Sony PCM D-10 Issue

If anyone here uses a Sony PCM D-10 recorder, I wonder if you can do a test for me. I recorded a test track at 192 kHz and couldn't play it back either off-line or on the recorder. Experimenting with different settings and durations, it seems that short clips are just fine. The documentation says the limit is 4 GB, which I think is just over an hour. But I took a couple of short clips (20 minutes or so) and they wouldn't play.
So if you have this recorder, can you please try recording a 20 minute clip at 192 kHz using the built-in speakers and let me know if it played successfully? If so, I might have some odd fault with mine. If not, it seems like there is an undocumented limitation.

This doesn't seem to be a problem at 96 kHz. I'm planning on recording bat calls, so 192 kHz is pretty much a requirement. I found a source for relatively inexpensive XLR mics that have a frequency response up to 70 kHz, which I plan to use.

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Victor Engel

I just tried a clip saving to the built-in memory instead of the SD card, and there was no issue. My card is a SanDisk 256GB Extreme SDXC - brand new. Are there known issues with this card? I'll do some more testing when I have some time.

Yes, I formatted it in the device before I started.

Victor Engel said:

I just tried a clip saving to the built-in memory instead of the SD card, and there was no issue. My card is a SanDisk 256GB Extreme SDXC - brand new. Are there known issues with this card? I'll do some more testing when I have some time.
Yes, I formatted it in the device before I started.

Click to expand...

I just ran the card through First Aid in Disk Utility and it found a bunch of issues which it fixed. The restored files that I tried were fine. This is interesting and calls for more testing. Meanwhile, I'll continue to test with it and make sure to do things like pause after saving, shutting down, etc. to ensure the card has had plenty of time to flush whatever needed to be flushed. I'm thinking it's some sort of write cache issue internal to the card. This is out of my area of expertise, though.

I did send an email to Sony support, and they've been very responsive, clarifying SD card issues even after I stated that I resolved the issue and they could close the case. I'm impressed with their support.

Edit: after more testing, I'm finding more corruption even with small files, so I'm returning the card. I've purchased another, this time from B&H instead of amazon.

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Victor Engel

I don't have a Sony PCM-D10, but I looked at the manual online. According to the manual, the frequency response at 192kHz/24-bit sampling is 20 Hz - 60,000 Hz (0 dB - –3 dB). If you are trying to record sounds at 70kHz, you may be out of luck.

Here's the manual I looked at: https://helpguide.sony.net/icd/pcmd10/v1/en/contents/TP0001981055.html

BobKo said:

I don't have a Sony PCM-D10, but I looked at the manual online. According to the manual, the frequency response at 192kHz/24-bit sampling is 20 Hz - 60,000 Hz (0 dB - –3 dB). If you are trying to record sounds at 70kHz, you may be out of luck.

Here's the manual I looked at: https://helpguide.sony.net/icd/pcmd10/v1/en/contents/TP0001981055.html

Click to expand...

Yeah I saw that. Frequency responses don't cut off like a brick wall, though. They generally taper. Encoding at 192kHz has a theoretical cap at 96K Hz, so I'm pretty sure there will be something in the 60-96 range. Also, the vocalizations of the bats I'm after have a range of 20-75K.
I'll report back after bat season starts.
Edit: looking at files in Adobe Audition, it looks like I have significant data to 96K. I'm hopeful the recorder will be useful for bat recordings.

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Victor Engel

Victor Engel said:

If anyone here uses a Sony PCM D-10 recorder, I wonder if you can do a test for me. I recorded a test track at 192 kHz and couldn't play it back either off-line or on the recorder. Experimenting with different settings and durations, it seems that short clips are just fine. The documentation says the limit is 4 GB, which I think is just over an hour. But I took a couple of short clips (20 minutes or so) and they wouldn't play.
So if you have this recorder, can you please try recording a 20 minute clip at 192 kHz using the built-in speakers and let me know if it played successfully? If so, I might have some odd fault with mine. If not, it seems like there is an undocumented limitation.
This doesn't seem to be a problem at 96 kHz. I'm planning on recording bat calls, so 192 kHz is pretty much a requirement. I found a source for relatively inexpensive XLR mics that have a frequency response up to 70 kHz, which I plan to use.

Click to expand...

Support indicated I may have had a bad card, so I bought another one from B&H. Documentation says up to 256 GB cards are supported, so I bought a Sandisk Extreme Pro 256 GB SD card. It has the same issue as the first card, which also happens with smaller files sometimes. The cards come formatted as ExFAT. Thinking that maybe the recorder is not compatible with ExFAT (the manual says nothing about that) I tried formatting as FAT32 instead. The first recording worked, but so did the first recording using ExFAT. Support is saying, "It sounds like you have a bad card. Our experience the larger capacity cards quality control is challenging. 64GB cards have higher reliability rate in our experience. I would defiantly get your card that sold and shipped by an authorized dealer, to ensure you get genuine cards."

I would question the reliability issue with higher capacity cards. Anyway, documentation clearly states up to 256GB is possible.

SanDisk lost my business a couple of years ago. Too many failures recording in GoPro.

I switched to Microcenter V30 sdxc 512gb cards without issue - cards ran great.

I have since switched to Samsung Pro Plus/Ultimate cards 512GB for my GoPro's and X4 since their price is just as competitive.

I looked inside my Sony PCM-A10, which I don't use much, I have basic knowledge of it, but I have a Samsung Pro Plus 512GB V30 card in it. I did record 2 hours previously in it without issues.

All my cards Sandisk/Samsung cards I purchased are from B&H... They once determined some fraudulent cards got in and offered a refund/exchange or something.