Topic: Edirol R09HR or Sony PCM-d50?

[flauta]

Hello, i am comparing the specs for both recorders since many weeks.

I wanted a good recorder for many different situations in my field recordings.
Interviews
Music recording (ensembles, solo bagpipes, drums and voice... solo singing)
Sound recording (many different ones, from nature, waterfalls, church bells, human produced sounds...)-

I wanted to use the own mics from the recorders and too a pair of binaural stereo mics from soundsprofessionals.

For me the most important is the quality of the recording, i don´t mind for example the size of the Sony´s unit comparing to the Edirol ones.

Which one would you recomend?

I like that the sony is capable of switching the positions of the mics, but i am a bit afraid about the comments about wind noise, and about not separating well the nearest sounds from the distant ones.

All the best,
Cástor
Galiza Spain

[Belexes]

I own the regular R-09 and the D-50 and prefer the D-50 in terms of its durable construction, digi-in, and 4 gig of internal memory with no memory stick.  I like the dial gain control on the D-50 whereas the R-09 has tiny side buttons.  I use my R-09 now in only stealthy situations.

The Sony mics are sensitive, but you could have one of these made to assist with windy conditions:

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,102775.0.html

[Keyser Soze]

I would lean towards the Sony if size wasn't an issue.  The internal mics on the Sony sound really good from some of the demos I've heard.

[spyder9]

I owned both.  I thought the R09 was better sounding than the D50 by a wide margin.  R09 handles loud, heavy bass shows with ease, where the D50 does not.  Heavy bass sounded brittle at times with the D50.  R09's over all sound was very smooth across the frequencies, where the D50's mids can split your ears in half, depending on the musical act.

That said, the D50 is the best, most smartly, constructed handheld recorder on the market.  And because of that construction it could very well be worth its price of $475.00.  However, the sound quality just didn't match the R09 and I sent the D50 back to the store after running it 2 times.

The R09HR is the upgrade to the R09.  No one has it yet.  When the R09 was debuting a few years ago, Edirol boasted that the R09's sound would be improved over the R-1.  Edirol was correct.  I have yet to hear the same boast, though they seemed to have improved the design and build quality of the R09HR and it can record 24/96, which the R09 can't. 

The jury is still out whether:

1) The R09HR sounds better than the R09
2) The R09HR sounds the same as the R09
3) The R09HR's sound was scaled back to accommodate new features. (R&D costs)

We'll find out in the next 30 days when the R09HR hits the shelves. 

[bgalizio]

I owned both.  I thought the R09 was better sounding than the D50 by a wide margin.  R09 handles loud, heavy bass shows with ease, where the D50 does not.  Heavy bass sounded brittle at times with the D50.  R09's over all sound was very smooth across the frequencies, where the D50's mids can split your ears in half, depending on the musical act.

That said, the D50 is the best, most smartly, constructed handheld recorder on the market.  And because of that construction it could very well be worth its price of $475.00.  However, the sound quality just didn't match the R09 and I sent the D50 back to the store after running it 2 times.

The R09HR is the upgrade to the R09.  No one has it yet.  When the R09 was debuting a few years ago, Edirol boasted that the R09's sound would be improved over the R-1.  Edirol was correct.  I have yet to hear the same boast, though they seemed to have improved the design and build quality of the R09HR and it can record 24/96, which the R09 can't. 

The jury is still out whether:

1) The R09HR sounds better than the R09
2) The R09HR sounds the same as the R09
3) The R09HR's sound was scaled back to accommodate new features. (R&D costs)

We'll find out in the next 30 days when the R09HR hits the shelves. 

If you need a digital input, the Sony is for you. If not, the R-09 (or R-09HR) would be the best bets. I agree with spyder9's comments above, based on samples that I have heard. Disclaimer: I own an R-09 and have not owned the Sony.

Dan - are you planning on picking up an R-09HR when it comes out? I'm very interested in seeing if there are any improvements there.

[spyder9]

Yes, I'm gonna Ben.  Probably sometime over the course of the summer however.  The taping season is upon us.      

[cl516]

i think it's about time for a bump, yes?

[illconditioned]

I have the R09, but not the Sony.  From reports, and from my experience with Minidisc, I believe the Sony will have lower self noise on the mic input.  This would be important for quiet/ambient recording, or for mics with low output.  I'm thinking of picking up the Sony for ambient stuff.

If you're using mics with high output, or an external preamp or other similar setup, the Edirol R09 is very hard to beat.

  Richard

[flintstone]

Raimund Specht's mic input noise tests show the D50 has the lowest input noise of any of the handheld recorders tested so far.  The noise level is a lot lower than the R-09 (R-09HR not tested yet).  This won't matter if you're mostly interested in recording loud concerts, or if the noise floor of your mics is high.

Here's the link   http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm

[rastasean]

I don't own either one of these and I can truthfully state I have thought of buying both (either/or) of them.

I am also interested in doing interviews/recording meetings so I thought I would offer my advice.

Almost everyone on here seems to think that any external mic would be better than the internal mics of a recorder (i.e. zoom h2/h4, sometimes even then R-09) so I wouldn't really concentrate on what internal mics sound better from one another since I would be using an external mic--especially for interviews. I think I will be choosing the r-09hr for me since its pretty small and has pretty good reviews (based on the few we've seen). I am not crazy about internal memory like the sony D50 has for some reason. I am not that concerned with digital in at the moment so that's not a selling point for me, and if i want digi in, I would have to upgrade everything to make it worthwhile and as a beginner that is not of up most concern for me.

just my thoughts. let us know what you choose!

[flauta]

Hello, thanks for the replies.

I use the recorder for many different enviroments, but mainly,

1 field recordings: speech interviews  songs  Bagpipe recordings, flute and accordion recording.

2nd, sound recordings, waterfall, rives, fountains, church bells, city and village soundscapes...

Thanks,
Cástor