Sony PCM-D100 Portable High Resolution Audio Recorder

2021-02-23T04:21:30

I bought the recorder for outdoor ambiance recording and as a field microphone. This thing is solid. Works great recording birds outside in 14 degree weather and snow. The menu is simple and the quality is outstanding. Worth the money for its purpose. I did upgrade to a better windscreen from the one included. It’s built like a tank and looks like it will outlast me!

JOHN M.

2020-09-06T12:36:30

Great recorder. I have been using it to record my lessons so I can review them for ways to improve my teaching. My sound recording levels need some work, but overall an excellent experience.

RICHARD E.

2014-04-07T21:00:00

This is a solid chunk of hand held recorder hardware. The mics record nicely and provide very nice imaging and the preamps are pretty quiet. The included remote works great, and is nice for starting the recording process after you are comfortably seated with your guitar, or starting it on a stage while you watch from the front row. When recording, you *will* record a lot of noise if you try it handheld. It seems pretty sensitive to even the slightest touch. Plan on using a tripod if at all possible. The menus and navigation are pretty straight forward, and it isn't terribly complicated. A quick breeze through the manual will get you up to speed in a flash. It is really nice to be able to record (using an optional RCA to 3.5mm stereo cable) from vinyl and hit a track marker between songs, which can then be used in the recorder to slice the songs apart, saving you some editing in a DAW or audio editor. Same thing if you are recording live music... If you have an optical cable (optional - Hosa makes one for about $15), you can record to the recorder from digital sources — I use this with a Grace Lunatech V3 and some higher quality microphones to record in various locations around the house when I want different ambience or reverb. The included audio editor software works only on PC — I have a Mac but I have plenty of audio editing options that work just fine. Keep in mind, whether Mac or PC, the included editor does not work with DSF files, nor do any of the typical audio editors available. If you want to do anything like downsampling your DSF to various resolution PCM files, you will need to use Korg Audiogate software which Korg packaged with their 1 bit recorders. Search "Korg Audiogate" and you will find a page where Korg will let you download and use the software for free, but it has to be able to tweet or post to Facebook as compensation. If you have a 1-bit recorder from Korg, you simply have to authorize the latest version of Audiogate with your recorder, and you can use it without the posting requirement. Loading up a SDHC card with various high resolution audio files and using a 3.5mm stereo M-M cable will allow you to enjoy high resolution audio in your car, if you have a later model with a 3.5 mm aux jack. Note that the Sony's amp seems to be pretty hot, so set the output volume to 2 or 3, or you will enjoy some pretty nasty distortion. Set properly, it provides a higher level of fidelity than CD. On the downside, the battery life with alkaline batteries isn't fantastic, so maybe plan on rechargables. Also, it has a 6v power line in, but Sony doesn't provide a 6V AC power supply. You'll have to buy one from Amazon. Overall, I think this is a quality handheld that offers features and quality beyond the lower price options available. I would recommend it.

vinnie-bob