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Tascam DR-100 MK II
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    image

    - Improved mics
    - Improved preamps with more gain and less noise (this is big)
    - Better AD/DA converters
    - Locking XLRs
    - SPDIF input
    - Looks like it can record 4 external channels

    Via: http://tascam.jp/product/dr-100mkii/

    Very interesting
  • 55 Replies sorted by
  • tonalttonalt

    I just tested Tascam DR100mkII with Sound Devices USBPre 2. S/PDIF output from USBPre 2 to Tascam DR100mkII S/PDIF input. It works fantastic. No calibrating output/input levels, worrying about clipping etc. It just works like you are using USBPre 2 on computer as audio interface. It utilizes USBPre 2 preamps & limiter directly. Truly professional sound quality.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

  • HillTop1HillTop1

    Quick question; when you set the dr-100 to line 2 and you're recording sound from a mixer, is any of the uni or omni directional mic turn on? I know it's a 2 channel recorded but I am wondering if it only applies to the uni or omni or both XLRs.

  • konjowkonjow

    I have a problem related to Tascam DR 100(1) and NTG 3. Sorry for posting here but I hope you can help me. I have DR 100 few years now and I got NTG 3 last year. I used this only once for testing and I did not needed since then. I took them both today and I find out very bad results. I will not try to explain as I record quick sample for you.

    Tacsam is set Mid gain volume 10 phantom on 0,5m above-indoor and then is old damage Shure 58 the sam settings but no Phantom and 10cm distance. As i don't have other mic I don't know how to find out if it is mic or Tascam problem but this sounds bad to me. In fact them both mics sound similar. My fixing in post makes this worst. I hope its Tascam issue. Any suggestions? https://soundcloud.com/jowek/ntg3-sure58

  • Brian_SianoBrian_Siano

    @Fran_Guidry and @3Kids: Thanks.

    I wrote the above before watching videos of the DR-60D in action, and saw how smell it is: in photos those handles on the sides make it look larger. But it looks like the deciding factor's going to be the microphones on the DR100. I need mikes, and these'd be a good start for me.

  • 3Kids3Kids

    I own both the DR100 II and DR-60D, and I've ended up using the 60D exclusively thanks to its form factor, ergonomics and more channels+features. The only thing missing when compared to the DR-100 is obviously its mics (which I never used anyway) and its rigidity, the 60D is flimsy and feels cheap (bendable thin plastic everywhere), but on the other hand it's super light. In TV productions, if we need simple mobile sound I'll usually give the DR-100II, simply because of its better construction, and sound people are also familiar with it.

  • Fran_GuidryFran_Guidry

    You can record while passing the signal through.

    Any two devices with independent clocks and no time code are subject to drift.

    In what way is the DR-60D not portable?

    Fran

  • Brian_SianoBrian_Siano

    I'm looking at buying a DR100 mk2, and I have a few questions. If I set the recorder up so it feeds an audio signal into my GH2-- resulting in a stereo track synched to the video-- will it also record its own audio tracks on an internal SDHC card?

    Are there issues with syncing long takes (does the audio go out of sync after an hour or so)? And how do you resolve this problem if it happens?

    And finally-- if I got a 4-track Tascam DR-60D instead, what are the pluses and minuses? Is losing portability that important? Is having four tracks really that much of an advantage?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    and I'm wondering if the preamps worth investing in a 500$ shotgun mic, for picking up outdoor sounds for sampling (birds, cars, animals, nature).

    It all depends on specific mike. Best is to use good and hot mike with DR100. DR100 preamps quickly degrade with gain increase.

  • matmayjazmatmayjaz

    Just got à DR 100 mk2 and I'm wondering if the preamps worth investing in a 500$ shotgun mic, for picking up outdoor sounds for sampling (birds, cars, animals, nature).

    thx

  • JDNJDN

    currently playing with a marantz 620 mkii -- no 48v phantom power or XLR but here's a few things that are hot:

    1) Onboard stereo mics are just beautiful. So Rich. 2) Does 5v phantom to a pin mic, so for crucial interviews, you can wire it up and get lectrosonics+ sound for 1/10 of the price (its about the size of a deck of cards) 3) If you got a mix-pre D (which I highly recommend) then you can just use this as a recorder -- no need for xlr in this case

    Gonna try it with the senny mke 600 tomorrow.... doing solo shoot in the jungle in Feb and I've gotta strip back as much as I can so hoping it'll be a good combo.

    BTW, I'd strongly recommend against the DR-40 -- I had it, and the headphone jack stopped working mid-interview on me (with a fairly senior person in the US army). Most embarrassing moment of my life as I tried to fix it, realized it was bust, and then forged ahead, hoping that it was in fact recording even though I could hear no audio.

    Hence trying the marantz. Know a lot of radio reporters in US and Canada who use it so curious. 661 mkii also looks pretty shit hot.

    Camera equipment you will have to buy every couple of years, but unless you abuse it, sound equipment you will not so learn from my mistake and buy the best thing you can afford. My DR-40 was $200 down the drain....Maybe there is something better out there but in my experience you can't get clean phantom power unless you have a mixer.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @mattman

    Try to run it from phantom power, if possible.
    As output can be just very low.

  • mattmanmattman

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev no phantom isn't on. The seinnheisser's running off a AA battery.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @mattman

    And phantom is on, etc?

  • mattmanmattman

    @brianluce yes on the Dr-100 it is. On the Zoom, it's set to Low. If I don't have the Dr-100 on high, I can barely hear anything.

  • brianlucebrianluce

    @mattman is the gain setting on the BACK of the unit set to "High"?

  • mattmanmattman

    I recently purchased a Tascam Dr-100 Mkii to replace my Zoom H4 (original, not the H4N). The problem is, it seems I have to turn the mic gain on high for the XLR inputs otherwise I can't hear anything. The resulting recordings have a very audible hiss in the background. Is this normal? Am I doing this wrong? Do I have a defective unit?

    At this point, it sounds to me like the Zoom H4 has noticeably better sound. That's because on the Zoom, I only have to set the mic gain on low to get sound levels.

    I did a mic comparison test with a Seinheisser k6 ran via xlr straight into the recorders. I'm a sound novice so it's not the most controlled setup. I just recorded sample wav files at 48Khz 16-bit and tried to keep audio around -15 db:

    http://snd.sc/YfeRok

    Am I crazy or is there way more hiss in the Tascam file? I had the Zoom at Low Mic Gain but levels were cranked to the max (127). The Tascam was on high mic gain but the levels were only at 3.

  • AlexAlex

    very interesting read:

    Audio Recorder Roundup: Zoom H4n vs. Tascam DR-100mkII vs Tascam DR-40

    http://nofilmschool.com/2012/04/audio-recorder-roundup-h4n-zoom-vs-tascam/#more-21070

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    I've got the ZoomH4n.

    What is this doing in Tascam topic?

  • luca_vasconluca_vascon

    I've got the ZoomH4n. Pretty decent mics, decent mic preamps (a GOOD preamp is another thing, and cannot share the case with something else!! and I've got one) but what I like most is WIRED REMOTE! If one, the problem of all these tools is WIND. I've got a custom deadcat-sac that covers it all. Remote is the killer solution. I can record the field noise, have a sennheiser me66 on the boom AND a mono wireless tie lavallier. 4 tracks in one 250 eur machine. I'll not upgrade it soon, it is still too good to be true! :-D However, till now nothing compares to the sound I heard from the Sony stuff, that are priced double.

  • zigizigizigizigi

    The review mentioned by evero few posts above claims that
    ...the DR-100 mkII drifted out of sync with recordings on my cameras slightly on very long shots. With both recorders running side by side with my Sony EX1 for an hour the audio from the H4n would sync up correctly whereas the audio from the Dr-100 was 4 frames too long towards the end.

    Can anyone of DR-100 MKII owners confirm that?

  • alcomposeralcomposer

    This is a sad sad day that Ken is now reviewing audio devices, (albeit for DSLR's... don't know why- wasn't he anti DSLR at one point??)

    As for 24 vs 16 - describing the bottom 8 bits as 'just noise' is a bit of a joke. As you would know @VK it doesn't really work that way...

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    You can look at DR-100 MK II review make by Ken, it has various measurements

    Like all these little portable audio recorders, performance is only at a 15- or 16-bit level even if set to "24 bits." Even though 24 bits wiggle, the bottom 8 bits are just noise; "24 bit" is a sales feature and not related to actual quality. There is no measurable or audible improvement in the 24-bit mode

    http://kenrockwell.com/audio/tascam/dr-100mkii.htm

  • yoclayyoclay

    The LS-100 looks the first serious candidate for challenging the low self noise and quality of the Sony PCM-D50 as a portable recorder AND which also has built in XLR inputs. It also appears to have more dynamic range than the Sony. I love my Sony, so much so that I even converted a Denecke PS-2 as an XLR phantom power to work exclusively with it. The quality is almost on par with an Sound Devices 302 mixer. Still it means carrying two units in a very small Thinktank pouch rather than one, and that is where the Olympus has a real opportunity to clean up. I would say that it is no contest compared to the Tascam.

    update: Having listened to the german preview, unfortunately he concludeds (and I agree) that it still falls short of the Sony. If you listen to the tracks at the end there definitely is a rumble which needs a low pass cut and there is some serious susceptibility to wind noise. I would say that the search for a small all-in one portable recorder which can contend with mixer/recorders still continues. It is true that the Marantz continue to be the only other player that can approach the Sony.

  • everoevero

    Review comparing Zoom H4n with DR-100 mk2: http://www.pauljoy.com/gear/camera-accessories/tascam-dr-100mkii-vs-zoom-h4n-review/ Reviewer tested with Sennheisser MKH416 shotgun mic, and I'm a little suprised that he didn't comment on differences in pre-amps, but I've asked and hopefully he will respond on the issue.

    I've concidered the DR-100 mkII a lot, but start to think the Olympus LS-100 is a better choice for me. It's a little more expensive, but: - from what I understand it might have an edge on the preamps/noise levels, but I'm really on thin ice trying to compare results from eg. http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm - LS-100 battery capacity is stated to 12,5 hours (according to Olympus. And I expect that to drop markebly when using phantom power, which I need). The DR-100 mkII using built in mic will record 5 hours with Li-Ion battery + 4 hours AA NiMh batteries (accordring to Tascam). I guess it's a close call, but I actually prefer buying an extra Olympus battery, and forget about the battery fuss on set.

    I haven't found many reviews on the LS-100 yet, only a german preview: http://www.audiotranskription.de/olympus-ls-100 Lastly, ofcourse the Roland R-26 is still a good candidate. I like the ergonomics, but I find it a little too big.

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