My opinions on this machine: stars out of 5
Negatives first:
1) Very poor mic preamps, plain and simply too hissy. **
2) No built in battery charging with the included AC adaptor contrary to what the manual would have you believe, It is NOT a charger. **
3) Very poor battery life from 8AA NiMh cells useing so called brand name batteries(eg:Energizers). Less than 1 good hour of either monitoring or recording in DSF format. *
4) Inability to record to one channel only (Which may or may not increase already meagre battery life). **
5) All the connections on the rear would be better on the left/right sides. ***
6) The Hard drive is too vulnerable for field use and no doubt power hungry. Flash memory while still expensive at this time would be superior, hopefully in the revised model. (However this machine is not that cheap). **
7) A manual of errors and omissions.
Undiscovered?Positive attributes:
1) Reasonably well made with positive buttons/controls. ***
2) A well made carry bag is included. ****
3) Undiscovered?...but hoping.
I have had to purchase a separate mic preamp to enable me to get satisfactory recordings from this machine. The mic inputs (XLR) are basically bypassed and used as balanced inputs. I am now useing a Sound Devices 302 mixer. Battery life has now increased as one would expect and now the sound quality of some preliminary recordings I have made is much improved...at expense. If I were purhasing again I might as well have bought a Sound Devices 702/722 in the first place and actually have saved money doing so....although ONLY now may I get to really appreciate the so called 1bit DSD recording quality. IF this forum permits I will keep you posted otherwise it may have to be somewhere else.