Review: Roland Edirol R-05 voice recorder
Sunday, 17 July 2011

With their agreement I tape my Psychotherapy clients and take this to supervision. I needed a user-friendly recorder and decided upon the Roland Edirol R-05. Here’s why, and what I think of it.

Roland Edirol R-05.

This guest review is by Dianne Hendey of Wellington, New Zealand.

I need to record quiet voices

When people seek Psychotherapy they can speak tentatively and quietly. I needed a user-friendly device that would record even very quiet speech and with the capacity to reduce background noise.

I didn’t want to have to keep buying upgrades of proprietary software so it needed to use readily available software. I excluded digital dictation and voice recorders because I did not think they would produce the quality of audio I wanted.

Consultations led me to the Edirol R-05

My upper price limit was NZ$500. After a reading reviews and talking with Journalism tutors, musicians, suppliers and in store demonstrators I decided upon the Roland Edirol R-05 (NZ$400).

Roland Edirol R-05 compared to a pack of jelly crystals.

Technical info

• 16-24 bit
• 44-96 kHz
• stereo

Why I like it

1. The Edirol R-05 feels good in my hand. While solid it is also quite small — smaller than a tape cassette and about the size of a packet of jelly. It weighs 140 grams.
2. The sound quality is stunning.
3. I can choose to record in WAV or MP3.
4. It comes with a 2GB SD card, 2 AA batteries, a windscreen and a USB cable so I can download and backup recordings onto my computer.
5. The settings menu offers a number of Recording and Playing choices and I am able to cut out extraneous background noise by setting the level of low cut frequency.
6. It is user friendly and has an excellent manual. Even better, there is very good in-store technical assistance. The Rock Shop in Wellington has been exceptional.

The LCD screen is informative

The LCD screen is informative.

The screen shows in recording mode:

1. Top row: the date and mode of most recent recording (16th July in the photo).
2. 2nd row: elapsed recording time and how many hours of recording remain.
3. 3rd & 4th rows: input levels. Sampling rate (44k) and power supply status (battery).
4. 5th row: Status (standby) Limiter (on) and time (15.22pm).

Balance recording time with quality

At a setting of WAV (24bit/96kHz) the Edirol R-05 records about 55 minutes on a 2GB SD card. I have set mine at MP3 128kps/44.1kHz which records about 1993 minutes and I have bought a 16GB SD card.

I found that I did not have to re-set the settings when I inserted the new SD card.

Moshi Double Bassburger speakers

At the same time as I bought the Edirol R-05 I also bought a tiny set (112 grams) of portable Moshi Double Bassburger stereo speakers (NZ$94).

Moshi Double Bassburger speakers.

One twist expands each of these two little domes and they are easily linked with a speaker connection cable and an audio cable to the R-05.

Internal rechargeable batteries power each dome.

Technical info

• 280Hz-16kHz

Why I like these speakers

• They are cute.
• They are easy to use.
• They are very small.

If you’ve used the Edirol or the Moshi Double Bassburger speakers please tell us in the comments what you thought of them.