Marantz Introduces PMD661 Compact Digital Recorder

Winter NAMM is right around the corner; last year, it seemed as if inexpensive Chinese-produced microphones were the biggest advancement in the cost-vs-quality department. This year, it's looking like the portable digital recorder will be the biggest advancement to come down in price and up in quality, and Marantz has already released a new unit -- the PMD661 -- that looks to have an incredible feature set for a low price.

The PMD661 features XLR line/mic inputs, built-in condensor mics, S/PDIF input, easily visible metering and up to 24 bit / 96 kHz recording resolution. Retail priced at $599, the PMD661 will be available in January 2009.