Review on OM Digital Solutions WS-500 Digital Voice Recorder: Capturing Crisp Audio in Sleek Silver by Jeff Talcott

Looking through reviews of the Olympus WS-500, I decided to upgrade from the WS-400S. The features are the same, apart from the larger storage capacity and the presence of a music mode on the WS-500. However, the voice quality and range of the WS-500 I received compares to both the WS-400 I use now and my old VN-4100 computer (which is less comfortable but has better sound quality has) really insufficient. The screen also has a greenish shade of gray that's harder to see than the WS-400. It's annoying but more important to me, I can't use this recorder for interviews or even conference presentations. In conference or dictation mode, the audio quality is simply weak and barely audible. I'm wondering if the voice recorder I received is just defective, or is the WS-500 better for playing music than voice recording? For now I'd like to save myself time and money by listening to more critical reviews here and just sticking with the WS-400.