R09 recording quality

I bought the R09 to record voice interviews for my podcast.

The product is fantastic if it were not for the unacceptable level of hiss noise in the recordings. The level is particularly high with the built-in mics and still annoying using a high quality mic (SM58 or C1000S). Given the low level of complaint about this (searching for hiss + R09 on google), I presume most units are not as bad as mine (Serial AU99258). I've emailed Roland my recording samples and waiting to hear from them.

I also compared with my friend's Microtrack and found his unit to be much cleaner. Another annoyance on the R09 is that it doesn't have separate mic inputs, so I need some clunky adapters to plug in two mics for interview.

I love the R09 enough to give it a second chance if I can exchange it for a quieter one (not trivial in Hong Kong), otherwise I'll exchange it for a desktop unit (hopefully better) or get the microtrack.