Absolutely Beautiful Sound 
by Max from Maryland, May 2008
Music Background:  Musically inclined

I have been looking for a portable/battery operated recorder with 24 bits/96 KHz since about a year ago, for recording mainly my son’s piano solo performances but occasionally also piano concertos. The minimum criteria I have for the recorder are as follows:

- Four channels (so I can record piano solos, piano concertos, piano + solo singer, or piano + solo violin),

-Compact, battery operable (so that I can do field live recording where line power is not always available),

- Flash memory based (no moving parts or the associated motor noise),

-XRL inputs with 48V phantom power for the microphone (so that I can use my AKG 414’s and other high quality microphones that require phantom power),

-24 bits/96 KHz sampling (so that I can justify the cost of a separate recorder in addition to my “professional” camcorder which is 16 bits/48 KHz only),

-Overall dynamic range of 100 dB or better (realized, not just theoretical value based on the bit depth)

-True professional recording sound quality with no audible hiss or other noise from the recorder (i.e. the recording should be publishable).

Well, my search was over when I bought this recorder a week ago. After some extensive testing while recording my son’s piano playing, I am convinced that this recorder meets all of my above criteria, and more.

First I used a pair of AKG 414 B-XLS, while my son played on a particularly beautiful-sounding Steinway “B”. I am particularly impressed by the absolutely beautiful and crystal clear piano sounds that it records, with all the nuances and tonal details. There was not a slight hint of hiss or mechanical noise, in stark contrast to my “professional” camcorder that always had some inherent noises. The ease with which to do the recording was just icing on the cake. Then I tried a Rode NT4 (a single point stereo microphone) and other microphone that I own, and the end results were also very impressive.

I have done quite exhaustive research on digital recorders currently available on the market, and believe that the only other recorder that also meets my criteria is the Sound Devices 744. However at about $4,000 it is more than 4x of this recorder, and I could not justify it given that I do not make a living doing recordings (and my son is only an elementary school student).

The Edirol R44 looks and feels very solid, very substantial, has a fine build quality down to details typical of Japanese products (it is made in Japan), although it does have a plastic housing. To give you a perspective how solid it is, it is much smaller, but actually slightly heavier than the Sound Devices 744 (data on Sound Devices 744 per published specs). In short I am very happy with the build quality of this recorder. The relatively low-resolution display is the only area I wish it could have been be better.

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