Portable Digital Audio Recorder Buying Guide With Reviews

Buying a portable digital audio recorder is a major decision.  The balance between price, features, and quality is a fine line that has many different options to choose from.  There are dozens of different models of portable digital audio recorders, some of which have drastically different sets of features yet sell for roughly the same price.  This easy to read head to head comparison chart and guide to many of the more popular portable digital audio recorders is intended to help potential buyers more easily see these differences and make an educated buying decision.

All of the criteria listed below is important to consider when purchasing a portable digital audio recorder.  While most people only consider size or inputs when purchasing a recorder it is immensely important to also consider things such as how many recording channels the device provides, whether the recorder can use removable media, and how easy it is to make changes to the settings such as the recording quality and other things.

Digital Audio Recorders- Important Features Explained

Removable Media:

Some digital audio recorders are able to use removable memory cards, usually in the form of SD cards, to record audio on.  All of the recorders listed in the chart below allow the user to connect to a computer to download recorded audio to a PC or Mac, but what happens if the card fills up and the user does not have access to a computer to unload it?  This is where removable media is important, and all but one of the recorders in our review provide it.

Recording Channels and Microphone Options:

Being able to carry a single, flexible recording device in a pocket is a great benefit to any musician, but even with the best digital audio recorder it is still important to have options available to use external microphones should the need or desire arise.  All of the recorders in our chart allow for external microphones, but only one provides full size XLR microphone jacks built into the body of the unit.  In terms of recording channels, The Zoom H4n, Zoom H2, and the Tascam DR07 add the flexibility of having four recording channels available when needed.

Size and Usability:

While being small is nice, if a device is too small using the navigation buttons and reading the LCD screen becomes problematic.  The larger the screen and more numerous the buttons the easier it is to switch recording modes or move and delete unneeded audio files.  The readability of the LCD screen is also important, and among the models listed in the chart the Edirol R-09 is the brightest and clearest.

Use the chart below to find the individual audio recorder that you are looking for. Also included in this chart are two desktop style CD burning digital audio recorders that are found on other pages here at MusicEdMagic.

	Edirol R-09HR	Tascam DR-07	Pocketrak CX	Pocketrak 2G	Zoom H4n	Zoom H2	MicroTrak II
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MEdM Rating
Read Review at MusicEdMagic	Read Our Review of the Edirol R-09.	Read Our Review of the Tascam DR-07	Read Our Review of the Pocketrak CX	Read Our Review of the Pocketrak 2G	Read Our Review of the Zoom H4n	Read Our Review of the Zoom H2	Coming Soon
Pocket/Desktop	Pocket	Pocket	Pocket	Pocket	Pocket	Pocket	Pocket
Recording channels	2	4	2	2	4	4	2
Multiple Pickup Patterns	No	No	No	No	Yes, 90/120/360	Yes, 90/120/360	No
Best WAV Recording Formats	24 bit/ 96kHz	24 bit/ 48kHz	16 bit/ 48kHz	16 bit/ 44.1khz	24 bit/ 96kHz	24 bit/ 96 kHz	24 bit/ 96 kHz
Best MP3 Recording Format	320kbps/ 48kHz MP3	320kbps/ 48kHz MP3	320kbps/ 48kHz MP3	128kbps/ 48kHz MP3	320kbps/ 48kHz MP3	320kbps/ 48kHz MP3
Mic setup/coincident pair/etc.	side by side	side by side	coincident pair X/Y	side by side	coincident pair X/Y	coincident pair X/Y
Internal Speaker	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
External Inputs/ Line Level/ Mic Level/ XLR/ Phone	Mic/Line	Mic/Line	Mic/Line	Mic/Line	Mic/Line/XLR x2/Phone x2	Mic/Line
Phantom Power for External Mics	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
USB Connectivity	Yes w/provided cable	Yes w/ provided cable	Yes w/provided cable	Yes/ Integrated	Yes w/cable	Yes w/cable
Integrated Tuner/Metronome	None	None	No	No	Tuner/Metronome	Tuner/Metronome
Software Included	Cakewalk pyro Audio Creator LE	None	Cubase AI4	Cubase AI4	Cubase LE	None
Memory/Type	512MB SD Card	2GB SD Card	2GB Micro SD Card	2GB Internal	1GB SD Card	512MB SD Card
Maximum Memory			2GB SD or 4GB SDHC	2GB	32GB SDHC	32GB SDHC
Windscreen	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Batteries/Supplied	AA x 2 / not provided	AA x 2 / provided	AA x 1/ rechargable Eneloop high performance battery	AAA x 1/ rechargable Eneloop high performance battery	AA x 2/ not provided	AA x 2/ not provided
External Power Connector/Supplied	Yes/ provided	Yes/ not supplied	No	No	Yes/ provided	Yes/ provided
Plug and Play?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LCD Backlight	Yes/ OLED	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Variable Pitch Control	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Variable Speed Playback	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Included Accessories	Wireless remote control included	None	earbuds, mic stand adaptor, carry bag included	soft carry case. mic stand adaptor. earbuds, usb cable included	Solid plastic carry case, mic clip adaptor	desktop stand, mic clip adaptor,earbuds,stereo Y cable included

	Tascam DR-100	Yamaha C24	Yamaha W24	Zoom H1	Zoom Q3	Sony PCM-D50	Olympus LS-11
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MEdM Rating				Not reviewed yet	Not reviewed yet
Read Review at MusicEdMagic	Coming Soon	Read Our Review of the Yamaha C24	Read Our Review of the Yamaha W24	Coming Soon	Coming Soon	Coming Soon	Read Our Review of the Olympus LS-11
Pocket/Desktop	Pocket	Pocket	Pocket	Pocket	Pocket		Pocket
Recording channels	4	2	2	2	2 plus video	2	2
Multiple Pickup Patterns		No	No	No	No	X-Y/Wide Stereo	No
Best WAV Recording Formats	24 bit/ 96 kHz	24 bit/ 96 kHz	24 bit/ 96 kHz	24 bit/ 96 kHz	24 bit/ 96 kHz	24 bit/ 96 kHz	24 bit/ 96 kHz
Best MP3 Recording Format	320kbps MP3	320kbps MP3	320kbps MP3	320kbps MP3	320kbps MP3	None	320kbps MP3
Mic setup/coincident pair/etc.	Side by side	Side by side	XY Coincident Pair	XY Coincident Pair	XY Coincident Pair	XY Coincident Pair	Side by side
Internal Speaker	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes
External Inputs/ Line Level/ Mic Level/ XLR/ Phone		1/8 inch Mic/Line	1/8 inch Mic/Line	1/8inch stereo line input	None	Stereo Mini Jack	1/8 inch Mic/Line
Phantom Power for External Mics		No	No	No	No	No	No
USB Connectivity		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Integrated Tuner/Metronome		Yes	Yes	No	No		No
Software Included		Cubase AI5	Cubase AI5	None	Handy Share, Quicktime	Sound Forge Audio Studeo LE	Cubase LE4
Memory/Type		2gb SD	2gb SD	2gb MicroSD	2gb SD	4gb internal	8gb internal
Maximum Memory	32gb SDHC	32gb SDHC	32gb SDHC	32gb MicroSD	32gb SDHC	Memory Stick Pro	32gb SDHC
Windscreen		Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Batteries/Supplied		1x AAA supplied	1x AA supplied	1x AA	2x AA included	4x AA  included	2x AA included
External Power Connector/Supplied				No	Yes/ Not Included	Yes/ included	Yes/ Not Included
Plug and Play?		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LCD Backlight		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Variable Pitch Control		No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Variable Speed Playback		Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Included Accessories		Clip-on style mic stand adapter	Wireless remote control, mic stand adapter, USB Cable	No	RCA AV Cable, Soft Carry Case	USB Cable	USB Cable, Lanyard, headphone to headphone cable,
Brochure or Manual					Zoom Q3 User Manual PDF	Sony PCM-D50 Brochure PDF