Voice Recorder Upload to Listen to Olympus on Bluetooth

The inquiry

• Why you should trust united states of america
• Who is this for, and is a smartphone app enough?
• How we picked
• How nosotros tested
• Our pick: Sony UX560
• Flaws simply not dealbreakers
• Long-term test notes
• Runner-up: Olympus WS-853
• Upkeep choice: Sony ICD-PX470
• The best smartphone apps for occasional recording
• The competition
• Sources

Why you should trust united states of america

For the autumn 2017 update to this guide, Wirecutter's Anna Perling spoke with several experts to learn what makes a groovy recorder. These included Jerad Lewis, a field awarding engineer working at TDK, which manufactures microphones, including MEMS mics (microelectromechanical microphones for smartphones), and Rob O'Reilly, a senior fellow member technical staff at Analog Devices (which makes a range of audio and video electronic devices). She besides consulted with Wirecutter writer Lauren Dragan, who has a degree in audio production and vocal performance, heads our headphone coverage, and has designed audio-quality and appraisement-testing procedures for our site; Lauren helped Anna design a listening panel to assess the sound quality of the recorders nosotros tested. Anna personally uses recorders and apps for her work every bit a writer, and she polled beau Wirecutter staff members nigh their favorite apps and recorders for work.

Who is this for, and is a smartphone app enough?

For people who need to record audio regularly for school or work, a dedicated device volition give you better audio quality and more features than an app. Recorders have built-in storage space, more file-management options, and longer-lasting batteries that are dedicated to recording and playback—yous won't demand to worry near saving battery power for sending and receiving texts, emails, or phone calls. The best recorders volition have the ability to record in multiple file formats; offer settings that automatically adjust their microphones' sensitivity for best results in common scenarios like lectures, meetings, and interviews; and take filters (EQ, akin to the bass and treble controls on a stereo system) to reduce backlog depression and high frequency background noise while you lot're recording. Some fifty-fifty use software-based noise cancellation to digitally reduce noise in your recorded files.

If y'all need to record only occasionally, it may be more than user-friendly to record with a smartphone that you lot already have (and usually take with you) rather than spending money on a device you'll infrequently utilize. Good vocalization-recording apps have like shooting fish in a barrel-to-employ interfaces that let you quickly navigate files and folders, as opposed to the more complicated file storage systems of about hardware voice recorders. Many apps can sync automatically to Dropbox, Google Drive, or iCloud so yous tin can share or store your files without having to transfer them to a computer via USB.

Smartphone apps can record understandable audio, which may be all you want in a recorder or app. Jerad Lewis, an engineer at TDK, said, "In terms of the racket performance, the MEMS mics that are in phones are getting to the level where they're probably on par with what's used in these vocalism recorders." Only our testing and audio listening panel found that apps nevertheless aren't quite there still. The comparatively poor sound quality of their recordings may grate on y'all if y'all demand to mind for extended periods of fourth dimension—say, for transcribing. Smartphone microphones and noise-counterfoil systems are optimized for close-up voice capture also, and while some apps will allow you lot tweak settings for ameliorate recording quality, you tin generally get better results from a defended recorder. Your choice will come down to features versus convenience, and your particular needs.

If you're a musician, a professional podcaster, or a radio journalist who needs to publish audio, or if you belong to another profession that requires the use of a high-quality audio recorder on a regular basis, this guide isn't for you lot. Although our picks can tape high-quality sound, spending more than about $100 will go y'all larger, higher-quality microphones, and settings yous can further finesse. (If true-to-life audio is your primary goal simply you don't know what hardware to get, the podcasting site Transom.org is a great place to first.)

How we picked

We looked for any new editorial reviews of voice recorders that have appeared since our previous update, simply nosotros didn't find much. Despite the fact that voice recorders are still useful to a lot of folks, they're non a unremarkably reviewed item, and only a few publications encompass them. We scoured roundups from Top Ten Reviews and Consumer Search, besides equally a ownership guide from retailer B&H Photo, merely these were by and large outdated, or they included expensive professional models. We also considered reviews from Lifewire and All-time Products.

We looked at the latest offerings from reputable manufacturers of recorders like Olympus, Sony, and Philips, and we browsed Amazon'southward xl best-selling digital voice recorders. To detect out what makes a proficient recorder, nosotros spoke to ii experts: Jerad Lewis from TDK, and Rob O'Reilly at Analog Devices.

To narrow downward the contenders, the commencement thing we looked at was price. Wirecutter colleagues agreed that $100 was the maximum amount that most people should spend on a vocalization recorder. These days, the audio quality and functionality that you can get from a recorder costing $100 or less is more than good plenty to earn it a place in your kit if you record vocal audio fairly frequently and care even a trivial virtually audio quality. The only people who should consider spending more are professionals who need to publish the audio they tape, and they likely already know which recorder is best for their specific needs.

We also decided that, at this toll level, any recorder should include these key features:

• Practiced recording quality: While audio doesn't demand to be podcast quality, recordings should exist intelligible and free from hiss, rumbles, echoes, or the excessive background dissonance that plagues poorer-quality recordings.
• An easy-to-read display: We preferred larger, uncluttered screens, and if possible, a backlight to make the screen readable in low-low-cal or dark settings.
• A simple-to-navigate file system: This should include self-explanatory buttons, shortcut buttons, and a convenient back push.
• At least four GB of internal memory: This amount allows for near 40 hours of recording time, depending on the chosen audio format.
• At least 10 hours of battery life.
• A microSD card slot: This allows for memory expansion across the 4 GB minimum.
• Easy file transfer: For moving files between the recorder and either a Mac or Windows calculator via USB.
• Format flexibility: We preferred the capability to record audio in a number of file formats and at various fleck rates or sample rates to optimize for storage space or audio quality.
• Extra features: We looked for recorders with presets that adjust mic sensitivity and equalization to optimize for specific recording situations (these are sometimes called "scene select") and groundwork noise cancellation.

Even with these restrictions in identify, we ended up with dozens of recorders to cull from. To thin the herd fifty-fifty farther, we nixed any models with an Amazon rating of less than four stars. We also paid shut attention to the availability of each model we were because, and we excluded any recorders that companies couldn't ostend were yet being fabricated.

In 2015, we looked at viii models, and for this 2017 update we looked at four more. Using the above criteria, we whittled down the size of our 2017 examination pool to these models:

• Sony UX560 Digital Voice Recorder
• Sony ICD-PX470 Digital Vox Recorder
• Olympus Digital Vox Recorder WS-853
• Philips DVT2510/00 Vocalisation Tracer

For this update, we tested four recorders (from left): Olympus WS-853, Sony UX560, Sony ICD-PX470, Philips DVT2510/00.

For voice recording apps, we consulted 10 editorial roundups covering both iOS and Android apps, noting the apps with the highest review ratings, all-time-reviewed interfaces, and nigh-useful features. We also polled Wirecutter reporters and editors most the apps they apply for work. We dismissed transcription and call recorder apps, since this guide is geared toward in-person recording of meetings, lectures, and interviews. We then used the following criteria to cull our finalists:

• Like shooting fish in a barrel-to-navigate, uncluttered interface
• Pick to sync to popular cloud platforms like iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox
• Multiple storage and recording formats (MP3, MP4, WAV, besides as bitrate and sample rate options) to control for file size and audio quality
• $v or less, since we focused on apps for people who don't need the features and sound quality of a hardware recorder

Based on recommendations and this criteria, our final app list consisted of:

• Simply Press Record
• Voice Recorder
• Voice Memos

• Parrot
• Easy Vox Recorder
• Hello-Q Pro

How nosotros tested

For our 2017 update, we tested the vox recorders and apps in 3 settings: sitting at the back of a college lecture hall during class, in a loud coffee store to simulate an interview, and in a quiet room to mimic dictation. We hit record on all the hardware recorders at the same time in order to directly compare how each captured the same audio; for the apps, nosotros took turns recording with an iPhone half-dozen and a Samsung HTC x. (Newer phones may have better microphones, but our experts said that on nearly smartphones, the app volition take more of an effect on recording quality than the microphone.)

We recorded with noise cutting (high- and low-pass filters) enabled on the recorders that had it (all of our exam models except for the Philips) and scene-setting features advisable for a given test state of affairs turned on, based on the recommendations of our experts. "There are a lot of recorders out at that place today that will do a good chore recording conversations in the presence of lots of other background noise," said O'Reilly of Analog Devices. "There are others out there that are horrible considering they tape everything."

Nosotros tested recorders in common settings and asked a listening panel to score recordings based on quality.

Virtually of the recorders have options to select recording modes for scenes like lectures, meetings, interviews, or dictations. Recording modes do the work for yous: Selecting a scene automatically changes the recorder'due south settings for that situation.

Wirecutter writer Anna Perling recorded MP3 audio at the highest bit rates available on each device in order to go the all-time possible audio quality—this showed what each recorder was capable of. That meant 192 Kbps for all recorders except for the Olympus, which maxes out at 128 Kbps (though even this should be proficient enough for voice recordings). For the lecture scene, Anna sat in the back of Sahithya Reddivari'south engineering science class at Georgia State University in Clarkston, Georgia, and lined recorders up next to each other, with the mics facing toward the lecturer. For the coffee store scene, she headed to a crowded Starbucks and sat well-nigh the bar with her mom. The two read a Seinfeld dialogue, with the mics facing toward the "interviewee," or master speaker, to mimic an interview. For the role scene, Anna read a different Seinfeld monologue in a placidity room in her house to mimic dictation, placing recorders on a tabular array 2 feet away from her rima oris. Once she had the recordings, she noted how each recorder and app let her store the files, and how easy or hard it was to transfer those files to her computer, label and organize them, and then upload them to Dropbox.

Anna then conducted a blind listening panel: 4 Wirecutter staffers listened to 15-second samples of each unlabeled recording and rated the overall sound quality and intelligibility of words for each.

Our selection: Sony UX560

Our pick

Sony UX560

The all-time vocalisation recorder

The Sony UX560 is an easy-to-use recorder that provides crisp, articulate audio in the most-mutual recording situations. It recharges via USB and lets you easily transfer files to a figurer.

The Sony UX560 received the highest overall scores from our listening console, and it has the best combination of features of any recorder we tested. The UX560's brilliant, backlit screen makes the display easier to read than the other recorders we tested except the Philips DVT2510, which has a color display. The recorder is also the easiest to navigate, with an intuitive toggle menu to admission settings and recordings. Plus, the UX560 conveniently comes with a born rechargeable battery, and then you won't need to keep spare batteries on hand (though you will need to bring a charger or wall adapter if you demand to charge on the go).

The Sony UX560 ranked roughly the aforementioned as 2 other models in two of the three recording settings. The UX560 did the best in the coffee shop scene: 1 listener said, "You lot could hear some groundwork racket, only it never drowned out the speaker." Of the office examination, a listener observed that "this was a calming recording to listen to. You can kind of hear some room interference, just that's such a minor trouble for a voice recorder that it'south barely worth mentioning. Otherwise this was a pleasant if somewhat filtered recording." The panel picked the Philips DVT2510 in the lecture recordings, simply just by half a point (on a scale of one to three, with three existence the highest score), and listeners said that the lecturer yet sounded clear on the UX560'due south recording. The Sony PX470, the budget pick, barely edged out the UX560 in a quiet office.

Customizing settings on the UX560 is more than intuitive than with the other recorders we tested.

The UX560 was the easiest recorder to navigate and use amongst those tested. Information technology's intuitive to utilize out of the box: Pressing the habitation button leads you to a simple toggle menu where you can tape, fine-tune settings, and heed to music (that can exist uploaded to the device from a computer) or recordings. Buttons are conspicuously labeled, unlike on the Philips DVT2510, and a dorsum button makes card navigation much simpler than on the Olympus WS-853. The UX560 has a built-in USB 3.0 plug, which can exist extended or retracted by sliding a push on the side of the recorder that lets you connect the recorder to your figurer to download your recordings. Once the connection has been made, you tin also name files and folders on the device from your desktop—those changes are conspicuously reflected on the device, something that couldn't be washed with the other picks and might come in handy for long-term organization. The Philips recorder lacks this function altogether; on the Olympus, Anna was able to rename files and folders from her Mac, but the device no longer saw them (the Olympus transmission does warn confronting this possibility).

With a built-in USB plug, yous tin recharge the UX560 and easily transfer files to a calculator for organizing and sharing.

The UX560 also has a rechargeable battery that charges via that USB plug. This means you lot won't accept to worry about having disposable batteries on hand. The UX560 doesn't come with a wall charger—you'll need to use a USB charger or connect the recorder to a calculator to charge; if y'all accept a recent Apple laptop or other computer with only USB-C ports, you'll need an adapter. With a full charge, yous can record for 27 hours in the commonly used MP3 format, or 23 hours at the 560'southward highest-quality setting (uncompressed LPCM audio at 44.ane kHz, or "CD quality" sound). Anna recorded for about two hours, and the battery indicator showed that the recorder was however fully charged.

The recorder comes with iv GB of storage, which allows for roughly 39 hours of recording fourth dimension using MP3 format at 192 Kbps; that'due south comparable to what yous get with most of the recorders we tested. A covered simply hands accessible microSD slot allows for 32 GB more of storage space if you lot need more recording hours. The UX560 offers a range of file and recording formats then you can opt for better audio quality or smaller file sizes.

The UX560'south extra features make an already-great recorder stand out from the rest. Cull from a "racket cut" filter (which rolls off both low and high frequency sounds) or a low-cut filter to reduce boomy lower frequencies and rumbly sounds alone. Scene selection presets allow you optimize EQ and microphone sensitivity settings for lectures, meetings, interviews, voice notes, and loud and soft music scenarios. You can mark locations in your recording on the fly, and then you can return to them later as you lot listen, and voice-activated recording tin can automatically stop you during pauses in chat. (This feature was on all of the recorders tested, though you lot'll probably prefer to manually pause and restart recordings to make sure you're getting the audio yous want.)

Selecting the Clear Vocalism role during playback helped reduce background dissonance in our coffee store and lecture recordings merely didn't brand as big of a difference as the dissonance-cancel feature on the Olympus. The UX560's other playback options, however, made it overall a better choice than the Olympus for people looking to transcribe interviews or lectures: an A-B Echo function lets you go dorsum and replay the same section repeatedly, and digital pitch control lets yous adjust the playback speed if you need to listen more closely to hard-to-decipher passages. The UX560 has a transcription mode that will requite you a cleaner interface with fewer distractions while transcribing if that's something you prefer, but yous can nonetheless fast-forward, rewind, and arrange the digital pitch command in regular playback manner. Oddly, yous won't be able to apply the A-B Repeat to replay the same section repeatedly in transcription style.

For better audio quality, you can plug in an external mic, though we retrieve that would be unnecessary for most people given the adept results we were able to become with the onboard mics in our varied test situations. The UX560 also has a headphone jack for monitoring recordings and listening to playback.

The UX560 is a pocket-sized, compact recorder that feels prissy in the hand, and its matte plastic and sleek design make it look a piddling less cheap than others that were tested. At merely 4 inches alpine, ane.five inches wide, and 0.44 inch thick, the UX560 is the slimmest recorder we tested. It can hands fit into a shirt pocket or in the pocket of skinny jeans, while the other recorders are well-nigh twice as thick and fit better in a purse or bag.

The UX560 is half as thick as the PX470, making information technology easy to fit in a shirt or pants pocket.

Like all of the recorders we tested, the UX560 also comes with a strap loop if you lot want to add together a wrist strap or lanyard; you'll demand to provide your own, though information technology'due south easy enough to find an inexpensive pick.

Flaws just not dealbreakers

The screen on the UX560's fades and somewhen shuts off during recording, which is a little disconcerting, just an LED indicates that you're still recording. This recorder also lacks a user-friendly erase push, so you'll need to navigate through its menu to delete recordings.

Long-term test notes

Wirecutter staff writer Anna Perling has been using our top selection, the Sony UX560, to record interviews over the past year. The audio files from the voice recorder have been notably better than the ones her smartphone has captured, and she hasn't had any problems or durability problems. She reported, "The sound quality on our pick is infinitely amend than when I use my phone—there'due south less background fuzz, voices are louder and clearer, and everything sounds a lot closer (vs. tinny and afar). I used the recorder [with] my phone equally a backup when recording an interview in a retail store, and I was surprised at how much better the recorder did. While I like the look and experience of the matte black finish, it can choice up fingerprints. Only no bug with durability—information technology has held upwards fine thrown in a backpack."

Runner-up: Olympus WS-853

Runner-upwardly

If you can't find the Sony UX560, or its price increases dramatically, we too like the Olympus WS-853 for its superior combination of storage space and bombardment life, each of which was better than with everything else nosotros tested. The Olympus didn't practise as well as the UX560 in our listening tests, ranking everyman overall for audio quality by our panel, though its recordings are still understandable and it scored well on the lecture test, tying with the UX560. The chief complaint from listeners was that the lecture and coffee shop audio samples sounded "tinny." We also found that the Olympus's menu system is less intuitive than that of the UX560.

The Olympus'southward 8 GB of storage is double that of most of the models we considered, including the UX560, and you tin expand it even farther with a microSD card. The Olympus boasts 110 hours of bombardment life when recording in MP3 at 128 Kbps, or near four times as long every bit our chief pick.

With 8 GB of internal storage, the Olympus has the most memory of the recorders nosotros tested.

The Olympus has one of the largest screens of the models tested, larger than that of our primary selection. The larger screen makes the menus slightly easier to meet in daylight, only the Olympus's screen isn't backlit, making it harder to use in low-light settings. Navigating the menus is also more difficult than on our top selection. It seemed counterintuitive to navigate using the up and down buttons to access different folders, and to have to press the side buttons twice to select items; it's too missing a dorsum button. On the other hand, it does have a convenient erase push for one-step file deletion.

As with the Sony UX560, a pop-out USB 3.0 plug lets you hands upload files to a reckoner and recharge the two replaceable AAA batteries, which takes nigh 3 hours. The Olympus doesn't have quite every bit many high-quality recording options as the UX560, but it nevertheless has a range of formats that let yous optimize quality or maximize storage infinite. It likewise has a depression-cut filter to reduce excess low-end rumble. Although the Olympus doesn't have a scene setting aimed at recording music like our main pick, it has presets that tailor recording settings for dictation, meetings, conferences, and telephone recordings. Similar the UX560, the Olympus has a vocalisation-activated recording setting to automatically terminate and start recordings based on volume levels so you don't have to manually interruption if you're recording a lecture or chat with lots of breaks.

While playing dorsum audio, the WS853 can compensate somewhat for bug you might accept encounter while recording: a dissonance-cancellation setting can reduce overall background hiss (though this comes at the expense of battery life), while a vox balancer setting can even out recordings that were fabricated with the mic sensitivity ready too low or loftier by compressing the overall level for a more even sound (though you might meet increased dissonance).

During our testing, dissonance cancellation was effective at reducing background hiss, clangs, and the noise from the java grinder, while the voice balancer did fifty-fifty out recorded levels though it fabricated voices sound flat. The effects of both features were more obvious than Sony's Clear Vox mode and did help brand recorded voices clearer, simply the Olympus lacks Sony'southward handy rail mark list, defended transcription mode to allow yous fast-frontwards and rewind, and digital pitch control to irksome or speed recordings, making it overall less useful for transcribing than the UX560.

A neoprene case protects the Olympus from bumps and scratches.

The Olympus is made of shiny plastic and has raised buttons that some people volition detect easier to utilize. It'due south the but recorder nosotros tested to come with a instance—a neoprene sleeve—which is useful for protecting the recorder during storage.

Budget pick: Sony ICD-PX470

Upkeep pick

If yous mainly record voice memos in your office, or interviews in repose rooms, you can save some money by choosing the Sony ICD-PX470. While our panel ranked the Sony PX470 lower than the UX560 in overall audio quality, the PX470 did get the highest scores for our interview recorded in a quiet office. It rated poorly in the lecture test, however, as listeners said that background and foreground noises overpowered the speaker'southward vocalism.

The PX470'southward menu system is like to that of the UX560 and has an identical button layout. The screen, however, is smaller, dimmer, and harder to read than the UX560's. The PX470 is besides slightly larger and bulkier—while the UX560 is well-nigh the thickness of an iPhone, the PX470 is closer to the thickness of two iPhones. At that size, it's not equally user-friendly to carry around in a pocket. Still, with its larger overall size it may exist better for people who have trouble using smaller devices like the UX560 and the Olympus. The PX470 doesn't look equally sleek as the UX560 (as you might wait for a cheaper model).

The PX470 has a battery life of 55 hours, which is longer than that of our main selection, merely it doesn't have a built-in rechargeable battery; it uses AAA batteries. Information technology has four GB of storage with a microSD slot if you want to add retention—similar to what y'all get with our top pick, simply less than what yous go with our runner-up. It besides has a congenital-in USB iii.0 plug for piece of cake file upload. Like the other Sony models, the PX470 can tape in a range of uncompressed loftier-quality and space-saving compressed formats, and it has voice-activated automatic recording, noise cut and low cutting filters, and scene options to chop-chop optimize for varied recording situations y'all might run into. The PX470 has transcription-friendly playback options nearly identical to the more expensive UX560'southward that piece of work just as well, including Clear Vocalism noise cancellation, a transcription style with a cleaner interface, A-B Repeat, and digital pitch control, but it doesn't have a rails marker list to bound to highlighted parts of a recording.

The best smartphone apps for occasional recording

iOS pick: Simply Press Record

Our choice

Just Press Tape

Best for iPhone

Customizable recording settings, along with automatic transcription and cloud fill-in, make this a ameliorate option for important recordings.

Buying Options

Just Press Record costs $five, but nosotros think it's worth information technology if you desire meliorate sound quality and features similar automatic transcription and automated iCloud Drive backup. Just Press Tape'south interface is intuitive and like shooting fish in a barrel to use—as the app implies, you simply tap Tape and Stop to create recordings.

Our listening console gave Only Press Record the highest audio-quality scores for an iOS app. One panel participant said that audio recorded in the coffee shop was "very clear, the background noises were pleasantly balanced with the foreground, and I felt similar bodily voices had a pleasing quality to them." In the lecture setting, listeners commented that while the recording picked up background racket, the lecturer was still understandable.

Just Press Record has an like shooting fish in a barrel-to-navigate interface, with 1 large carmine push that yous press to outset and end recordings. You can't pause and resume recordings, though—Just Press Record creates a new sound file each fourth dimension yous stop, though it organizes all recordings from the same day in a unmarried folder. You tin browse files and folders on the aforementioned page.

One of Just Press Tape's virtually useful features is that the app tin can automatically transcribe your recordings to text after you stop recording; you can share the transcript with a couple of taps. In our tests, only recordings made in quieter environments like a home function had decent transcription accuracy, then you can't rely on Just Press Record to transcribe everything, but it's a dainty choice for dictation or interviews in quieter settings.

Left: But Press Record uses only ane button to tape and stop. Center: You can easily characterization files and automatically transcribe them in the app. Right: Simply Press Record offers several file-format and sample-rate options for recording.

Although But Press Tape won't allow y'all edit or trim recordings similar Voice Memos, it does permit you to customize settings for file and recording formats. Unlike Vocalism Memos, this app gives y'all the option to shop files in a variety of the ordinarily used audio file formats.You tin also opt to have the app automatically upload recordings to iCloud Bulldoze, which is a squeamish feature to accept when recording important interviews or meetings that yous don't want to lose. It's also uncomplicated to share both files and transcriptions via iMessage, Postal service, Drive, and more than from the iOS Share screen.

Merely Press Record doesn't allow you to name folders and organize them; information technology automatically creates folders of recordings by date. Although this is frustrating, none of the iOS apps we tested had keen organisation options.

Android pick: Parrot

Our choice

Parrot

Best for Android

Parrot has the virtually means to fine-tune recording and playback out of the costless apps we tested.

The Parrot app for Android has the best range of recording options and the cleanest interface of the free Android apps we tested. Our office recordings received the highest ratings from our listening panel, and but Howdy-Q Pro (our upgrade pick, below) had higher overall recording ratings from our panel. But even in the scenarios where it wasn't the top-rated (the noisy java shop and the lecture hall), listeners said audio clips from Parrot were understandable enough. Of the coffee shop scene, 1 listener said that "the sound quality itself was actually pretty good" though the background noises were "a bit loud and distracting."

Parrot is the rare free recording app that isn't littered with ads. The interface is clean and intuitive, and you can choose between a dark or light theme. Multiple buttons at the top of the domicile screen brand it quick to adjust recording settings. For example, you tin access mic source and effects past borer the on-screen Settings button once. Other costless apps, like Easy Voice Recorder, require several taps to get to the advisable carte du jour.

With Parrot, you can opt to shop files in compressed and uncompressed formats, with options volition allow y'all adjust your file size and sound quality to your needs.) You can hands name files correct after recording, whereas even with a pricier app like Hello-Q, y'all need to navigate to a divide screen to rename your files. You can share files to Gmail, messages, and Facebook Messenger, and transfer files via Bluetooth.

Parrot's uncomplicated interface makes it easy to proper name files, and share them, immediately after recording.

Parrot offers multiple file format and recording options, also equally features like echo cancellation and noise suppression.

Parrot also has the almost features of any app we tested, including noise suppression, echo cancellation, automatic proceeds control, and the ability to skip silences—a combination of features you tin can't fifty-fifty make it apps you lot have to pay for.

Upgrade Android choice: Hullo-Q Pro

Upgrade selection

Although you'll need to pay $3.50 for Hello-Q Pro if you lot want to tape more than 10 minutes of sound, Hi-Q has the most features to control recording settings and file formats of whatsoever app nosotros tested. If yous want the nigh granular control of recording format, sample rate and fleck rate to optimize for file size, audio quality, or even just to use open-source formats similar OGG or FLAC, it's the app for you lot. While most people won't need these features, Hello-Q also scored the highest in our audio-quality tests of the Android apps we tested. Listeners said of the coffee shop sample, "Wow! Great separation of background noise from foreground. The voices were the tiniest bit unnatural, merely overall this is definitely my favorite sample so far."

Simple Tape and Cease buttons at the pinnacle of the dwelling screen are intuitive to apply. You lot also get quick admission to the about-important settings, similar file format and bit rate options, right at the summit of the screen. You can additionally select a mic to record from.

Hi-Q has a wide range of format (left) and chip rate (middle) options to tweak file size and quality, and yous can easily share files (right) via Bluetooth, Gmail, and more than.

Y'all tin automatically upload your recordings to Dropbox, or share files via Bluetooth, Android Beam, Gmail, Messages, Facebook Messenger, and Google Bulldoze.

The competition

Hardware recorders

The Philips DVT2510/00 Voice Tracer is an entry-level model that offers fewer features than the competition. Its vivid, colour screen makes looking at folders and files like shooting fish in a barrel. But it lacks a USB plug (it requires a USB dongle to connect to your figurer), making it less user-friendly for file upload and storage, and has the fewest recording options of the stand-lone recorders nosotros tested.

We skipped over the Sony ICD-PX333 for this round of testing in favor of the comparable, newer PX470. The PX333 also records only in mono, compared with stereo for the PX470.

We eliminated the Olympus VN-722PC in the first iteration of this guide, as information technology received low scores from our original listening panel. This recorder has a neat built-in stand, but nosotros disliked the fact that using this stand exposes the SD card slot on the side of the device.

We previously tested the Tascam DR-05, a music-oriented recorder that allows for recording higher quality MP3s at 320 Kbps (this is high enough that virtually listeners would find it difficult to distinguish from CD-quality audio; almost models we tested max out at 192 Kbps). Its microphones are incredibly sensitive, but in the field this model picked upward a lot of background noise. Beyond that, the DR-05, at 2.4 by 5.6 past ane inches, is comically large adjacent to nigh of the other devices we looked at—it occupies nearly twice equally much infinite as our peak choice.

Apps

We used to recommend Apple tree'due south Voice Memos app simply after hearing several reports nearly Voice Memos existence unreliable, nosotros removed it. Several Wirecutter staffers accept also noted that the app will produce corrupted, unplayable files that can't be opened. We liked that it'south one of the simplest ways to start and stop recording, information technology'south easy to quickly share your audio files, and it doesn't include abrasive ads like many gratis apps. Voice Memo's interface has clearly indicated Record, Play, and Done buttons; only it also lets you trim, relieve, and delete recordings without having to navigate away from its main screen, functions that fix information technology apart from other iOS apps we tested. Like all of the iOS apps we considered, y'all can easily share recordings fabricated using Voice Memos via e-mail, iMessage, Slack, Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, or whatever other app or service that integrates with iOS's Share Sheet. If you demand to record in a pinch, it'll piece of work well. Simply if you tin't adventure losing a recording, spend the $five for Just Press Record.

Voice Recorder for iOS is free and has a wide range of file formats, but comes with ads and has the clunkiest design of all the iOS apps we tested. Recordings are noted by cassette-like icons instead of a listing, and an animation of a cassette spins while you're recording, which is unnecessary. To remove the annoying ads you'll need to pay $2, and we don't remember this app is worth it.

We experienced some glitches while testing the $four Piece of cake Vocalism Recorder on Android. Some files that we sent via email never arrived, and later on trying and failing to pause a recording in the app, information technology still wouldn't stop—fifty-fifty after closing the app. Annoyingly, this app also automatically plays recordings when yous select them to share. Like shooting fish in a barrel Voice Recorder does have dissonance suppression, echo cancellation, and automatic gain control, only our superlative Android pick offers these features for gratis, and was a more reliable app overall.

Sources

1. Jerad Lewis, field awarding engineer at TDK, phone interview , May 23, 2017

2. Rob O'Reilly, senior member of technical staff at Analog Devices, phone interview , June 6, 2017

3. Lauren Dragan, Wirecutter headphones writer, telephone interview

4. The Best Digital Voice Recorders of 2017, Top Ten Reviews , January 27, 2017

5. All-time Voice Recorders, Consumer Search , February 9, 2017

6. Portable Digital Recorders Buying Guide, B&H Photograph

7. The six Best Voice Recorders to Buy in 2017, Lifewire , July 14, 2017

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-voice-recorder/