Olympus LS-14 Linear PCM Digital Voice Recorder

It came in a non-descript cardboard box wrapped well and in a protective fabric sleeve. Voice guidance works well enough for the most part, but it does not describe time setting which is a bummer for blind people like myself. Order is as follows: hour, minute, month, day, year Luckily it makes a different beep when at tht beginning or end of a list, so you should be good there. I would highly recommend getting a deadcat or foam windscreen if you're recording outside though. There is absolutely no wind protection on these mics.

I have one OLYMPUS LS-12 and one OLYMPUS LS-5. The built quality of this one is not as sturdy and heavy weight as of the above mentioned fully professional units. BUT the sound is exceptional and the recording quality is at least as good. Giving away the heavy duty metal construction for this plastic model makes sense, especially for the great price. It also has less features than the above 2, but I do not miss any of these faetures. It does PCM and it does it perfectly. Size is somewhat bigger, but it is much lighter which makes it a perfect recorder to carry around, and/or to use with a DSLR.

Good...

The Positives: - Solid build - Rich in features - Ease in set up - User-friendly design - very good ergonomics - Three built-in microphones - Long battery life - Excellent recording quality The negative: - User manual has small print

I purchased LS-14 from Amazon, and I must say I am disappointed by Olympus and will be sending this back. Let me explain... The recordings the LS-14 will make, will probably be "good" to "great" for most people. Keep in mind though, this will most likely be the same people who couldn't tell the difference between what they hear in a 128kb mp3 file and a 48bit 96khz WAV file. I'm not an audiophile type of person, but I do pay attention and notice the small details of sounds around me when I am recording. I also own an Olympus LS-11 and a Sony PCM M10. I was looking for a new recorder with the same quality in it's recordings, but that can capture the full range of 20khz to 20hz (the frequencies sound range which the human ear is able to hear). The LS-11 is only able to record 20khz to 60hz (and the LS-10 can only do 20khz to 120hz), and many people have referred to the LS-11\LS-10 as having the "bass roll-off" in recordings. Still the LS-11 has been considered as one of the few handheld recorders for it's time that creates very realistic recordings for what it captures - even surpassing the Sony PCM M10. The LS-11 has an aluminum body and is a solid built device in your hand. Besides the "bass roll-off" issue, when recording very low sounds with the mic sensitivity set to high, you do hear a high "hiss" sound. This is where the LS-14 was suppose to come in... According to Olympus, here is what they have to say about the LS-14: "Complimenting the new high-quality stereo microphones is a new amplifier circuitry. The audio and system circuitry are separated on the Olympus LS-12 and LS-14 to minimize sound degradation and keep the signal true." and they also said the following: "A hallmark of the Olympus LS series has always been superior sound quality, and the LS-12 and LS-14 take that reputation to a new level. The LS-12 features two new internal 90-degree directional stereo condenser microphones with a frequency response of 60Hz to 20 kHz, allowing the user to capture lower-bass frequencies. The LS-14 compliments those directional stereo condenser microphones with a third omnidirectional center "TRESMIC," increasing the frequency response range to 20Hz - 20 kHz" With that said I took the gamble and bought the LS-14 believing I would get the full range of 20hz to 20khz, and less "hiss" in my low sound recordings, but that isn't what happened. When comparing recordings from my LS-11 and the LS-14 with the mic sensitivity set to high on both devices, I actually hear more "hiss" in my recordings on the LS-14. This IMO is a big step backwards for the recorder and not acceptable. The LS-14 will capture low frequencies, but the lower frequencies seem almost to loud and unreal. There is no way on the recorder to adjust the gain level of the center "tresmic" mic. This causes your recordings to almost have too much of an emphases on the lower frequencies. Of course you can turn off the center mic, or set a limiter, but than what's the point of the LS-14 over the LS-12 if that has to be done all the time - or in my case, why upgrade from the LS-11 to begin with? LS-14 also feels slightly better than a cheap toy in your hand. The entire thing is plastic. It's fatter and very "blocky" in design then the LS-11 and the LS-07 which the LS-14 was suppose to replace (which the LS-07 replaced the LS-11). The LS-14 doesn't come with any windscreens for the mics and makes it absolutely useless to use outside if there is any kind of breeze. Of course you can buy an accessory from Olympus for this but at least with the LS-11 when it was being sold, Olympus included the small spongy covers for the mics of that recorder. I would of rather Olympus did the same thing here than provide the cheap little carrying case they give you with this recorder. Overall, I was not impressed with the LS-14. The very key features that drew me to buy the product were not as advertised and I found the LS-14 to be an inferior product to the now defunct LS-11 which Olympus no longer sells. It's apparent in my opinion that the LS-14 was not designed by the same engineering team that designed the LS-11 and that Olympus cut many corners to make a cheaper product with less bang then the LS-11 came originally out of the box. I've considered buying the LS-100 recorder, but don't know now and am wondering if all of their current recorders will reflect the same half-backed end result as the LS-14. **Update 01/06/13** I need to also point out a few things. I was very critical in my review of the LS-14, because of the amazing job Olympus did with prior recorders like the LS-11 and LS-10, (which are still being sought after today by audiophile types of people for a small handheld recorder to use to capture realistic sounds). The LS-14 is still a very good recorder. the "hiss" sound will most likely never appear in most recordings people make, and if it does, you really have to go looking for that high pitched sound with decent monitoring speakers or decent headphones - and if you aren't looking to record VERY quite ambient sounds with the mic sensitivity set to high and mic gain all the way you will probably never hear the problem. **Update 01/25/2013** I created a video for Youtube comparing the sound quality between the LS-14 and the LS-11, which I've also included here on Amazon.

I was very well please with this item this is an upgrade to the one I have been using for over five years so need I have two in my inventory for my radio station wlsqi-radio.com

Bought this in 2014. Too difficult to navigate the menus and remember where to go when necessary, useless user interface. If you have to record something on the spot just don't try. By the time you manipulate the primitive menus and options to reach the recording menu... its too late. Stored away for sometime, but today when I try to operate the record button is stuck. Bad engineering. Looks nice, though.

I've had the recorder for a few months now and there's still a lot I'm still learning. Without prior experience with such a device, the maze of settings--sample rates, PCM or compressed, limiter settings, bass roll-off settings, middle microphone on or off, etc---is a bit confounding and each new recording effort begins with experimenting to find the best combination of those settings. The device came with a multilingual quick-start sheet and no other instruction manual... at least until later I discovered that the device itself does contain a manual in PDF form stored inside, which is accessible if you use the supplied USB cable, mount the device as a drive on your computer, and browse the folder it provides. The extra musician related features--metronome, overdub, and tuning--are unused add-ons for me. I already have metronome and tuning covered when I took up an instrument. Overdubbing and the like I will likely do on the computer--especially given that I'm using the device to make digital recordings... Do you see where I'm going with this? The truth lies somewhere between my own inexperience and questionable user design. On the other hand, it does do everything I've needed it to do so far... especially once I followed recommendations from external reviews to turn off the noisy central microphone for most of my uses.

Il materiale e la forma originale, a mio avviso. Non mi è piaciuto il fatto che si fa fatica a leggere i dati sullo schermo.

Excellent appareil pour l'enregistrement sonore à la condition de se pencher un peu sur les menus (plutôt complexes) et d'éviter le mode automatique (effet de "pompage" discret mais présent) Mieux vaut utiliser le mode manuel qui nécessite plusieurs essais afin de trouver les bons réglages. Mais alors on obtient des résultats tout à fait remarquables. On peut ensuite reprendre les enregistrements avec des logiciels comme Magix Audio pour des résultats encore meilleurs. L'idéal serait qu'il soit encore plus petit !

Por ahora no he podido utilizarlo en grabaciones más profesionales, como entrevistas o algún concierto, pero sí lo he probado para otras cosas. Tiene una calidad de sonido muy buena. Puedes elegir entre una calidad baja, media o alta y diferentes niveles de Khz para que el sonido sea mejor en .wav, aunque el archivo pese más. También se puede grabar en .mp3. Me ha gustado mucho y quiero sacarle el mayor provecho posible. Las pilas AA en el aparato duran más de lo que me imaginaba. Con el tiempo las usaré recargables. Me encanta esta grabadora.

I've been using the unit now to record voice, solo musical instruments, live music, birdsong, and to back up cassette recordings. What I like: The build quality is sturdy, the interface is also very pleasing. All of the settings are very easy and quick to access. There is also a voice guide, and as a partially sighted person, I was really happy to discover this. There are few LEDs on the unit, but they also provide valuable information. The sound quality is staggering. I've been so pleased at how natural, clear and vibrant all the recordings I've made have been. Nice also to be able to expand the memory with an SD card, and to be able to use AA batteries again, which can be recharged by the USB interface. The most fantastic thing about this recorder though, has to be the microphones themselves. While it is stated that on the highest quality PCM setting, it is possible to record from 20Hz to 44kHz, reading the manual, you find that the internal microphone does have a ceiling of 20kHz. You will need extra microphones if you want to reach the 44kHz available at the highest bitrates, you will need to plug in internal microphones. The unit does provide plugin power for microphones, which I have no experience with. All I can say is that the microphones have an amazing tolerance to loud noise, and you should have no problem recording a very loud concert, or even a quiet one, for that matter. Things I've noted since I started using the device. There is some discussion about the tresmic microphone, aside from the left and right mics, there is a central microphone to extend the bass frequencies that can be recorded. There is comment about this in other reviews, and it has been noted that the cheaper LS12 is basically the same unit without this extra bass mic. With the tresmic off, the lowest frequency recorded is 60hz, on, it drops to 20, Some people have said that the bass overpowering when this microphone is turned on, and in fact, for voice recordings I find the final recording more satisfying with the tresmic off. By the same token, just recording a piano or a bass guitar, I think this extra mic does add much more depth. In my experience though, for most recordings, including concerts, you may want to keep the tresmic turned off, unless you are adept at altering recorded tracks. If you just want this machine for voice recording, or higher frequency instruments, you could save your money. Just getting used to recording, a lot of the battle has been in positioning the recorder, and setting the levels. While the microphones are exceptional, don't expect the same type of sound as you'd get from recording each instrument or vocalist separately. This is a great recorder, and it did match my high expectations, but I've learnt a lot since I started to use it. The sound quality is so much better than any built in system on a camera, camcorder, phone, or webcam, that this is a great way to add exceptional sound to video recordings, although if you do plan on making a lot of videos, it may be worth looking at the Olympus LS20, the same microphone setup as the LS12, but with a built in HD camera.

Der Einschätzung meines Vorrezensenten kann ich mich nicht anschließen, denn nach meinen Erfahrungen ist LS-14 ein in seiner Preisklasse ausgezeichnetes Aufnahmegerät. Zuerst bestellte ich LS-11, habe es dann aber - dank Amazons großzügiger Rückgabemöglichkeit, für die ich mich bedanken möchte! - gegen SL-14 getauscht. Das zusätzliche Bass-Mikrophon des SL-14 zeichnet die Tiefen im Vergleich zu LS-11, das allein schon sehr gut ist, noch hörbar besser auf. Das Gerät nutze ich für Orgelaufnahmen, also ein Instrument mit großem Dynamik- und Tonumfang, und habe dabei nichts zu bemängeln (die Schwierigkeiten des Rezensenten Natko vom 27. Februar 2013 hatte ich selbst mit LS-11 nicht). Der Sound des LS-14 ist im Vergleich zu LS-11 fülliger, bassbetonter, bleibt aber trotzdem klar - für Orgel genau richtig. SL-11 hörte sich digitaler und leichter an, möglicherweise ist dieser Rekorder zum Beispiel für Aufnahmen in der Natur besser geeignet, das kann ich aber nicht beurteilen, weil ich nur Musik aufnehme. Die Bedienung ist perfekt durchdacht und sehr einfach, alles Notwendige steht dabei zur Verfügung. Der System-Start erfolgt sehr schnell. Besonders hervorheben möchte ich den Smart-Aufnahmemodus, wobei vor der Aufnahme während einer einstellbaren Zeit der Pegel durch abspielen der lautesten Stelle beispielsweise eines Musikstücks automatisch eingestellt wird, was auch sehr gut funktioniert. Die rein manuelle Pegeleinstellung steht ebenfalls zur Wahl. Für stimmbare Instrumente wie Gitarre ist ein gut funktionierender Tuner dabei, die Metronom-Funktion ist eingeschränkt nutzbar, weil sie nur über Kopfhörer abzurufen ist. Der kleine Lautsprecher ist besser als die zwei noch kleineren des LS-11 und durchaus zur schnellen Kontrolle verwendbar, aber ordentliche Kopfhörer sollte man schon dabei haben. Überspielen der Dateien auf Computer ist völlig unproblematisch. SL-14 hat nicht mehr die Metallfront des SL-11, das Plastikgehäuse ist trotzdem edel verarbeitet, liegt gut in der Hand, alle Tasten haben feste Druckpunkte und die Bedienung ist optimal ergonomisch. Das Zubehör wurde aber gegenüber SL-11 bis an die Grenze des Zumutbaren reduziert. Mitgeliefert werden nur ein Clip zum Befestigen des Rekorders an waagerechten oder senkrechten Stangen, eine gut gepolsterte Tasche, die aber außer des Rekorders nichts anderes aufnehmen kann, eine stark reduzierte Version des Handbuchs und ein Witz von einem 15cm langen USB-Kabel. Sonst nichts, keine Software (Audacity ist hier ein guter kostenloser Ersatz), keine CD, kein Windschutz, kein Audio-Kabel, keine Fernbedienung (die kostet mehr als 50 €) - all dies ist bei Bedarf zusätzlich zu erwerben, bei LS-11 wird es hingegen als Zubehör mitgeliefert. Hier hätte Olympus vielleicht wenigstens ein wenig großzügiger sein können. Aber das Wichtigste, nämlich das Gerät selbst, ist tadellos und uneingeschränkt empfehlenswert!