under the speaker's chin, not to mention various FX.

However, I'm starting to think it's time for an upgrade. Some deficiencies that I would like to remedy:

* mp3 bit rate is only 64/128 ... no 192.
* no S/PDIF inputs
* Compact Flash card is a dinosaur

and some features I would like to retain if I move to a new unit:

* battery power
* easy record/playback
* large display
* XLR inputs
* handheld size

A quick look around shows some sleeker units with variable mp3 bit rates, but no digital ins and no XLRs.

Would anyone like to plug the latest portable digital recorders that they've seen that would have the features I'm looking for?

Thanks. John

 

[avkid]

It may be a tad on the large side, but the PMD670 has some nice features:
Key Features
* Record Directly to Compact Flash Cards
* Easy One Touch Record
* Portable Operation
* No Moving Parts
* MP3, MP2, WAV, BWF Format Compatible
* Over 40 Assignable Quality Settings
* Security for Switch Settings and Media (Door)
* 16-48 KHz Sample Rate Selections
* 32-384 Bit Rate Selectable
* Menu Driven Contact Closure for
* Remote Operation: Start-Pause / Mark EDL/ Unattended Power Up and Record/Create New File
* Digital Input and Output
* Balanced XLR Mic Inputs
* Unbalanced Line In and Out
* +48 V Phantom Power

 

[soundlight]

While compact flash cards may be large, they are very stable, and aren't as expensive because you have a larger area to fit all of those little electronic pieces that store the data. I think that compact flash is still the way to go for digital recording, and that Marantz is still the company.