Geoff Wood wrote:

[ ... ] if it's anything like the D7 I once owned. Anything over
-12dB harsh as hell, and anything under that grainy as hell....

The TCD-D7 and -D8 have "digital" (bar) meters but they do not respond to
digital signal levels directly, i.e. they are driven by analog circuitry
with conventional rectifiers. I've seen them under-read signal peaks by
5 dB or more on live music. The "OVER" lights work properly but when you
see "OVER" indications on -6 dB peaks (according to the meters) you know
that something is a little fishy.

In addition, the built-in mike preamps are designed only for dynamic
microphones (or Sony-consumer-style electret microphones that have no
greater sensitivity than the average dynamic microphone); they overload
drastically when fed levels typical of professional condenser microphones.

--best regards