Edirol R-09 portable digital stereo recorder

If you're looking for a high-quality portable recorder and find the Marantz we mentioned earlier today a little too rich at about $1,200, you may want to take a look at the Roland Edirol R-09, a compact player that goes for about $400, records 24-bit/48kHz uncompressed WAV files, has a built-in mic (along with mic and line inputs) and records to SD cards. This could be just the thing if you're looking for something to record interviews or podcasts on the run (though we still want a hard drive).

[Josh @ Jan 30th 2006 3:50PM]

They may avoid HDs because of the noise. I have an iRiver iHP-120 and if I use the internal mic you can hear the HD turn on and off in the recording. An external mic avoids this, but if you really care about your recording you would want to avoid this in all cases.

[john @ Jan 30th 2006 6:32PM]

i saw a slightly working prototype of one of these over at NAMM this year and I wasnt to impressed, it felt cheep and the input options are lacking. This might work for someone who isnt looking for to much in the way of options but the way I see it these handheld recorders just arent there yet as far as a good quality portable recording goes. I am patiently awating someone to get it right before I dive in.

[Peter Kirn @ Jan 30th 2006 8:10PM]

I also saw the NAMM prototype -- didn't feel cheap at all to me. Light, yes. Cheap, no. Anyway, let's see what the production version looks like.

As for audio inputs, seems typical as well. The M-Audio gets an edge for an optical in over analog-only here.
But at least it has real 48V phantom power.

There was some discussion of this over at my site, as well:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1130&Itemid=44

To me, this and the Marantz / Tascam / R-4 are for different markets. Simple line-out recording should be fine on this, basic field recordings. For serious recording, you'll have to shell out more dough.

I'm surprised no one else blogged this, though, other than me and Marc here (keep the audio links coming, Marc! Down with cell phones! Up with field recording!)

Oh, I will say, I've heard really great stuff about the MicroTrack from people testing it. The gang at O'Reilly tested it in Hawaii in the most in-depth review I've seen:

http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/digitalmedia/2005/11/30/m-audio-microtrack-review.html?page=1

Now, can I take the R-09 to, um, the Bahamas?

[inluxication @ Jan 31st 2006 3:30AM]

Iriver H120 (=ihp120), H320, or the 40gb versions of either. With the stock firmware, record CD-quality wav for, I forget, 70 minutes, or in mp3 for much much longer. Unfortunately, there's an infamous noise "glitch". Put on Rockbox firmware and you've can record, glitchlessly, in wav, till the battery charge runs out in about 11 hours. The iriver has optical in/out too. A dedicated device would surely make for a slicker interface, but a 40gb hard drive beats SD cards in my book. Not to mention that it comes in handy as an mp3 player.

#4, fix your links?

[Michael @ Jan 31st 2006 9:50AM]

Why do you need a STEREO dictation machine? I'll stick with my "crappy" mono sound...

[Bob @ Jan 31st 2006 10:34AM]

What?, an Mp3 electric Razor?, Oh it's not a razor?

[Jeffrey Schrab @ Jan 31st 2006 5:23PM]

"Why do you need a STEREO dictation machine? I'll stick with my "crappy" mono sound..."

That's not what it's for. It's for capturing professional-level recording quality audio. Think about musicians and SFX people capturing real world sounds for music and/or movies. It's a portable DAT recorder replacement.

...I still think Apple is an iPod firmware upgrade and an optional accessory away from owning this market too...

[John Blondino @ Jan 31st 2006 6:27PM]

Its seems as though alot of these manufacturers are rushing out to market products that completely miss the target. This being one of them. Good in theory but terrible in execution.

This product is NOT a DAT replacement and turning the Ipod into a recorder is a joke. The Marantz is closer to the mark as are the Edirol R1 and R4 units. The MicroTrack has serious issues still. I would suggest to those looking for information on a quality field recorder to check out www.taperssection.com These units have been dissected feature by feature there by the people that use them in the field and not on some desk or vacation to the islands.

[jw @ Jun 19th 2006 8:26PM]

I am thinking about buying this to replace my minidisc player which I used to record DJ sets at the night club etc., I also have two external mics, one powered and one not (both sony, headphone jack) that I think would be great with this for stealth and amature sampling.

I love audiophile quality and have looked at the Marantz and M-Audio but this seems like the best option for what I will use it for, am I totally crazy?

[Alan Hames @ Jul 16th 2006 6:08PM]

I bought one of these about 6 weeks ago - first available stock in UK. Wanted a simple, very small good quality field / reportage recorder. Sounded ideal.

I have a Marantz PMD670, which has marginally acceptable mic preamp noise performance, but is not pocket-size. Also have a Sharp MiniDisc recorder (which the R-09 is meant to replace) that has just-OK mic preamp noise. But the R-09 mic preamp noise is utterly chronic for normal signal levels.

Only got acceptable results with its internal mics (read external as well - same diff), when I recorded a loud jazz band with gain set way down at 6 (out of 30). So if you're interviewing people with the R-09, make sure you ask them to shout...

The line input is fine, so the A/D is not the problem - it's the crummy mic preamp.

OK, you can use an external preamp, but you'll end up with a setup the size of the Marantz PMD660.

And Reverb - what's that all about? Even if anyone ever gave a damn about this feature, it's rendered useless by being fixed at a ludicrously high level.

Roland have missed the point completely with this product. Sad.