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

This recorder is very well designed and easy to use. Its main disadvantage is that the display is compact and difficult to read; older people may need to wear glasses. The STOP, REC and OK buttons are big and easy to use, they're great for recording and playback, but be sure to read the manual - this voice recorder has a lot of tricks up its sleeve! Some of them can be destructive when they occur or change your planned actions out of ignorance. The recorder has several predefined recording curves or "filters": Dictation, Meeting, Conference, Telephone and DNS (for speech recognition software). They are, of course, in the menu, but in the lower right corner of the panel there is a direct access button labeled "Calendar" and below - "Scene". ", and filters are selected by pressing the "+" and "-" keys on the central circular row of buttons and then pressing the "OK" button in the middle. I found these Options very effective, and the noise filter that turns on when playing is excellent.The recorder has 3 "modes" for recording, 8, 64 and 128 kbps.The highest speed, of course, gives the purest and most accurate Sound While the lowest speed offers the longest recording time, 64 Kbps represents the best compromise, but the high capacity offers 130 hours of recording at 128 Kbps, 260 hours at 64 Kbps and 2080 hours at 8 Kbps. Up to 32GB memory card in Micro SD card slot.8kbps mode produces very muffled, poor sound (from 70Hz to 3.5kHz) and should only be used for maximum endurance 64kbps recordings from 70 Hz to 15 kHz (more than ideal for speech ), while 128 kbps Records from 70 Hz to 17 kHz, giving good but not perfect music recordings (weak bass). The battery life is excellent. Since I've had the recorder I've recorded around 500 hours at 128kbps and the recording time given in the Ni-MH battery manual has been pretty accurate. An unusual feature is the built-in USB port, which sits on top of the recorder and slides in and out with a slider on the back. The voice recorder can be connected to a computer to download files and/or charge the batteries. To enable this feature, the microphone and headset jacks are located on the left side (when looking at the recorder from the front), which can be inconvenient when carrying the recorder in your pocket with a headset or external microphone attached. Because the recorder is very small, this configuration is not usually a problem. The recordings with the voice recorder in my breast pocket were excellent. An extension cord is best. However, they are expensive. Finally, there's also a small fold-out stand on the back of the recorder, so the mics are raised and pointed slightly upwards for group or conference recordings.