Sony PCMM10 Portable Digital Recorder (Black) Review

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(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 thought it was too expensive (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 listened. He stroked his chin. "How much did you say that was?" he asked. Because, if you listen to a lot of recorded sound, you can clearly hear the difference.
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 omnidirectional 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; 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 PCMM10 Features 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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Olive Opus 4HD (Black, 2TB). HD music server Review

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(More customer reviews)0 out of 5 stars BEWARE OF OLIVE AND OPUS!
Written November 1, 2010
By Sumie Mishima (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
I would have loved to written about my wonderful experience I have had owning my Opus and dealing with Olive employees. Unfortunately my Opus and Olive employees have been nothing short of a nightmare.
I purchased the Opus in April 2007 for $3500.00 . I was originally very happy with the Opus. However, the honeymoon with the Opus ended very quickly. I have had numerous problems with the Opus including but not limited to the following:
1. The Opus would stop playing after 30 minutes and just turn off
2. The Opus would skip tracks make a strange noise and would shut off
3. The Opus would not play at all and required constant rebooting which required the recovery CD
4. I was forced to use the recovery CD constantly first just to reboot the Opus then it got to the point where I had to delete all the CD's stored and had to start from scratch. I had to reload all my CD's into the Opus on numerous occasions. As you can imagine this was very time consuming and frustrating
5. The Opus would overheat and shut off
6. The Opus would stop playing and freeze. The only remedy for this was to shut it off and unplug the unit for at least 30 minutes
7. AT this point the Opus is completely dead. I can no longer even reboot the machine because it no longer even turns on.
I am sure you are asking yourself why didn't you call Olive. The problem is I did. I made numerous telephone calls to Olive. Each time I called I was told there is nothing wrong with the Opus and Olive refused to provide me with an RMA number (which is required to repair the Opus). Olive refused to repair the Opus regardless of my complaints. Moreover, the Opus had a two year warranty which Olive refused to honor. To be honest Olive has the ruddiest tech people I have ever run across. Here are a few examples of what I was told by Olive Tech support:
1. The Opus is playing music so there is nothing wrong with the machine
2. You received the recovery CD with the Opus and it is doing its job
3. You clearly do not understand how to work the machine "read the manual"
4 .It is not the Opus it must be your other equipment
5. On several occasions the tech manager informed me he was busy and hung up on me
6. In August I was told" Your warranty is up and we are not obligated to fix your machine and we no longer carry the parts and it cannot be fixed. Why don't you just buy a new Olive 4HD! I could go on however, I think you understand my experience with Olive and the Opus.I urge anyone who is considering purchasing an Olive to go on to the Audio chat rooms. You will find numerous complaints about both the products and the company.
I noticed the Olive 4HD manuals have omitted any information on Audio Performance and technical information on their products including::
Frequency response
Harmonic distortion
Dynamic range
Output level
Channel Separation
Output impedance
I thought this omission was rather strange since every Audio manufacturer provides this information. It is very important information for the consumer. Without the information you are left in the dark as to how the product actually performs. I called Olive on Monday to inquire about the aforementioned information. I spoke with Charles who started reading specs to me. At this point I realized he was merely reading the specs from the Dac in the 4HD. I asked if he was giving me the information for Olive 4HD or merely reading the specs for the Burr Brown Dac (which is only in the 4HD). Charles admitted he was reading the Burr Brown information and further admitted Olive does not have this information
I believe it is essential to have this information before you purchase audio equipment.
I do wonder why Olive has chosen to keep customers in the dark about their Audio Performance. One is left to wonder if Olive expects consumers to purchase their products in blind faith! Perhaps Olive refuses to disseminate this information for a reason. I will leave this query up to potential buyers and Olive media.
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Olive 06HD 2TB Opus Music Server Color-Black.This is for sell: Olive 06HD 2TB Opus Music Server Color-Black. Item in stock and ready to ship ASAP. ITEM BRAND NEW , FACTORY SEALED, UNOPENED. Shipping via USPS Express with USPS Express with Track #.Best-in-breed Digital Analog Converter (DAC)High-resolution DAC featuring TI 192khz/24-bit Burr- Brown PCM1792AUse as outboard DAC (with 24-bit/192kHz up-sampling) for any digital music source State-of-the-art technology platform & high-speed processorFlawless encoding and decoding of lossless audio formatFast management and access to extensive music librariesSupports simultaneous streaming of high quality audio to multiple rooms Hard DriveUltra-quiet 2TB AV hard driveHolds almost 20,000 HD tracks or 6,000 CDs in original qualityCushioned in 8 layers of noise cancelling padding CDRWHigh fidelity TEAC CDRW mechanismImport: Audio CDsBurn: Audio CDs, MP3 CDs, Data CDs Audio ConnectorsAnalog Output: 1x RCA, (24k gold-plated)Digital Output: 1x digital S/P DIFoptical Toslink, 1x digital S/P DIFcoaxial cinch, (24k gold-plated)Digital Input: 1x digital S/P DIF coaxial cinch, (24k gold-plated) Supported Audio FormatsBit rate: 16-bit, 20-bit, 24-bitSampling Frequency: 10kHz up to 200kHzWAV, FLAC, MP3 (128 and 320 kbit/s), AAC (128 kbit/s) NetworkingWireless, 802.11n (54 Mbit/s), Encryption:WEP, WPA, WPA2, 64- and 128-bit1x Wired Gigabit Ethernet Other Ports1 x HDMI (480p, 60Hz)1 x USB 1.1/2.0Infrared Receiver Input Color touch-screen4.3" wide-aspect ratioHigh-resolution (480 x 272 pixels)Touch-screen technology DesignAnodized fine-grade aluminum shellPassive cooling without noisy fanMeasurementsWidth 17.38"Height 2.63"Depth 12.25"Weight 13.2 lbColorSilver or BlackBox also includesUser manual, Remote control with battery, WiFi-antenna, Power cord.

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Sonos ZonePlayer 90 Wireless Multi-Room Music System for Home Theater or Stereo Review

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(More customer reviews)Seeking to upgrade my home audio setup, I picked up some ZP90s along with a Logitech Squeezebox boom and duet, figuring I'd play around with them and then sell what I didn't like.
Overall, I did feel the Sonos setup offered the best usability. The setup was a breeze, the software very use-friendly and easy to quickly find what you want and play it on the appropriate player(s). Another real treat was the iPhone application, which lets me use my phone as the remote and eliminates the need for the costly and bulky controller. Rhapsody, Pandora, and Last.fm are the 3 major music services offered, and all work very well. There's also the bonus of listening to local radio stations without the static, although I was disappointed to find you could only configure it for one location at a time (listening to KEXP in Seattle would have been great).
However, there were two shortcomings when compared to the Squeezebox. The first is the requirement that at least one of the Sonos players be hard-wired in to the network. This wasn't a problem for me since the Sonos is just 20 feet away from my router, however I'm sure there are users out there that won't be as fortunate. The Squeezebox was completely wireless and could go anywhere in the house, so it has a clear advantage there. The Second was not having support for the Slacker music service. I slightly prefer this service over Pandora, and find myself turing on the Squeezebox more due to that reason.
Summary - If you have the money and want something easy to use, and are OK with having at least one Sonos device hard-wired to the network, then this is for you. But if you love Slacker, need something 100% Wireless, or just don't quite have the budget, go with the Squeezebox.

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The Sonos ZonePlayer 90 lets you play all the music you want, all over your house, on all the audio equipment you already own — your home theater receiver, stereo system, powered speakers, and more. Just connect the ZP90 to any amplified audio device in any room and it’s instantly part of the wireless Sonos system. The ZP90’s digital and analog outputs deliver superior sound to every room. And with the ZP90’s superior wireless range, no room is out of reach. The ZP90 is super small, so it will fit just about anywhere. Plus, every ZP90 includes a Sonos Desktop Controller for the ultimate in control and convenience.

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