chris tulloch
January 3, 2008

Rating: 9/10

There are many portable solid state recorders on the market, but none in this price-range that has the stereo XLR inputs and Phantom Power of the Marantz PMD660 Portable Compact Flash Recorder – an absolute requirement for professional sound recording equipment.

The recorder seems well built, although the case is plastic, so for field recordings the Marantz PRC-660 carrying-case is a must.

Like the Marantz tape-decks of the previous generation, this recorder can deliver high quality uncompressed audio at 44.1 or 48 KHz (CD or DVD quality).

The in-built mics might be useful for recording meetings etc, but to be honest I don’t this is where this piece of equipment shines - this is for sound capturing either on its own with a hand-held mic or as an adjunct to a video crew with a boom mic (as long as the clapperboard keeps everyone in sync!)

Tom Parish
September 12, 2006

Rating: 6/10

It sure looks neat and I like the concept of a CompactFLASH based digital audio recorder that is portable. But Marantz really let us down on this. There is a more complete review here by Doug Kaye. My comments are here.

I seriously recommend you review both of those reviews on the PMD660 before dropping some change on it and a large CompactFlash card for it.

Yes, I have sent this feedback to Marantz and they did respond with 'yes we hear that whine too' when using the built in omni mics. But no comment on how they will fix this - now that I already on it.

So, do be in a hurry. Read Doug Kaye's review for a pro audio perspective.

Tom Parish
Austin TX

Dolphin Says: Please note that the product we are selling is the very latest version & Tom & Doug's comments were on an older version of the product.