In their ultra high quality list of products, Nagra have some cool boxes that would be great for recording samples. One of them uses memory cards to store your recordings. Be warned that Nagra stuff is VERY expensive! If sound quality is paramount it might be worth looking into. You'll find this stuff on the following link:

http://www.nagraaudio.com/pro/index.php

I know you didn't mention using a computer, but have you considered a laptop with an Apogee Mini-me, or something similar?

Regards,
John Stafford

Thanks a lot for the great recommendations.

I checked their boxes and Ares-BB is probably more suitable to my needs. NAGRA-D and DII sound very cool but they're indeed too expensive for me right now. But it's nice to know 'cause I sort of wanted to know what the pro in post use for location recording. Looking at the lists of projects that used NAGRA-D was real impressive.

Apogee Mini-me is a good option but I don't have a laptop. Ares-BB is good 'cause it's got a USB port, phantom power, and only 2 lbs. It's still kind of expensive for me though, comparing to PMD670 and DAT. What's considered the best under 1 grand? Now I have to start to consider my budget..... :cry:

How about the new Marantz CDR-300? It may be exactly what you are looking for.

Website at http://www.marantzpro.com/Products/CDR300.html

Fostex FR-2 might be something look at as well.

G.

Sorry for the late reply

Thanks a lot for the recommendation. Marantz CDR-300 seems very convenient to use but I sort of want to go for recorders that use either Compact Flash Cards or Microdrives and such to store files. CD-R takes up too much storage space....

FR-2's got 24-bit 192KHz recording, although it can only be recorded into BWF format, it's definately for high sound quality recording. The price is a bit over a grand, but is worth considering. (Ares-BB and PMD670 only have it up to 384 kb/s 48KHz)

I might go for either PDM670 just for now, or FR-2 for a long term.

Thanks a lot for the help. Glad to join the community.

If you are not concerned about recording in anything above 16bit/48kHz then the PDM670 is a good choice!
You may want to get a portable preamp aswell cause the mic iniputs on the pdm670 are a little noisey.

For stuff that would last the long run, go with a Sound Devices 722 or a Fostex FR-2.
Im might be picking up a pdm670 and a ml200 dual channel portable preamp soon...