The Sony PCM-M10 digital audio recorder.
(Credit: Sony)Sony makes some damn fine portable audio recorders. Its PCM-D50, released in March of 2008, has a cult-like following among audio professionals and still stands as one of CNET's highest-rated field recorders. But Sony's pro-audio portable recorders have historically been attached to nearly unjustifiable price tags, especially in the face of affordable options like the Zoom H4n.
In an effort to compete against these increasingly sophisticated budget-priced recorders, Sony pulled back the curtain on its $399 PCM-M10 during this year's Summer NAMM showcase. The PCM-M10 includes many of the features found on last year's D50, such as articulated X/Y pattern stereo microphones, a five-second recording buffer, and an extremely intuitive interface that honors the transport and gain functions with big, dedicated controls.
In many ways, however, the Sony PCM-M10 improves on its high-priced predecessors. Support for MicroSD memory cards and direct-to-MP3 recording (in addition to WAV format) are a first for the Sony PCM line.
Still, Sony's sound quality will really need to dazzle to win share from companies like Zoom and Edirol, which have carved out a nice little niche in the sub-$400 audio recorder market. Out of the box, the PCM-M10 only includes 4GB of internal memory, limited external microphone support, and a capacity that maxes out at 20GB.
Expect to hear more from us on the Sony PCM-M10 when the recorder ships in October.
(Via Sound On Sound)
Portable audio recorders are useful tools for capturing live music or lectures, and creating podcasts. Unfortunately, the best-sounding recorders tend to be bulky, and they can get pretty complicated.
The Yamaha Pocketrak CX audio recorder is tiny, yet mighty.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)The Yamaha Pocketrak CX ($299) is a powerful handheld audio recorder that keeps things simple. The little recorder fits in your shirt pocket, runs off a single AA battery, and keeps confusing buttons and settings to a minimum.
Of course, simplicity doesn't come without sacrifice. If you're the type who wants to record bird calls with a phantom-powered boom mic and sophisticated onboard compression, this isn't the right product for you (stay tuned for my review of the Zoom H4N, though). This is for the guy who wants to make a high-quality recording of his acoustic guitar, or a band rehearsal, and just wants to hit one button to make it all work.
To find out more, read my full write-up (including a video demonstration and audio samples) over at CNET Reviews.
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The Edirol R-09HR is one of the easiest and most portable ways to capture pristine stereo recordings.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)It's not the cheapest or the smallest way to go, but if you want the best-sounding pocket-size audio recorder on the market, you needn't look any further than the Edirol R-09HR. As an update to the original Edirol R-09 that debuted in 2006, the new HR edition addresses nearly every complaint we had of its predecessor, and even adds a few tricks we didn't know we wanted (like a remote control).
Curious to see how Edirol's extreme product makeover turned out? Take a look through our Edirol R-09HR photo gallery and then head over to our full review.
Need a sneaky way to record high-quality audio? The Yamaha Pocketrak 2G is the gadget for you. Click to see our Crave photo gallery.
(Credit: CNET Networks/Corinne Schulze)We've seen a fair share of high-end portable audio recorders pass through our door, but the Yamaha Pocketrak 2G is far and away the smallest we've ever seen.
Unfortunately, the Pocketrak 2G's shrunken size is reflected in its modest list of features and limited recording capacity. Still, this tiny thing is a dream come true for concert bootleggers and undercover agents.
Curious? Check out our full review of the Yamaha Pocketrak 2G along with our Crave photo gallery.
The 160GB iPod Classic is the king of lossless audio MP3 players, but there are rivals.
(Credit: CNET Networks/Corinne Schulze)With the increased capacity of today's computer hard drives and MP3 players, ripping your CDs to a large, lossless audio format such as FLAC or Apple Lossless isn't such a crazy idea. In fact, some folks are convinced that lossless audio is the wave of the future.
While I personally have a handful of my favorite albums ripped to lossless files on my computer, I'm a little skeptical of the idea of a lossless revolution taking root. For better or worse, the MP3's popularity will likely remain unshaken for many years to come, for a variety of reasons.
That said, anything's possible, and there's a good chance you already own an MP3 player that supports at least one lossless audio format. If the idea of being unprepared of the bloody overthrow of the MP3 by lossless loyalists makes you feel uneasy, however, then here's a quick roundup of some of our favorite lossless MP3 players.
Neil Young says the tech industry doesn't care as much about music quality as it should.
Perhaps that's because the average iPod-toting iTunes customer doesn't give a second thought to whether the digital file of the latest single they just bought is uncompressed or lossless.
Young told a bunch of tech luminaries gathered for an industry conference as much on Wednesday: "People's understanding has been skewed by MP3s and convenience. It's important to get music out there...but not at the expense of quality."
He's not the only one who feels that way. Grammy-award-winning producer T-Bone Burnett (who says audio nowadays is so degraded it's akin to viewing "a Xerox of a Polaroid of a photograph of a painting") is spearheading CODE, a new high-definition audio format distributed on a DVD.
CODE gives the music consumer options, by including many different formats, including 24-bit/96-kHz WAV files, uncompressed 16-bit/44.1kHz files, AAC, and MP3 on a single disc. What Burnett has done is show consumers that there are options, more than perhaps they are aware.
Young and Burnett are certainly vocal, but aren't the only people dissatisfied with the listening experience offered by today's cheap, one-off music downloads. So we checked in with our own resident audiophile, Steve Guttenberg, who writes at CNET Blog Network's Audiophiliac. Here are his suggestions for hearing music the way it's meant to be heard.
*Listen. Well, sure, that's the point right? But Guttenberg means really listen, as in, don't have it playing in the background while you're filling in spreadsheets at work, or scrubbing your shower. Once you do, you'll actually notice how much is missing from a compressed MP3 file.
"People who actually put on music and listen--whatever form it's in--they hear more because they're giving it their undivided attention," he said. "Once people really listen, they care about (sound quality) more. Whether you're listening to an iPod or $20,000 turntable, it doesn't really matter. But that's sort of the beginning of everything."
(Credit:
CNET)
*Download quality file formats. Now that you can get music players with 160GB of storage, file size isn't really a huge issue anymore. MP3 files are generally regarded as the lowest-quality music file since the audio uses a lossy compression process to make the files smaller, meaning some of the data is left out, like higher frequencies.
Luckily there are alternatives: Apple lossless for iPods compresses the files, but losslessly (which means it sounds exactly like uncompressed, but is actually compressed, Guttenberg says); AAC, which is a lossy compression encoding process, but is generally accepted as better than MP3; or OGG (no, no relation to me), which is another lossy compressed file format, but is open source and is known for its higher fidelity. And then there are WAV files, which are completely uncompressed and sound exactly how they're "supposed to," according to Guttenberg.
*Buy used CDs. Though CDs probably aren't Neil Young-approved, it's a vastly better quality experience than MP3s. Plus, it's kind of a deal, Guttenberg says. "It's cheaper than buying iTunes (songs) and certainly sounds a million times better."
*Think outside the iPod. Though there's nothing wrong with Apple's portable music player, it's not the only device out there. Besides other brands of players, you could get super pro and go with a set of turntables. And you don't have to spend a ton. There are USB-equipped turntables that go for around $100--cheaper than most iPods.
*Listen to it live. If the other options still aren't getting it done, you can always go see your favorite act in person. But Rule No. 1 still applies: Actually listen. A lot of people "talk because they're used to music being in the background, they don't just shut up and listen to it."
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
If a phone can have a bed and an iPod a hammock, they why can't an MP3 player have a nice comfy chair?
That, at least, is what the dock for Creative's "Zen Wav" looks like to us. But the youngest in the family is often spoiled, so we're not really surprised. The Wav is the latest of an ever-growing list of siblings from Creative, this one featuring a 1.5-inch color LCD and 2GB of memory in an aluminum case for about $114 on the Singapore market.
Electronista says its built-in speakers, however, are what Creative is touting as special about the Wav (which, by the way, plays more than WAV files). The snugly fitting cradle is supposed to enhance the player's sound to obviate the need for earbuds, at least while listening at home. And the little guy will be cozy all the while.
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