I own a 744T, and there has been a large amount of discussion of all  
these options recently (and ongoing) at several nature sound sites.  
There is a company callled Oade Brothers that modifies the PMD series  
with better preamps and input stages. There is also the new M-audio  
Micro-2496, which is a bit flimsier but  cheaper too.

Lou

Lou Judson • Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689

On Sep 28, 2005, at 7:04 AM, Dave Nolan wrote:

> About portable digital recorders:
>
> There is a new machine out there that I would encourage anyone with the
> budget to check out - the Sound Devices 722 and 744 portable recorders.
>
> http://www.sounddevices.com/products/7.htm
>
> These are more serious recording devices, with price tags to match -  
> the
> 722 lists for $2650, the 744 for $4250 (street prices slightly lower)  
> - but
> remember, when portable DAT recording first became available, the Sony  
> D10
> cost about $2500 in 1989 dollars...  Sound Devices has been known for  
> years
> for their high-quality portable mic pre's, field mixers, and the  
> like...
>
> Also (FWIW) at a recent AES meeting in NYC, a couple of elder audio  
> gurus
> were discussing the Marantz PMD660 ($450), and seemed to think that the
> built-in mic pre's were noticably substandard.  Not sure if Marantz has
> improved this with the PMD 670 ($700) or 671 ($1000).
>
> http://www.d-mpro.com/users/folder.asp? 
> FolderID=3629&CatID=19&SubCatID=180
>
> http://www.d-mpro.com/users/folder.asp? 
> FolderID=1582&CatID=19&SubCatID=180
>
> http://www.d-mpro.com/users/folder.asp? 
> FolderID=3689&CatID=19&SubCatID=180
>
> dave nolan
> nyc
>