Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I'm a journalist who does interviews. I don't record "voice," much less music. I've used Sony's EV500 mono tape recorder--the high-end standard for print journalists--for over 20 years. My colleagues thought it was overkill to switch to stereo. When I showed them my new Sony PCM-10 (purchased in October 2009), they thought it was pretty cool, but when I told them the price, they arched an eyebrow (journalists are congenitally cheap; goes with the salary).
The PCM-10 lets you record in 10 modes, including uncompressed LPCM and compressed MP3, so we did a test recording (that is, an interview) in the highest-quality stereo mode: LPCM 96kHz/24 bit. Well! Let me tell you: Eyebrows arched. The sound was spectacular. One guy grumped--beforehand--that he didn't need interviewees to sound like Maria Callas. Mono was good enough. Then I played it back. He looked like he dropped acid. "How much did you say that was?" he asked. The bottom line is this: If you record regularly--and seriously--whether it's rock concerts, garage bands, opera stars, birdsong, or interviewees, you want the best sound you can get. The PCM-10 delivers it.
There are many other things to like about this new Sony unit. It has a (mostly) aluminum case. I don't know about you, but I just hate cheap plastic cases. It's about the size of a deck of playing cards. The buttons and menus are so intuitive, I figured everything out without once cracking the manual (which, incidentally, is fairly well-written as these things go). The buttons and switches on the device are intelligently laid out and a cinch to master. And believe me, I'm no genius when it comes to this sort of thing.
The PCM-10 comes with a pair of excellent built-in cardioid mics. I also tested it with a Sony ECM-MS907 stereo cardioid mike and a Sound Professionals SP-BMC13 Two Channel, Boundary Style, High-Sensitivity Conference Mic, which I use when a group of interviewees are seated in a living room, at a long conference table, or a classroom. I gotta tell you: transcribing recordings of interviews has got to be the world's most tedious enterprise, but when the sound is this crystal clear, it's a lot less tedious, and far fewer sounds get smudged, which would otherwise require lots of replaying to figure out what was said. Since I use a portable rig, I find the PCM-10's powered mic jack an important feature.
Oh, and the display--black and white LCD, not color--contains all the information you need, including the all-important battery status indicator (the unit runs on two AAs for about 15 hours at 96kHz/24 bit, the highest-quality setting, and over 40 hours on a compressed MP3 setting, which is pretty darn good). Uploading sound files to a PC via the USB port is a cinch.
And yet there are some design peculiarities with this otherwise splendid unit. The case is described by Sony as aluminum. Well, sort of. The faceplate feels like aluminum, but the sides and back feel like plastic. The battery lid is definitely plastic, and the little lid that covers the slots for removable media--Sony Memory Sticks or SD Micro flash cards (up to 16 GB)--is not only plastic but incredibly flimsy, very easy to snap off. Is it really such a design challenge to design a lid that is sturdy and not apt to break? I guess it is.
But let's keep things in perspective. At this price point, the PCM-10 blows the competition away (and competing models are not any better-made, although that is not a reason to let Sony off the hook). The unit admirably does what it was designed to do: produce beautiful, portable, professional-quality recordings. And, except for the cheap battery and removable media lids, the PCM-10 is a class act.
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Sony PCMM10 Portable Digital Recorder (Black)Product Description: Sony PCMM10 Portable Digital Recorder; Personal Linear Audio Recording! The PCMM10 is a 96 kHz/24-bit capable recorder with electret condenser stereo microphones, 4 GB of internal flash memory and a microSD/Memory Stick Micro Slot for expanded memory. Key features of the PCMM10 recorder include a built-in speaker, cross-memory recording, digital pitch control, digital limiter, low-cut filter, track mark functions, a 5-second pre-recording buffer and A-B repeat capability. The recorder includes a USB high-speed port for simple uploading and downloading of native WAV or MP3 format recorded files to and from Windows PC or Ac computers. The M10 offers durable construction and long battery life using conventional AA alkaline batteries. Sony PCMM10Features Offers solid-state storage - free of drive mechanisms Built-in high quality electret condenser stereo microphones Flexible Playback Simple Uploading to Computer Versatile Recording Functions Built-in Electret Condenser Microphones The PCMM10's electret condenser microphones have exceptional high sound quality. The microphones are omni-directional with a flat and wide frequency response and natural sound characteristics. Flexible Playback Features The PCMM10 includes both digital pitch control and key control. Digital pitch control maintains pitch while slowing down or speeding up playback speed. Key control allows changing the pitch while maintaining playback speed. Simple Uploading to Computer
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