Rob Danielson wrote:
> Hi--
> Sorry to hear it. TCD5m's are among the longest lived. Portadisk most
> likely. or possibly buy a consumer Sony or Sharp MD and pop for a
> good stereo mic preamp for the difference. Walt, you think the A->D
> converters in the Portadisk are a big advantage or does your test
> suggest the consumer MD's a->d quality is about the same? Rob D.
I can only speak to a comparison to the MZ-R30's I used. Though I think
it applies much more widely.
When I started using the Portadisc the quality of the recordings took a
step upward. Not easy to put a finger on a particular component, but it
was a distinct improvement. I do feel the a/d of the Portadisc is better.
The Portadisc's pre is definitely better than that of the MZ-R30. Does
not overload as easily, is quieter, etc. And of course you get all the
goodies, phantom power, high pass filtering, limiter, standard XLR
connectors, 6sec record ahead buffer etc. It's a recordist's recorder,
designed primarily around recording not listening as walkman are.
If it can be afforded, and if looking to the long term, a Portadisc is
well worth it over a walkman MD. In my opinion.
I should warn the original poster, NetMD is a copy protection system for
the music industry. People trying to use NetMD recorders for nature
recording have done quite a bit of grumping about it. You certainly
won't be able to transfer your recordings to computer digitally with one
without some sort of hacking, if even then. Also the longer record times
in some newer MD are at the expense of considerable sound quality loss,
you will be sticking to the 74 or 80 minutes of the SP mode.
Walt
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