"Fernando de Izuzquiza" wrote:
>...anyone tried the Edirol R09 yet?
The Edirol R-09 won't be shipped to dealers until sometime in May.
Allocation is expected to be tight, so if you have not pre-ordered the
R-09, it may be summertime before you can purchase one. Street price
for the R-09 appears to be about $400 USD, only slightly less than the
R-1.
The Edirol R-09 appears to put the electronics of the Edirol R-1 into
a smaller and slimmer package. The R-1 has a number of sonic effects
that can be applied during playback (jazz, pop, reverb, that sort of
thing). These effects are absent in the R-09.
Another difference is that the R-09 display shows levels for L and R
channel. The R-1 has a single level meter that combines L & R.
The R-09 record to WAV files at a top rate of 24/48. The R-1 uses
24/44.1.=20
The R-1 records to Compactflash (CF) memory cards. The R-09 has a
slot for the smaller Secure Digital (SD) memory cards. SD cards cost
about the same as CF cards, and are available in capacities up to 4GB.
The competitor M-Audio Microtrack 2496 (about $350) records at 24/96
(as the name implies). The Microtrack has a digital optical input.
This feature is missing in the Edirol products.
Microtrack, R-09 and R-1 all have a 2GB limit to file size. You have
to manually stop the recording and start over when you approach the
2GB limit. Recording 2 channels of 24/48, 2GB =3D 2 hours. At 24/96,
2GB =3D 1 hour.
When first released, the Microtrack had a number of software bugs.
Almost all of the issues have been addressed by software updates, and
the Microtrack seems to be a reliable field companion today.
The Microtrack employs a rechargeable Li-Ion battery pack that is not
replaceable in the field. The R-1 and R-09 use easily replaceable AA
(LR6) batteries or AA rechargeables. Given the small battery capacity
of these machines, don't count on using the recorder to supply phantom
power to your mics.
Comparing the Edirol R-1 and the Microtrack, the construction of the
R-1 seems a little more sturdy to me, though neither is particularly
good. Even though Edirol rates the R-1's mic input signal to noise
ratio at 63dB, and M-Audio's mic s/n is 100dB, the R-1's recordings
sounds quieter to me. The R-1's built-in mics are quite good, too.
The Microtrack has no built-in mic.
--oryoki
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