As a general comment, don't expect a quart from a pint pot. Small recorders=
have smaller batteries and especially with phantom powering, you will
probably need an external battery which makes the rig large again. In other=
words check out the internal battery capacity with everything turned on.
Phantom powering can use up a lot of battery. (48V times mic supply current=
times two for simple stereo plus the recorder power.)
Also small recorders can have lower quality inputs. It's difficult to get
realistic noise figures from manufacturers, who will quote what looks best.=
It's what they sound like that matters, not the specs.
I've got a Tascam DR-100 which I can't fault as a line-in recorder, but the=
XLR mic inputs aren't floating or even properly balanced. I use long cables=
so I use an old pro grade SQN mixer which cost me several times more than
the Tascam and which has truly floating balanced inputs unlike the Tascam.=
The Tascam mic input preamps are really hissy as well.
The mic powering circuit itself can introduce noise, which needs a fully
matched dummy input to check out.
Ears are the final test. I can hear the Sennheiser MKH mic noise over the
SQN input noise using a dummy matched input.
David Brinicombe
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