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I bought the MR1000 new about 18 months ago.

My opinions on this machine: stars out of 5

Negatives first:

1) Very poor mic preamps, plain and simply too hissy. **
2) No built in battery charging with the included AC adaptor contrary to what the manual would have you believe, It is NOT a charger. **
3) Very poor battery life from 8AA NiMh cells useing so called brand name batteries(eg:Energizers). Less than 1 good hour of either monitoring or recording in DSF format. *
4) Inability to record to one channel only (Which may or may not increase already meagre battery life). **
5) All the connections on the rear would be better on the left/right sides. ***
6) The Hard drive is too vulnerable for field use and no doubt power hungry. Flash memory while still expensive at this time would be superior, hopefully in the revised model. (However this machine is not that cheap). **
7) A manual of errors and omissions.
Undiscovered?


Positive attributes:
1) Reasonably well made with positive buttons/controls. ***
2) A well made carry bag is included. ****
3) Undiscovered?...but hoping.

I have had to purchase a separate mic preamp to enable me to get satisfactory recordings from this machine. The mic inputs (XLR) are basically bypassed and used as balanced inputs. I am now useing a Sound Devices 302 mixer. Battery life has now increased as one would expect and now the sound quality of some preliminary recordings I have made is much improved...at expense. If I were purhasing again I might as well have bought a Sound Devices 702/722 in the first place and actually have saved money doing so....although ONLY now may I get to really appreciate the so called 1bit DSD recording quality. IF this forum permits I will keep you posted otherwise it may have to be somewhere else.

hi there,
i read the artsonics test and i'm quiet confused now ... i wanted to buy a portable recorder ... i couldn't make my mind between the mr1 and a sony pcm d50 ... for me the korg has this "suppose to be" great 1bit dsd recording quality ... i've been told that the mic preamp is very poor ? the electret stereo mic is poor as well ?
does it worth it if i buy a good mic for my rm1 ?
thanks to let me know

I have a Korg MR-1 recorder. It is a good recorder. It has one peculiar issue, that is, the battery life. After one year of use, I am recording at less than two hours on one eight-hour charge of the internal battery. The external battery pack (has four AA batteries) allows you to go longer. I would not go beyond three hours of use with a combination of the external battery pack and a full charge on the internal battery. After about three hours, the device attempts to shut down and it fails to complete shutdown when attached to the external battery pack. Any recording being made when the device fails like this is lost. When I attempted to insert fresh replacement batteries into the external battery pack and continue recording, the PC board was damaged. PC board replacement, under warranty, cost me $85. Out of warranty, it would have cost me $189. Yesterday, the Korg MR-1 recorder was $299 at the online source where I originally purchased it.

ok guys,
thanks for replying that fast ... it helps ... but ... it's getting me even more confused as well... every thread i red about digital recorders send me to this pcm of sony ... the thing is ... i really wanted to hear what the korg has inside ... could someone send an audio demo to let me hear any difference between them two ... i'll apreciate !!

korg mr1 1bit : send some audio demo if you have time to spare ... that'll be great !!

keep helping guys ...