If you're recording loud sources or material where total noise isn't an issue, then it's fine

There are serious noise-floor issues when dealing with weak external input sources, such as dynamic microphones

I was very frustrated trying to determine why my source sounded so wrong when it was simply the headphone mix from the DR.Despite being a standard memory card that will load up in a computer, you can't just pop out the card and put it into the built-in reader on your laptop

So you really can only record loud sound sources

Oh yes, the output is automatically turned off when you record, eliminating an annoying source of feedback

Another impressive screen view at DR-40 is the visualization of 'parametric knobs' which is simulating the professional audio mixer console for mixing and panning the sources

This doesn't sound like much; after all, I think that correlates to moving back about 1 meter during recording (presuming sound moves at 343m/s, the delay of .003 sec corresponds to ~1 meter)

If you're doing recording on those neat U-shaped rigs, this mounts nicely on top to capture that sweet audio.

I realized I would need an external audio recorder that had XLR inputs and phantom power for hooking up my Behringer C-2 microphones (small and easy to work with in the field)