Where's the Clarity?

A friend of mine always have ideas brewing in his head. Whether it be a movie idea, a scientific thought, an invention idea, or just a reminder to pick up lottery tickets while he's out, a voice recorder sounded like a great purchase.

I have used many digital recorders before, and warned him about the quality. Digital recorders are made with recording voice in telephonic quality. Because of this, the manufacturer can do away with lots of compromises to ensure satisfactory performance, while lowering manufactoring costs. Since they are not for music, they record wth very low quality settings. They record with an equivilent of 11 kHz, 8-bit, mono. For comparison, FM Quality is around 22-32 kHz, and in stereo. CD-Quality (a better direct comparison, since it's digital) is defined as 44 kHz, 16-bit, stereo. As you can see, these digital recorders have no where NEAR the same dynamics as an audio CD. To add insult to injury, they are also often times compressed (like MP3 files). This will save a lot of space, and allows manufacturers to do away with less memory, and more recording capacity. More capacity means that the consumer will pay more. Less memory would mean it would cost less for the manufacturer. It's a win-win situation for the likes of RCA, Sony, and Olympus. I suggested a microcassette recorder to my friend, but for what it's worth, he decided to get the RCA RP5012 6-hour digital voice recorder.

The Test Run
Running on 2 AA batteries, the RP5012 comes to life with a push of the Play button. It is a very easy and intuitive device. Even as such, it comes with a host of features.

Besides, the 6-hour recording capacity, it also includes voice activated recording, 2 different quality modes, 4 folders (99 files each folder), and editing (such as insertion and trimming).

Voice activiation works like a charm. It can be easily set in the menu, and once it is recording, you can adjust the sensitivity by using the volume button. There is a red LED that blinks when it detects sound, and stays lit when it doesn't. When it does not detect any sound, it will stop recording within 5 seconds. It may cut off the first sylibol when it resumes recording, since it is the sound that would activate the recording. The LED is a very nice feature to impement on an already well established feature.

The RP5012 can also record in two different quality modes. SP (or Standard Play) is the default quality, and can be used to record up to 320 minutes (6-hours). HQ (or High Quality) can be set in the menu, and can be used to record up to 120 minutes (2-hours). However, in our informal testing, there seems to be NO difference in the different settings, so it is probably best to leave it on SP. We tried to play back the device over the earphone via a reciever. This way, we can by-pass the nice-and-loud (but has a lot of treble) built-in speaker, and judge the quality of the recording and playback itself. The result was a typical telephone-quality conversation, with no bass quality. High frequencies are reproduced with a lot of flutter and garble. This is typical in a highly compressed sound format such as MP3. This was appearent in both SP and HQ mode.

With the ability to store files in 4 folders, with a 99 file limit for each folder, your audio notations can be easily catagorized, searched, and indexed. You will always be able to find your notation.

After you found your notation, you can edit it! You can insert a recording in the middle of the one you already recorded, or play back to a point you want to delete, allowing you to keep what is important.

Lastly, the package includes a clip-on mic! Both the built-in mic and the clip-on mic function with the same quality, range, and result. The clip-on mic is ideal for dictating while on your desk, and nothing else, since it is directed towards your mouth. Otherwise, when you use both as an omnidirectional mic, it can pick up sounds from far away! We were able to pick up ambient sounds from other people talking, car alarms, birds chirping, and more!

The Return
All in all, the device would suffice for most who just want to annotate, take audio notes in class, or spy with voice. For other sounds, this recorder may not suit you well, as it may render the sound you are trying to record innacurate. This is especially true with high frequency sounds, or sounds with a large range of frequencies (which occurs naturally). Otherwise, with a sensitve built-in mic, and an included clip-on mic, this is a great deal for a very well-featured digital voice recorder.

Of course, however... my friend did finally returned the device, hoping to save up for a purcahse of a good quality microcassette recorder.