Makes great sounding recordings; so-so playing them back
Written: Jan 07 '02 (Updated Jun 05 '09)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Durability: |
|
|
|
Pros: excellent recorded sound from analog sources-easy to use in manual mode
Cons: mediocre CD playback---instruction book can be a little confusing
The Bottom Line: Excellent recordings at a good price but a better quality playback machine is needed to appreciate them.
|
|
|
| ghoering's Full Review: Pioneer PD-R609 CD Recorder |
I decided to convert to all CD in 2000 after having supported vinyl and cassettes for many years. I did my homework and all the evidence seemed to point to the PDR-609 as the best machine for my budget. 200 recordings later and I can report that the machine has performed flawlessly, producing many recordings that sound nearly indistinguishable from commercially available CD's. Yes, it can get that good! On the other hand, of course, the machine will also flawlessly record any surface noise that happens to be present on your vinyl records so be advised to clean your records thoroughly before you record!
It isn't too hard to record manually. The only real challenge is to cue the record (or tape) properly and start the recorder first so as to allow a few seconds before the music begins. The recorder can also be put into pause while the record plays to allow you to set the recording level. The recorder seems to have some headroom so that momentary overloads don't distort the recording. You can also seperate each track by simply pushing the "record" button at the appropriate moment. Just be sure the machine is in "manual" mode when you do. If it's in "auto" mode, it won't work.
Now; the downside to all of this is that the machine just doesn't have the same playback sound quality as it does in the recording. The bass sounds weak and muddy and the treble tends to be over-emphasized. I currently have an older Denon deck (DCD-600, ca. 1988) that has quality playback sound so I can hear the quality of a recording, good or bad. However, the point is that the Pioneer just isn't going to be a do-it-all-in-one-box device. I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 for that reason.
The PDR-609 seems to be able to do much more than I've discussed; track labeling, auto dubbing and the like. As you'd expect, the remote has ALOT of control capability. I didn't use it so I can't discuss it.
Last; the instruction book is generally linear in sequence but there were one or two times it seemed that with topic "A-B-C",
A and C were on one page while B appeared a page or two ahead. Just read the book a few times before operating the machine. Anyway, be advised that you may waste a few discs before you figure out how to manually separate each track you're recording.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 220
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ghoering
|
|
Location: Washington, DC
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.