In my humble opinion, the D50 is an amazing piece of kit, for a handheld
recorder. I only use it with its internal mics, as I have a higher quality
setup using MKH mics and a separate recorder as well. I use the D50 both as
a backup recorder and for when it is unwieldy to take out the larger kit,
for instance when on a long hike, or when I suddenly hear something I want
to record. Of course the saying is, the best recorder/mic is the one you
have with you, and the D50 you can always bring along.
Like others said, if you want to record really delicate ambiences/sounds,
then the D50 will introduce some noise when using the internal mics. I
disagree with the white noise comment though: I don't think it's that bad.
One thing I have found that you should never set the gain higher than the
number 6 on the rotary wheel, anything above that seems to introduce even
more noise somehow.
It would be a perfect recorder if it had preamps with phantom power, but so
be it. Down the line, you could get a Sound Devices Mix-Pre D or USBPre2
with a usb battery, so you can record with high quality mics. But I'm sure
you won't regret buying the D50 to use only its internal mics for the
foreseeable future.
Other things I love about it are its battery life (12hrs on 96khz/24bit)
and the metering display. The only annoying thing is that it only uses Sony
memory cards, what are they called again.... anyway they're more expensive
than SD cards.
I have a few recordings made with the D50 online, have a listen:
https://soundcloud.com/daan-hendriks/howler-monkeys-bolivia
https://soundcloud.com/daan-hendriks/bolivia-amazon-pampas-unknown
https://soundcloud.com/daan-hendriks/flamingos-mountain-lakes-near
https://soundcloud.com/daan-hendriks/oropendolas-madidi-bolivian
https://soundcloud.com/daan-hendriks/lawrence-thrush-madidi
https://soundcloud.com/daan-hendriks/macau-cliff-01-bolivia-madidi
https://soundcloud.com/daan-hendriks/dawn-macaucliff-02
Again: for really quiet ambiences and sounds you will notice the noise
floor, but generally this little machine is capable of making some really
good sounding recordings IMHO.
On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 7:04 PM, peter <> wrote:
> one more thought about the microphone quietness question. It all depends
> on what you're after and on what kind of speakers you're planning to play
> your recordings on.
> If headphones and home speakers are enough, then no worries. Anything mor=
e
> professional and most built-in mics of quiet environments will simply sou=
nd
> like white noise.
>
>
>
> On 07 Jan 2013, at 19:15, peter wrote:
>
> > the Mixy is very portable:
> > Dimensions: 171 x 49 x 131 mm (6.7=E2=80=B0 x 1.9=E2=80=B0 x 5=E2=80=B0=
)
> > Weight: 1.23 kg (2.7 lbs)
> >
> > I'm afraid I can't answer your question about the self-noise of the
> inbuilt mics.
> > I've seen comparison website links pop up on this mailing list here fro=
m
> time to time but I can't find that now.
> > Anyone else?
> >
> > On 06 Jan 2013, at 23:04, ambient_jungle wrote:
> >
> >> How portable is the pre-amp/mixer you are using? Many times when I go
> in the mountains, I carry my gear in a backpack which also includes sever=
al
> tripods at least 2 portable audio recorders, and some times a dslr camera
> and or video gear. I couldn't imagine a pre-amp/mixer being very small - =
at
> least none of the studio stuff I've used years ago.
> >>
> >> You also mentioned that the d50's mic weren't as quite.. would you say
> they are quieter than most other all in one devices in it's price range..
> maybe like the ls-100?
> >>
> >> --- In peter <> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> I'm very happy with my d50.
> >>> Used the internal mics at first. They sound pretty good for internal
> mics. Don't forget to buy the wind cover though, yon't be able to use it
> outside much without it.
> >>> In more quiet environments, the internal are too noisy, as you'd
> expect. So I switched almost immediately to binaural mics.
> >>> And when the opportunity arose, I invested in a pre-amp/mixer that
> connects digitally to the d50.
> >>> Now I can use all my microphones and it's still very portable. And I
> have quality comparable to the bigger recorders (Sound devices, etc) than=
ks
> to the Mixy preamp.
> >>>
> >>> (As an aside: I was ready to buy a Sound Devices recorder but when my
> local pro audio shop heard I already owned the d50, they suggested buying
> the Mixy instead. I'd have the same, if not better (their words) sound
> quality, and less noisy to boot! The fact that the Mixy costs almost twic=
e
> as much as the SD 702 might have influenced them saying that though....)
> >>>
> >>> I haven't done any testing with other smaller recorders, but
> nevertheless I'd say it's the best recorder you can buy for under 500.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On 05 Jan 2013, at 22:26, ambient_jungle wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> So I am looking at maybe buying a Sony PCM D50. I know it's an older
> model, but from different reviews I have read, I hear it is still one of
> the cleanest sounding recorders on the market with in the $400 to $500
> price range.
> >>>>
> >>>> I primarily like to record natural ambient sounds, whether that is i=
n
> a city or far away from people, like in mountains and or forests. At this
> stage of my "hobby" I prefer to use an all in one system. Less gear to
> carry. I would consider getting an Olympus LS-100 and have the XLRs there
> when the time comes that I want to use external MICs, but I believe that =
is
> still someways down the road, and I've read the D50 records better with
> less low noise than the LS-100. Since many times, my recordings are very
> low noise of the world around me, it is my hope to eliminate as much syst=
em
> noise as I can, from the device itself.
> >>>>
> >>>> I was wondering if anyone else has used the D50 with the internal
> mics and what your experience have been with that? If you have used it wi=
th
> external mics, how did you have it set up and how was your recordings?
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> > sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Kraus=
e.
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
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