Edirol R-09 portable digital stereo recorder {Engadget}

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.