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Marantz PMD 661 as a Portable Source

post #1 of 4
5/1/09 at 11:20am
Thread Starter 
I just started using a Marantz PMD661 Solid State Recorder for doing radio field work.

And It's occurred to me...might make a killer portable.

It has 1/4" headphone jacks...and takes SD cards. My thought is, if I recorded some music in lossless format on the SD's, I might have great sounding alternative to the iPod.

It's real purpose is news and documentary audio. But...has anyone here ever used this recorder for listening to music?

Thanks
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post #2 of 4
9/20/09 at 4:10pm
So have you used it as a portable player? Extreamly interseted in it... It would be great, if you compare it with other popular popular recorders(korg or sony) in tearms of it sound playing quality. (Especially interested in its line out...)

Also does it supports folders?
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post #3 of 4
11/15/09 at 10:44pm

Marantz PMD 661 as Portable MP3 Player

Yoo! I am recently a very proud owner of an PMD 661 (I bought it together with a RODE NT1-A phantom voice mic, great combo to record voice) and accidentally found out that it can playback MP3's at an astonishingly great quality!

Eversince, my otherwise good sounding COWON has been left untouched.

On the PMD 661 even at higher volumes (my sennheiser HD 580 are very volume thearsty) the sound is perfectly crisp and... well I do not need to use any equalizer or bass treble **** as it sounds already perfect as it is!

The ONLY problem is that it does not play back FLAC (yet?) and also SOME mp3's within the same album for some reason. Very strange. It plays almost everything from Variable Bitrate to 320 Kb/s but within an album some mp3's are not played: they give an ERR FORMAT error.

If this was to be solved then I would like to kiss the brand MARANTZ but untill then it is an astonishing good recorder / player.

Cheers
Sam
EFTEGARIE FOTOGRAFIE
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post #4 of 4
5/18/10 at 2:17pm

I've been using the PMD661 for about a year and it's certainly a versatile equipment.

 

The recording capabilities are stellar: 2 xlr mic preamps with 48v phantom power, S/PDIF, and 1/8" line in.

 

As far as using this device as a portable source - it can definitely work. Although there is a small hiss in the headphone amp, once the music begins it is not noticeable, and the amp is powerful enough to drive headphones that require more power, such as the Sennheiser HD-650.

 

The player supports formats up to 24/96 and the details you can capture on this device is quite amazing.

 

The only drawback for making this your source is that you need to get the music onto the SD card, either recording the tracks on the device in real time or through your computer with things in wav format. Just an additional step, especially for those that are using iTunes, and can be considered a hassle for some.

 

Obviously with so many capabilities, this device may not be practical for the general public, but for those of us that work with sound on a daily basis, this is an incredible sounding device that can deliver the quality that you're striving for.

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