Well I read around a little on a few forums after you said that all dr-680
had problems with the phantom power since I haven't experienced that. I
could only find one person (bert or bert37) with the problem and he only
had the problem with a few cheap behringer mics. I found a lot of people
that didn't have any problems... and they also said the preamps was great.
One person replied that these Behringer microphones was badly designed and
not the phantom power on 680 so they argued about that...
I found a second person (i think) that had made the mode to improve on the
"problem" but he didn't say if it sounded better or not...
As usual you should test it yourself and I actually did that a few years
ago when I bought my 680. I borrowed a phantom power unit, don't remember
the model but I think the make was Art. There was no difference with
external or internal phantom power on at least my unit.
I might call my friend and see if he still has the phantom power unit or
another similar unit so I can test it again but I doubt that it will turn
out different than last time I tested.
Sure Tascam might have taken some shortcuts to keep the cost down and they
probably could have done a better job, but to warn people about it so it
sounds like the unit is completely useless is a little bit harsh I think.
Just because one person have posted all over internet on several different
forums doesn't mean it's useless...
How many thousand DR-680 is used without problems?
I'm also surprised that he can even hear the noise from 680's preamps when
he's using a 19dB (a-weighted) noisy microphone... I can hear the
difference on a 14 and a 10 dbA microphone because I'm hearing the
microphones noise and not the 680's preamps...
Maybe he and and someone else have problems with their 680 or maybe a few
microphones doesn't work well with 680... I don't know... I just know that
I don't have that problem with the microphones I own or have tested.
Not directly related:
I'm no expert in this but I can't stop wonder why people on these forums
want to buy preamps to get lower noise? I'm not only talking about DR-680.
I have seen the same questions when they have Fostex FR-2 LE or some other
low noise recorder. Then they say they have a couple of microphones with a
20dBA noise spec. Am I missing something? I can understand it if they want
a different "sound character" or some other reason, but for just lower
noise when they have such noisy microphones and low noise recorder?
Shouldn't they buy new (lower noise) microphones instead?
Another problem that some people have had, is using an external battery. On
the unit it's printed 12v. I use external cheap chinese 12v li-ion
batteries and I have never had any problems. A lot of the users that have
had problems use 9v batteries. I don't know why... just because it works?
But It can cause problems as some people have experienced. Yes some of them
use 9v and haven't had any issues, but why take the chance? As I said, it's
printed on the unit... 12v.
DR-680 stops working at around 8.2v so why not have the "headroom" from a
12v battery?
At least I recommend 12v battery.
I can also recommend Tascam DR-680 since I personally haven't had any
problems with it. I DON'T think it's the best recorder in the world but I
think it's good value, especially now when it's price is around $440
(BHphotovideo). I paid a lot more a few years ago. Sure, if you need a lot
of inputs and also need higher quality you can buy a Sound devices 788T for
an additional $6000.
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H=C3=A5kan Olsson
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