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Sony PCM-D50: Some of the best sound I've heard from a portable source

post #1 of 10
7/10/09 at 8:50pm
Thread Starter 
I didn't set out to find a good digital player, but I found one in this rather unassuming DAT. I do binaural recordings of nature and music, and I was pretty frustrated with the SQ from the Olympus LS-10. Once I made the upgrade to the D50, I took it for a spin with some WAV files, just for fun.

It has nice, clean signal paths with a good, strong amp built-in. Having tried some other portable gear at this year's CanJam, I find the D50 more powerful, more detailed, and smoother. It pairs really well with my UM3x, apart from needing some attenuation. It's a little steep at $500, but if you're like me and want a good DAT anyway, the DAP functionality is a nice bonus.

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post #2 of 10
7/10/09 at 9:26pm
Well done. Please give us further details.

Did you take the digital signal out (playing WAV file) via SPDIF and pass it through your DAC+Amp (Ibasso)? would be interested to know the outcome of this combination : what sort of SQ did you hear? was it good?
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post #3 of 10
7/10/09 at 10:01pm
Thread Starter 
Nope, my impressions are straight out of the headphone jack. As I mentioned, I find the internal amp to be quite good. The D2 actually doesn't have optical in, so I wouldn't be able to test out the combination.

On a handful of newer recordings I've tested on it, it can sound a bit cold. The flipside of this is transparency, any anyway, the added range and separation more than make up for it.

The amp is quite powerful - 8% volume is about as loud as I'd ever want it. I may have to add a second attenuator to my IEMs.
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post #4 of 10
11/30/09 at 9:18am
The PCM-D50 is easily my favourite portable device - ever.

I would never give it up.
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post #5 of 10
11/30/09 at 9:37am
Yeah, Sony know how to make recorders!
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post #6 of 10
11/30/09 at 10:24pm
Just throwing this out at random: anyone compared the D50 with the cheaper, more plasticky PCM-M10?
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post #7 of 10
12/1/09 at 1:16am
Agreed! I did a listening test between this sony and all the competitors and loved the Sony. Naturally it was the priciest, so I had to settle for a cheaper portable digital recorder, but I concur the Sony is great sounding.
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post #8 of 10
12/1/09 at 5:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by righteousball View Post
Just throwing this out at random: anyone compared the D50 with the cheaper, more plasticky PCM-M10?
Sony | Product Catalog - Pro Audio
Not yet here, but I wouldn't be surprised if the PCM-M10 has 99% of the sound. It is probably the best value recorder going now, so I will get one for sure.
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post #9 of 10
12/1/09 at 10:55pm
can it play mp3's, as in the title shows like on any other mp3 player?

can it drive the hd650's very close to full potential?
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post #10 of 10
12/2/09 at 9:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dazed&Confused718 View Post
can it play mp3's, as in the title shows like on any other mp3 player?

can it drive the hd650's very close to full potential?
* Both PCM-D50 and PCM-M10 can play MP3s and read and show ID3 tag info.
* PCM-M10 can also record to MP3 format and play AAC and WMA files, which the PCM-D50 cannot do.

Everything is drag-n-drop simplicity. Nothing is restricted nor requiring its own software to manage audio.

Artist tag information cannot be scrolled on these units (if exceeding the unit's character display, which generally is rare), but that's only an issue if your artist has a really long name. Title tags can be scrolled on the display.

Not sure whether it can drive the HD650 to full potential. The PCM-D50 has 25mW+25mW (into 16 ohm) headphone output. The PCM-M10 has 20mW+20mW (into 16 ohm).

The PCM-D50 and PCM-M10 should bring the headphone to adequate volumes, I reckon.

I use it with Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (250 ohm and 96dB sensitivity, which is far less sensitive than what the HD 650 is rated at) and it drives it well - actually I only want it to go a little louder, but I like to listen to music very loud, so that's saying something.
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