I have been looking for an inexpensive audio recorder to record some ambient sounds for various projects. The mic on the GoPro leaves a lot to be desired.
The brand is Evistar L53. I found this recorder on sale at amazon for $40 USD. Normally $130 USD. About half the size of a smart phone (3.5 x 1.7 x 0.5 inches) and most important it has the ability to plug in an external mic which I like. It has a metal body and does not feel cheap. It can record 8GB worth of audio. The results are pretty good so far. I am still testing but I will update as I learn more.
Evistr linear PCM digital voice recorder can record WAVE files in the 24-bit/48kHz (2,304 Kbps bit-rate) and 16-bit/48kHz (1,536 Kbps bit-rate) linear PCM format. The L53 can also record in MP3, as well as in APE and FLAC, which are also lossless uncompressed wave formats.
I had a chance to use the voice recorder over the weekend and it worked out really well. I tried it with a Rode Video Mic and I was happy with the results.
Sidd
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." ..... Ferris Bueller
does the recorder record in stereo or just in mono? Does it plays back music in stereo?
The recorder records in stereo but the Rode mice I used records in dual mono. The external mic jack does record in stereo but I have not tried to use a stereo mic. The playback on the internal speak is mono. I have not tried to plug in stereo headphones to listen to see but I suspect that the headphones will play in stereo.
For approx $30 USD I am really happy with this recorder.
Sidd
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." ..... Ferris Bueller
RJ I think you will end up likeing the recorder a lot. Super small and easy to use. I used to use an old ipod with a mikey but the ipod has now gone through its second battery so I am happy with this recorder.
I also stumbled across this recorder for approx $25 USD that is supposed to be comparable to the Rode video mic.
I have a Sennheiser e835 microphone plugged into a Behringer XENYX 302 USB mixer. The mixer is plugged in to the line-in of the recorder. I have Sony Studio Monitor headphones plugged in to the earphones of the recorder. All I need is a USB power supply and I can go anywhere with this. When I tried doing the same with an Olympus WS-802 recorder, the results were terrible with lots of feedback and static. The EVISTR is very quiet. I don't hear any background noise with this setup.
I finally learned the last of the features after going on their blog and reading the manual they emailed me. I had no idea what Track On was. They didn't say this, but it seems that for stereo to work, you need to use the highest quality setting.
This was a great buy. Amazon bumped the price up a few dollars just after I received the recorder.
TreeTopsRanch wrote:Is that recorder sensitive enough to pick up a speaker at front of a room when I sit in the rear?
I've tried 35 feet away, the farthest unobstructed distance in the house, and I can hear myself speaking. Alexa on Echo Dot, which is another 15 feet around the corner can be heard in the background. I need to turn up the recording level to the maximum of 63. It's certainly not like the person is right in front of the microphone. You can tell that they are some distance away, but you can clearly hear them if they speak normally.
I've been trying out the recorder and it works well. I'm very happy with the unit so far. The company emailed a user guide, but it was for a different model -- I downloaded the correct guide from their web site. The English version of the user guide leaves a lot to be desired though.
FYI, Takstar also makes an inexpensive stereo microphone, the sgc-698, for about USD $40. I haven't tried it though.
Bob wrote:FYI, Takstar also makes an inexpensive stereo microphone, the sgc-698, for about USD $40. I haven't tried it though.
The L53 only records mono to two channels from external stereo microphones, according to customer service. The built-in microphone, however, is stereo. And Line-In from external sources records in stereo.
If you have a stereo microphone, you can pull out the plug a small amount (you will have to experiment) from the L53 so it's not fully seated, and record to one channel from the stereo microphone and to the other channel from the built-in microphone. Customer service suggested that I don't do that because it might cause static, but I thought it sounded okay.