Hi all,
I just wanted to report my personal field experience with one of the
cheapest new hand-held recorder, the TASCAM DR-1. It costs about 25%
less than the Olympus LS-10.
During the last few weeks I have used it successfully with a
Sennheiser K6/ME66 microphone connected to the 1/4" MIC 2 input of the
DR-1. This 1/4" mic connector provides a much more reliable connection
than the 3.5 mm connectors that are common in the other devices in
this price range.
Also, the location of this connector at the bottom of the unit is
quite useful under rough field conditions. A few competitors such as
the Olympus LS-10 or SONY PCM-D50 have the mic input on the right
side, which makes the connector more vulnerable.
The preamplifier noise floor of the MIC 2 input of the DR-1 is low
enough for the Sennheiser K6/ME66 or ME 67 so that there is no
significant noise added by the recorder's preamplifier (see also
http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm and).
I used a self-made adapter cable to connect the microphone to the
recorder. The wiring is as follows:
XLR pin 1 (ground) <---> 1/4" sleeve (ground)
XLR pin 2 <---> 1/4" tip
XLR pin 3 <---> 1/4" sleeve (ground)
So, if you are interested in cost-effective and compact, but still
rugged (mono) recording gear for recording individual animals, then I
can recommend the combination of a Sennheiser K6/ME66 or 67 with a
TASCAM DR-1.
Regards,
Raimund
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