Edirol R-09 Review

I just had the opportunity to try out an Edirol R-09 from my friends at music lab.

In summary, my favourite features (positives):
- small size
- light weight
- AA batteries
- records to standard (and cheap) SD cards
- standard mini USB connector
- internal microphones actually sound quite nice
- good stereo image from internal microphones
- intuitive menu system
- you can disable AGC (automatic gain control)
- has Low Cut filters!

And negative features:
- internal microphones very susceptible to handling noise
- internal microphones very susceptible to wind noise
- recordings are a little bit "hissy"
- cannot be USB bus powered (need to have charged batteries to use USB to computer mode)

The unit is impressively small, and I like the fact that it runs on standard AA batteries, records to standard SD cards and connects to a computer via a standard mini-USB connector.

The menu interface is quite simple and easy to use. I read the manual, which is quite well written, but didn't really need to - navigating the menus is very intuitive.

I only tested the unit with its built-in stereo microphones - I didn't get a chance to test the unit's mic or line inputs, but it's good that it has them.

The internal microphones are not too bad for what they are. I have listened to a whole load of small MP3 style recorders that are aimed to replace micro-cassette dictaphone recorders, but don't really sound any better. The R-09 at least works quite well. The microphones create an impressively accurate stereo image, but I found that the stereo image translated better on headphones than it did on speakers. Perhaps some of the stereo imaging is created by some configuration of the microphones emulating a binaural configuration, resulting in a great stereo image on headphones, but not on speakers..?

The sound of the microphones is a little bit hissy. I feel like recording in 24 bit would be a waste of time with the internal microphones, just like a camera capturing 10 Megapixels from a 10mm lens.

The microphones are quite bass heavy in their response, and are also extremely susceptible to wind noise. I noticed that even air pressure differentials from big air conditioning systems (like in shopping centres) cause the microphone capsules to crap out. (I think that's the technical term.)

The unit has four small rubber/plastic feet on its base. After a first glance at the unit and its construction, I thought that it would sound best standing up on the small end (where the battery cover is) so that the capsules would be facing forwards. However, doing a test recording at a meeting in a board room style environment, the unit actually recorded a more even balance of sound in the room (from different people speaking, at close and distant proximity to the unit) and a more "intelligible" sound when it was lying on its back (on the four rubber feet). Perhaps having the microphone capsules very close to the table achieves a better sound by some acoustic coupling with the table's surface. Whatever it is, the recorde3d sound is better when the unit is lying on the table the capsules pointing upwards.

Overall, I like the unit. I think for the price, compact size and features, it's a great unit for recording anything from meetings to sound effects (so long as there is no wind).

Enjoy.