besides price….what do you think 60d mmII vs sd pre mix d?

I have the original 60D, that I got for a great price brand new ($149), but I am curious as to what the difference is with the new 60Dmkii. In particular I'd like to know if it's built more sturdily - and I guess I'd like to know if the xlr inputs don't stick like it did for a ton of folks on the original 60D (though I don't know how you'd test for that, lol). Anyone who has both the old and the new one, want to chime in?

I have just finished testing the DR-60DMKII and there is an issue in addition to the pots stepping noticeably when the level is changed quickly. You cannot ramp the levels down to zero! Even when the levels are set to zero, the mics still show noticeable input. The user manual mentions AGC, but there doesn't appear to be a way to turn it off, you can only set the limiter on/off. I noticed that they added a mute function to the mics, but this is a poor substitute to proper operation of the pots. The Zoom H6 behaves normally with smooth response to level change and there is no discernable mic input when the levels are ramped down to zero. For me, this is a deal breaker. Any decent mixer or recorder should have a smooth response to level changes and when you ramp the input to zero, it should be zero! Very unfortunate.

@beakparrot - there was some discussion of this issue on the jws board, not sure if it was with the DR-60Dmkii though. The upshot was that the levels are not on/off, they are "trims" which have a min and a max - meaning a min is not zero, just minimum, thus there is a signal. So from their point of view, it's operating exactly as it should. That's the difference between on/off and trims. I think you need to talk to a sound pro for more details (I'm NOT a sound pro).

RottenCarcass,

Thanks for your comments.

OK, trims vs. gain levels. Understood. But EVERY mixer I have ever used separates those 2 functions into 2 controls. In other words when you use a console (studio) mixer, each channel has a trimmer at the top (with a limited range of cut and boost) and a linear pot below so that you can ramp the gain up and down for the main bus mix. The trim pots are used to adjust the linear pots so that all the channels are at unity gain (I.E 0dB or 10 dB or whatever) at the same relative physical position on each channel. You can ALWAYS dump the level to zero by pulling the linear pot all the way to the bottom of its range. Sure, field mixers are different in that they use rotary pots instead of linear ones, but the function should be the same. In the case of the DR-60DMkII, it is not. Yes, this probably is the way the unit is designed and it is functioning correctly, but for my purposes at least, it is a show stopper. If I want to totally kill a mic feed by turning the rotary pot to zero, I can't (and I don't want to have to track down the menu-driven mute button to do that.

Peter123456,

According to Tascam, the pre-amps are supposed to increase the gain range and sensitivity. I did not test the noise floor after uncovering the notched level issue and the zero gain problem. For me, it was a done deal at that point. Sorry.

This is probably a stupid question but I don't want to make a false assumption. This can record 4 tracks at 24-bit 96k simultaneously - correct? Thanks!

When you compare the Audio Performance with v.1, they look the same on paper. I don't know if they improved the pre-amps on the new version.

They added more gain with a new High+PLUS setting, but we all know what it sounds like when we crank the gain. Is this an improvement?

I wonder if the pre-amps will be better on the DR-70D. Hmm...

I have mark I for years now using with NTG3...

Is there anything with better preamp then 60D MKII this days in €200 price range? Or nothing rally changed during last 4 years?

@vitaliy I was asking more about name other new unknown models brands (Saraminic etc) F6 is mach higher price range €1000. I probably would go for Tascam 680 II for €480 first. I cant find good comperition 60d vs 60d II in preamps improvement. Cant see reason to spend more then few hundreds for what I do so better stay where Im now.