Marantz PMD671 solid-state pro recorder

We know that some of you still carry around DAT or even MD recorders because you're dissatisfied with the current crop of portable digital audio recorders. Hopefully, the Marantz PMD671 will help you get over your fixation with old gear. The recorder is a 24bit/96kHz 2 channel deck, and includes a USB port, mic inputs, and digital and analog output. It can record both compressed MP3 files and uncompressed WAVs onto CF cards, and runs about $1,200. That doesn't seem like too high a price to pay to modernize your rig -- though we'd really like to see something like this with a hard drive, rather than having to depend on CF cards or microdrives.

[starpause @ Jan 30th 2006 10:37AM]

it's beautiful but the price tag is so high! the microtrak from maudio is half the price and also records to CFC.

this weekend i recorded my fm broadcast with the built in tuner of the monolith mx7000 premium ... 320kbps 48khz sounded just fine. in reality md is also compressed audio using some format sony came up with.

still haven't done any field/bootleg recordings or studio jams into the monolith.

i sound like freaking consumer reports.

[Johnny C @ Jan 30th 2006 10:52AM]

Ditto the M-Audio recommendation. At $400, it's a third of the cost and an awesome form factor.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack-main.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=MAMT2496&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=389807

[Peter Kirn @ Jan 30th 2006 10:57AM]

The advantage of CF/SD over a hard drive = absolutely ZERO noise. You can have a mic right on top of the unit and not pick up anything. Hard drives make noise.

It'll be interesting to see how this compares to the Tascam take on the same idea:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=935&Itemid=44

What's nice about the Tascam is it does SMPTE sync. You need a clock source, but you can slave it to an elaborate multi-camera shoot if you like. (Try that with a smaller player!)

Anyway, comparing this to the MicroTrack, etc., is apples to oranges. The Marantz and Tascam both have real XLR mic ins and reliable phantom power. If I could afford both a little recorder and one of these big units, I'd have both, frankly. In the meantime, I'll have to keep recording with my computer and audio interface -- less reliable, less portable, but I already own it.

[Comrade Penguin @ Jan 30th 2006 10:59AM]

At #1 It's not really about the compressed format. Most compressed formats sound good enough for home recordings at decent bit rate. The thing with MD was a lot of the time line in was the only option to get the music onto the device and hence mre was spent on putting a decent ADC in them. Even the best Mp3 players I've tried with 320kbps on them sound woeful in comparison because money has been spent places other than the ADC. The other great thing about MD was you could buy a deck so for recording at home you could get a lot better quality as you wen't paying for the minaturization.

As said CF cards and microdives don't seem like a great idea especially if someone want to record in WAV. I guess anyone who wants to make full use will have to get a HDD with USB OTG.

[Jeremy Moses @ Jan 30th 2006 11:20AM]

I'm not sure if you'd call this portable still or not, but Stereophile magazine seems to like the Alesis MasterLink 9600 - a hard drive based unit - also 96KHz/24-bit. It takes digital and analog inputs and outputs all in both XLR and RCA for mics or line-level. Apparently, John Atikinson (Stereophile editor) uses one of these to record live sessions - any who know the magazine also know he also owns a lot more expensive equipment than this! (can be found for $1000?)
Stereophile's review:
http://www.stereophile.com/hirezplayers/605/
Web site:
http://www.alesis.com/products/ml9600/

[LeFly @ Jan 30th 2006 11:53AM]

FYI, Sound Devices do two HD based field recorders, the 722 and the 744T.
http://www.sounddevices.com/products/7.htm

[chuser @ Jan 30th 2006 11:54AM]

Another portable digital recording option is the Edirol R-4. I used it this past summer on a feature length film with great results. The downside is not having the physical media. Even though everything worked well for us we still pushed a mix back to the HDCAM for back up. Having the files digitally separated did speed up the audio editing process. Having a good log is the key.
http://www.edirol.com/products/info/r4.html

[Jim @ Jan 30th 2006 12:38PM]

This 'deck' is pretty nice, but if you want some real functionallity try the Marantz CDR-420. It has a built in hard drive, can output your audio in standard CD format or MP3, is able to duplicate CD's, you can custom label your tracks using an attached keyboard, the drive can be accessed with your computer using a USB cable and it has a wide variety of inputs: XLR, 1/4 inch jacks, component (RCA) in/out, and coaxial digital. It is also cheaper, but only slightly. link: http://www.d-mpro.com/users/folder.asp?FolderID=3639&CatID=19&SubCatID=178

[Brian @ Jan 30th 2006 12:57PM]

Ditto the Edirol R-4 reccomendation. It has much better preamps than the Marantz and has both CF and HD capability. You muct record to the HD direct, but can Xfer the files to CF to back them up. I'm running one and really like it. It is also 4 channel and has editing capability. Take a look at http://www.edirol.com/products/info/r4.html

[janes @ Jan 30th 2006 1:07PM]

The sound devices 744t is THE machine for portable high resolution audio recording. I have the PMD 670 which has been around the world several times. It is a good machine. Now if they would put decent mic pre amps in them they would have somthing.
The idea of recording to CF is fantastic. NO MOVING PARTS. this is like the holy grail of recording anything. BTW I use high quality lexar CF cards on my 744t and it has no problem writing 4 tracks of 24 bit 96khz sample rate audio to those cf cards. Compact flash is a great medium.
Yaesumofo

[beatdeal.com @ Jan 30th 2006 5:26PM]

funny....look exactly the same as Sony.

link : (translated from Jap to English by Babel)

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.watch.impress.co.jp%2fav%2fdocs%2f20060130%2fdandm.htm

[Alex K. @ Jan 30th 2006 6:13PM]

i think leo laporte uses something like this.

it was in the systm videocast called "podcasting"

[rick @ Jan 30th 2006 6:37PM]

I was researching these a few months ago.

They are sweet and will eventually change concert recording.

Check out these guys, http://www.oade.com/ they mods these devices for even better recording results. I was an adv. concert mod. :-)

[racermd @ Jan 31st 2006 1:21AM]

I don't know what the problem with CF cards is... Fast 2GB cards are running at about $150 or so at full retail (less if you go for wholesale or can find a deal). At 44.1k, 16-bit - full CD quality - you've got about 3.5 hours of recording on a single card. Unless you're recording a feature-length film soundtrack all at once, you'll likely never need to go that long. Even at higher sampling- and bit-rates, you've got a pretty big 'container'.

Sure, cost per unit of storage isn't nearly as competitive as a hard disk, for example. But the CF cards are probably going to be a temporary medium until the tracks can be offloaded to the computer or sent to another media type. It shouldn't be any different than how pro dSLR camera photogs use CF cards.

[Igor Guryanov @ Jan 31st 2006 3:59AM]

It cost 999 at B&H, and there are also 670 model - it cost less.

[MNA @ Jan 31st 2006 7:55AM]

This is professional equipment for professional use.
A harddrive (and a built-in battery) may work in the ipod, but not here.
Harddrives are: 1) not shock proof 2) noisy 3) not reliable

I have used this models little brother and it's a charm. Incredibly clean sound.

[Rob @ Jan 31st 2006 1:36PM]

The Marantz works great for pro use, though it is quite a bit bigger than minidisc recorders my colleagues are using. The flash cards are great. Just record and pop them into your PCs flash card reader. Far easier than minidisc and of better quality. I record everything as wav. Also, I get five hours of recording time on one charge. The other cheaper decks mentioned don't have balanced XLR inputs and marginal preamps. So I can use dynamic mics without having to boost the gain through the roof.

[John Houghton @ Jan 31st 2006 5:30PM]

I own a podcast production company and a record label and have two Edirol R4s. I also get paid to review podcasting hardware and software. This recorder has issues and after reading reviews, like the Marantz has the same problems. I own a variety of mics and have auditioned the R4 against 20+ microphones. Here is my feedback. The mic preamps are prone to hiss and hum. The most common voice-over mics are the Electrovoice RE20 and RE50, both of them have a low level hiss which you can hear during. The most common mics in the music industry are the Shure SM57 and SM58 - both have problems with hum (even when using high quality XLR cords). Shure Beta 58 and Beta 87 (top handheld mic) have a low level hiss which can be heard in quiet recording environments. All of these problems can be mitigated by going through a mixer, but then your setup isn't so portable. The microphones that work well with the R4 preamps are the large diaphragm condensers such as the Rode NT1 or AGK C1000. The problem is that these mics don't tolerate rough handling or moisture. I tried about 8 large diaphragm condensers and they all work beautifully with this unit. The hiss from the other mics can be cut in post production, but you also lose fidelity (which is important since my company differentiates itself on sound quality). Hum cannot be eliminated once it is in the recording. I'm not going to return my R4s, but you should be aware that the preamps have issues depending on your mic selection - a problem you shouldn't have when spending $1500. Otherwise, the unit is great and the hard disk is silent. If I get a chance to get my hands on the M-Audio Microtrack or Marantz PDM671, I'll post a review.

[John Molina @ Feb 1st 2006 12:17AM]

Uh, I've used this before methinks. I took a digital audio class (TCS 121: Intro to Sonic Arts) and we used this deck to make a lot of our recordings. Great device!

[John Houghton @ May 2nd 2006 12:52PM]

As an update to post 18, I have purchased an M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96. Nice unit. A lot of portable recorders have problems which this unit doesn't share. The preamps are good enough and there is no hum or hiss with either condenser or dynamic mics. The only corner case is when hooking up a condenser mic on one channel then a dynamic on the other -- turn on the phantom power and you hear a lot of hiss on the dynamic mic. Granted you can get around this by not mixing and matching your mics. Not a serious limitation. The unit is powered by an internal rechargeable battery, which lasts 6 hours, less if you use phantom power. You lose your recording if you run out the battery. I built a 5v USB battery pack which extends the recording time to 12 or more hours. The unit has a nice limiter which works and keeps you from clipping your levels. The biggest problem with these units is noisy mic preamps and low noise mic preamps make the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 a winner.

[BillDennehy @ Dec 17th 2006 12:12AM]

I have an M-Audio 24/96 also but have a hard time recording live music from FM radio with it. I plug it in to my reciever and it registers alright but it distorts like crazy. I'm looking for something that will record from FM radio to a FC. Any suggestions re: what to buy and how to make my M-Audio record Fm without distorting? Thanks,Bill

[TallPaul @ May 5th 2007 9:52AM]

I am a songwriter. At home I have all kinds of nice recording gear.

But what I'd REALLY like is a great standalone portable unit to give to vocalists I want to work with in my area so they can record vocals at their own home and then I'll grab the files from them.

Most of these people are Digital Audio Workstation/computer/recording illiterate. So, what I need are (1) simplicity (2) high quality preamps (3) standalone, no computer needed (4) uploaded to my DAW (5) ability to easily add a new track, overdub an existing track, etc (6) apply some basic compression and reverb to the track (keeping the track 'raw') so the vocalist can hear her/his voice with effects while recording.

Money-wise I'd like to stay at $1500 or less.

The units I have been reviewing are:
Marantz PMD671 ($1000)
Marantz PMD671 modified by OADE.com. ($1250. PS: what are the enhancements that Oade.com is doing?)
Zoom H4 ($270)
Sound Devices 744T ($4000. OUCH!!)
Sound Devices 702 ($1900)
Edirol R-09 ($400)
m-audio Microtrack 24/96 (problematic?)

Others?

Paul