Review on 🎙️ Olympus WS-853 Voice Recorder with 8GB, Enhanced Voice Balancer, and True Stereo Microphone by Daniel Hicks

I recently bought an Olympus WS-853 voice recorder and a cheaper Aomago A36 voice recorder to compare and see what I'm getting from a big brand. I've compared the built in and line mics to the Purple Panda Lavalier and also double checked with my Samsung Galaxy A11 phone (which requires a separate Y-cable for monitoring when using Lava as it uses a TRRS headset). Out of the three, the phone is able to achieve the highest overall quality. With the appropriate app (I used "Super Recorder") it can record uncompressed and the preamps and DAC are acceptable with no noticeable hum or background noise when listening with headphones. The internal microphone is decent too, with little noise and a frequency response mostly limited to vocals. However, the touchscreen UI can be awkward to capture in run-and-pistol mode. The A36 is extremely loud and has virtually no preamp making it barely work with an internal mic and unable to use a line input without external preamps. It has a catastrophic volume when running. It can record uncompressed, but with this raw quality it doesn't make sense. Additionally, when you start recording and the line-in is connected, the UI will ask if you want to use the microphone or the line-in. This is the prompt that should appear when the microphone is first plugged in and then saved. It is backlit and uses a lithium-ion power supply with a small cord. The device is small and packaged in a nicely breathable mint-style tin. The WS-853 has no backlight and uses a rechargeable NiMH battery that can be charged by plugging directly into the USB port. The retail packaging is made of unobtrusive plastic and cardboard and is slightly wider than the A36, but still very compact. It starts up in seconds and starts recording almost instantly when you press the button. The built-in mic is ok, at least as good as a phone and in stereo, but with limited frequency response and little noise during operation. When using a Lava mic it has a slight buzz and low noise level that is easy to remove in post. Saved recording is limited to a maximum MP3 size of 128kbps, which is great for speech but makes recordings in the field harsh and artifactual, and can't properly capture "whistling" noises like traffic or complex resonances like cymbal hits. Finally, it has several extensive audio processing features, including various scene presets that automatically boost, compress and reduce noise. Of the three, this one clearly does the best job of delivering fast, ready-to-play vocals, and its simple design is clearly designed to have the charge to pick up when you need it. Just be careful if you need a backlight. My general impression is this: if you need a real field recorder for occasional use and already have a mid-range phone, add an unpowered microphone (plus appropriate cables - Purple Panda made monitoring impossible without a splitter), this is the one easiest place to start. If you want a device to record things like vocals in podcasts, interviews, or audio notes, the WS-853 will do the job just fine, especially when paired with a microphone. The A36's hardware is unbalanced, making it a toy MP3 player with a low recording capacity.