USB PC/Charging Cable As I outlined in this post on how to take care of your Sony ICD-ux560, I consider this cable a must have accessory. It’s possible to charge and connect your Sony recorder to your PC/Mac without a cable, but the built in USB is the weakest part on this recorder. And if breaks off, you are left with a very light paperweight. Now, the cable you get will depend on your PC/Mac. If you own an older computer (PC/Mac) that comes with the full size USB port, get this Female to Male USB A cable (Amazon link). If you own a newer computer (PC or Mac) with a USB Type C port, get this Female to Male USB A to USB-C cable (Amazon link).   If you are on a Mac computer that has a lightening port, get this Female to Male USB A to lightening cable (Amazon link). Micro-SD Cards You… Continue reading…

In the last 18 months Zoom and Tascam have released new versions of their popular Zoom H1 and Tascam DR-05 digital recorders. The Zoom H1n was released in early 2018, and the Tascam DR-05x became available in early 2019. In this post we are going to compare the Zoom H1n to the Tascam DR-05x. Now, I’m usually hesitant about these kinds of comparisons. That’s because when it comes to voice recorders, it’s very hard to find two recorders that are similar. Yes, you can find different versions of recorders that are alike, but they’re usually from the same manufacture – who are doing some hokey pokey price differentiation. A few examples, Sony BX140 and Sony PX240, Olympus WS-852 and Olympus WS-853 and so forth. And buying the higher priced model gives you additional features. So most voice recorders have very little in common, for instance the Sony ux560  and the Zoom H1n –the 2 models… Continue reading…

This review of the Sony ICD-BX140 is going to be slightly different from my normal product reviews. Let me explain why. I’ve penned a great review of the Sony ICD-PX240, and The BX140 is very similar to the PX240. In fact it’s the same recorder! Same build, same features. Yes, it does have a different color and one (1) other feature that differentiates the Sony ICD-BX140 from the Sony ICD-PX240: the BX140 does not have a USB slot! So, if you get the Sony ICD-BX140 there is not easy way for you to transfer your recordings to your computer. WTF Sony! But actually, what Sony is doing is called price differentiation. They have made a product – in this case a voice recorder, and would like to make more money from it. Thus, they have taken the voice recorder and created two product that are exactly the same, expect that they’ve added one key feature… Continue reading…

Monitoring your research interviews recording enables you to take the quality of your research interviews audio recording from meh to excellent. The Sony ICD-ux560 offers you two ways to monitor the sound quality of your research interviews; dB meters and the line out headphone jack. In this post I’m going to show you how to use both to greatly increase the sound quality of your research interviews. But first, a few caveats. This post is going to focus on using the Sony ICD-ux560, and the Giant Squid lavalier microphones and the Hosa splitter, because that’s the setup I recommend for recording interviews in a noisy location. Truth be told, if you are recording in a quiet location, you can get away with not monitoring the sound quality of your interviews. It would help increase the quality of the recorded audio, but you can get away with a lot. However, if you are recording your interviews… Continue reading…

When the Tascam DR-05x was released, earlier this year, I was really excited. The older Tascam DR-05 was one of the first digital voice recorders I bought, but it had a few issues and I got rid of it. My hope was that Tascam had resolved those issues. TLDR: they fixed a few issues, but didn’t fix the major one.   Summary: Tascam DR-05x Review The Good: Comes with lots of features and functions. You will need the manual! Supports MicroSDXC SD cards. Mono recording… The Bad: Has the same radio interference issue that’s the bane of Tascam recorders. Bulky. Not great for voice recordings – very sensitive built-in microphones. Verdict: A definite improvement from the earlier version. Still has the radio interference issue. Packed with features. Gets my recommendation for a high fidelity digital recorder. Buy it now from Amazon. I do like Tascams because they come parked with lots of features. And in… Continue reading…