The
Olympus LS-12/14 recorders boast they offer a professional recording experience at a fraction of the traditional cost. Music-News.com put them to the test.
Now firstly, everyone has their own reasons to buy any recording equipment be it the musical maverick, steely spy, bustling birdwatcher, punchy podcaster or jocular journalist (we fall mostly into the latter catergory) but none-the-less everyone expects the same final result... top quality recordings.
These days if your looking at these types of gadgets you've more than likely got a smart phone about your person offering a basic audio recording facility, but you're looking for more.
The first thing that's clear on the move, these lightweight devices are extremely portable, immediately usable and easily mountable on almost any surface using a tripod and the supplied clasp.
Directional mics offer up the possibility of grabbing that red carpet interview in the midst of a scrum of eager journalists all shouting, calling and battling to find those elusive comments that will make the next headline. Such as at the Classic Rock Awards I attended, where incidently, the Olympus LS-12/14 recorders where launched.
The 'Mode Select Dial' offers the user both basic and advanced options dependent on your experience and lets you grow into the functionalities at your own pace.
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 omni-directional center “TRESMIC,” increasing the frequency response range to 20Hz - 20 kHz. This makes the LS-14 an ideal recorder for an incredibly loud environment. Both recorders support sound pressure levels up to 130 decibels, more than enough to capture extreme sound from a rock band without experiencing clipping issues.
Once recorded you won't lose your place too often either as with an advance index marking facility it immediately saves you time and hence power. Both recorders have an approximate 2 day constant use battery time which has to be one of the finer attributes. Audio can also be saved in different formats including MP3, Wav and Broadcast Wav.
2 and 4 gb of internal memory on each model respectively these recorders have the capability of storing up to 32 gb using cards.
Olympus LS-12 recorder
Technical Details
Item Weight 998 g
Product Dimensions 18.8 x 15 x 7.4 cm
Batteries: 2 AA batteries required. (included)
Olympus LS-14 recorder
Technical Details
Item Weight 998 g
Product Dimensions 19 x 15.4 x 7.4 cm
Batteries: 2 AA batteries required. (included)
With a successful past history in this sector Olympus continues to capitalize on the LS-5 and LS-11 PCM with these latest offerings.
Packed with cutting-edge technology and easy-to-use features, these handheld recorders retail at £139.99 for the LS-12 and £189.99 for the LS-14. Check out the
Olympus site for more details.
They are also be available directly from Amazon www.amazon.co.uk.
All in all for the quality and price they are the best on the market. Watch out for our up-coming reviews recorded by Olympus, our new best friends!
