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The Marantz PMD620 is a high performance handheld digital recorder that records to SD flashcard media in either PCM (.WAV) or MP3 audio formats. The light weight compact form (just 62 x 102 x 25 mm), ergonomic design and ease of operation recommend the PMD620 to a wide range of users, including journalists, reporters, programme makers, podcasters, musicians and sound recordists everywhere.
Features include an inbuilt stereo condenser microphone array for ‘point and shoot recording’, and an intuitive control surface for single handed operation, with thumb operated transport wheel and tactile, red illuminating, record button. A high contrast, low power draw organic LED (OLED) screen provides vivid display of menus which guide the user through the optimum set up and operation for their application.
Recording settings are selectable between those for high quality music recording to extended voice recording. The use of SD cards, the most stable and commonly available type of flash media, includes support for SDHC (SD High Capacity) cards, with recording file size limited only by card capacity. Recording time with a 4 GB card extends from 3 hrs 44 mins for stereo PCM at 24-bit / 48 kHz, to 283 hrs 44 mins – almost 12 days – for mono MP3 at 32 kbps.
Journalists and podcasters will appreciate the PMD620’s non-destructive onboard editing, with non-destructive cut-and-paste ‘Copy Segment’ editing to create new sound files. Transcription is simple with the Skip Back function, and file transfers to any computer are drag-and-drop via the USB 2.0 connectivity.
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Handheld portability, compact rugged design
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Single handed operation and one-touch recording
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User configurable, high contrast OLED display
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Solid state SD and HSD card recording media
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Selectable stereo / mono / .WAV / MP3 recording
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Selectable 16 bit and 24 bit recording depths, 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz sample rates, and six MP3 bit rates from 192 kbps to 32 kbps
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Professional recording, editing and playback features
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Integrated stereo condenser microphone array
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Mic and line level external inputs
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Internal playback speaker
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USB 2.0 connectivity to PC, for drag and drop file exchange
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Power from two AA cells typically provides 4 hours operation
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First thoughts 30.11.2007:
The PMD620 sits nicely in your palm, and for a right-hander the buttons are in good positions for your thumb to control. Set up is similar to the PMD660, with three profiles (presets) for commonly used recording situations. We did an hour’s recording using several different external mics, as well as the built-in units, set at 44.1kHz and 24-bit. Well done Marantz - it’s certainly worth having 24-bit recording. We recorded in mono.
All in all, recording was pretty good. Using an AT804, ATM33a, and a PRO41 all the recordings were well presented, with low levels of noise. Level wasn’t as great as we’d have liked, but the recordings responded well to normalising. And the phantom managed to power the ATM33A even through a two-wire unbalanced lead.
Recordings on the built-in mics were a little better than you’d expect, and for quick vox pops you can use the whole recorder as a hand-held with quite a lot of success. Proximity is good and the shiny body surface transmits hardly any handling noise, though the rest of the body does.
So a brilliant new asset for radio reporters and podcasters, and with the right accessories good enough for longer interviews. On the IA totally arbitrary scale, 8.2/10.
Full specification
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