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Marantz PMD660 Review - Podcasting Buyer Pay Attention
Review of the solid-state Marantz PMD660 portable digital recorder (or Portable) with two built-in microphones and two powered XLR microphone inputs. It's fairly small and light. Seems like the ideal device for taking on the road but ... beware, it's not a good value for the money if you're interested in professional audio quality. Read below...
UPDATE: May 8, 2006
My new Fostex FR-2 has arrived. Does it outperform the Marantz PMD660 and 671? You be the judge - http://4webresults.com/blog/05-05/fostex-fr2-arrived
UPDATE: May 6, 2006
this blog entry is one of the most popular I've ever written and each month I get notes from people about the Marantz (pros and con). I ended up even selling the Fostex FR-2. Loved it and it worked great. It was just too large to carry around. In the end I purchased PowerBook 12" and later last year a M-Audio Microtrack 24/96.
I understand that Marantz did issue an upgrade to this PMD660 and the Oade Brothers also sell an custom microphone circuit upgrade. That wasn't enough to get me back (personally speaking). I would have liked for Marantz to have contacted me despite all my calling and email with their support back then. I would have gladly given them a chance to provide a rebuttal in writing or on a podcast. I never heard from them.
Anyway the M-Audio Microtrack gave me the ultimate portability and a decent compromise with audio quality. I've had the Microtrack since December 05 and it's worked GREAT for me. Very good recordings with the supplied mic and with the two CountryMan microphones I use with it.
UPDATE: May 4, 2006
Well, I had www.sweetwater.com send me the new Marantz PMD671, which costs around $1,000. The Marantz PMD671 does not have that terrible high-pitched whine. And I liked the flexibility and feel of the replacement unit. BUT the microphone inputs are almost equally as noisy. Think of it like this: you could cook your morning bacon with that noise. Remember the days of cassette recorders? You know that constant hisssssssssssssssss in the background? That's what it sounds like. So, if you're looking for quality pro results don't get the PMD671 if you're using external (or internal) microphone inputs. If you're using ONLY the line input, that's fine. The input noise is around -65db. It's in their specs. I should have known better.
Bottom line for me, if I'm going to spend that much money for something that says 'PRO' on it, I want it to match up with my other pro gear. I sent it back. Super thanks to Andy at www.Sweetwater.com. Those guys are great and so patient with me.
I decided to spend $1,199 and purchase the Fostex FR-2 field recorder. Microphone input noise is around -80db. Overall, I think I'll be happy with that unit. I spoke with the Oade Brothers Audio in Thomasville, Georgia, and got the straight skinny on both Marantz units, the Fostex FR-2 equipment, and their differences.
So when that unit arrives, I'll write up a review. - what a journey this has been!.
UPDATE: April 30, 2006
Sent the PMD660 back to Sweetwater. After much discussion and consideration, I decided to upgrade to the new Marantz PMD671 which 'promises' to be better. I'm hopeful but not without some concern. The PMD671 does have more features and options that I like. However, there is a part of me that wishes I'd gone ahead and just gone over to the Fostex FR2 but, I have my reasons for staying with the PMD671 for now. Though it's a small issue to most pro-audio guys, it's important to me as an interviewer to have internal mics so there is a fast, easy, unobtrusive way to capture Podcast interviews. The Fostex unit doesn't - or so it seems from looking at the specs. It's important to me to have that option when I need it.Sometimes people freak out when I pull out mics and cables. The PMD671 just looks like a small desktop radio. And, though the Fostex FR2 has quieter specs for the mic inputs, I think the Marantz PMD671 is good enough considering most on-location interviews have considerable background noise present. But if I hear that same 'whine' that is in the PMD660, I might go ballistic on Marantz. Stay tuned..
Original blog entry:
I am currently waiting for a response from the Marantz engineeering or marketing group. It's been since March 23, 2005. Their USA-based tech support acknowledged the presense of a high-pitched noise (or whine) I found when recording with the internal microphones. It can drive you crazy hearing that sound when you have headphones on. It exists on my PMD660, on Doug Kaye's new PMD660 and on the unit the support engineer has at Marantz. I can't tell you how sad I felt when I heard it not five minutes after pulling the recorder out of the box.
Surely this is a mistake in manufacturing, not engineering. It sounds like a high-frequency clock noise (with lots of harmonics) starting around -78db, which you might THINK is low, but YOU HEAR IT. Trust me. I can hear it even from the little external speaker provided in the PMD660.
The Marantz PMD660 costs $499 and it's from the PRO division. So I was expecting a device that would be at least as good as the portable Sony DAT I've used for years - maybe better. But it's not, and that's a shame because I so dearly wanted it to be 'the ideal' portable recording device for Podcasting. I think others do (or did) too.
My original use was to record Podcasts informally and unobtrusively and when higher quality is needed use externally powered microphones and as backup for recording telephone calls and conference calls off a mixer board. Now, I'm seriously considering selling the unit on EBay for someone that does something like court reporting and is interested in the convienence (all solid state nature) of the unit versus higher audio quality.
I have a 4GB CompactFlash card for it, which gives me a lot more time than a DAT. Side note, I purchased the HITACHI 4GB Microdrive for $199 at Fry's which 2/3 of the price of a traditional CompactFlash. Yup, you can hear the tiny little drive in there when it powers up. It's fast and seems to work well even in my Nikon D70 where I typically shoot in Nikon RAW mode. But I digress.
The Marantz PMD660 has a number of other troubling technical audio issues (if you're concerned about professional audio quality) and, honestly, Doug Kaye has done a complete review of the product. I encourage you to read his blog article on the PMD660 CAREFULLY before you decide if you want to buy the Marantz PMD660. Very carefully.
I can only hope Marantz is listening here - meaning, they follow reviews on the web. They've missed the boat with the PMD660 and it's too bad, really. There is a virtual tidal wave of people wanting to use solid state portable audio recording equipment now that there's a huge focus on Podcasting. I know Marantz can do better.
I think I'm going to look at spending the additional money and get the Fostex FR-2.
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