Tascam DR-07X Stereo Handheld Digital Audio Portable Recorder and USB Audio Interface, Pro Field, AV, Music, Dictation Recorder

The first one I got had a back ground humming noise and I was deeply disappointed. I returned it and gave it a second chance. The second unit has worked flawlessly for the last couple of months. It took me a bit to figure out how to use it as my microphone for my computer. One I did, everyone commented on how well it sounds. Use it for zoom, teams and Skype calls without issues. Use it both for my Mac and work windows computer.I have not played around with the setting and I am sure I can get better recording. I have to admit that I’m lazy, but some day I will step up my game. I use this unit every day for all my computer calls. I don’t know if they ever intended it for that but it works great. The only thing is to make sure you use a high quality data cable, not one of the cheap charging cables.Some day I will put it on my canon 5D and record video /audio as this unit is intended to do. Until then I happy wit it as my every day conference call microphone. Make sure to buy a small stand for it and a cable long enough so that you can move it closer to you to further help the quality of sound.

I purchased this unit to record audio clips of a piece of construction equipment for a virtual reality program that we are working on. We used it on a tripod in high temeratures and high humidity with no issues at all. We used it for 8 hours straight and the batteries were still fully charged. The VR company we are working with stated that they are some of the highest quality and cleanest audio recordings they have ever been given to work with. I am still amazed at how good they sound. The microphones do pick up everything (and I do mean everything) so I did have to use some audio editing software to pull out just the sounds I needed, but that was quick and easy. I can't wait to record my band with it next!

I got this to record my digital piano, through line-in, and in that job it excels. I"m using a cheap Y-cord bought here in Amazon, two 1/4 inch TRS plugs into a single stereo 1/8 TRS -- which is what plugs into this Tascam unit. A secondary use may be recording live events, but that is still in the future. Something I did test out is attaching it to my PC with USB and with drivers downloaded from Tascam, use this unit as a microphone to record directly into Audacity.Construction: Flimsy plastic. Button feel is just OK. Backlight seems good. To my eyes the display is easy to read. If you USB-power it the backlight can stay on indefinitely. On internal power I set the light to 30 seconds. I wouldn't go about dropping any precision piece of equipment, but this does seem extra fragile. I got a cheap hard-ish case for it here in Amazon. The SD card slot is covered, but the micro-USB connector isn't -- make sure to keep it clear of trash, ash, pocket-lint, random bits of organic green material, etc. This really isn't a true hardened field recorder, it's more of an indoor piece of kit.Operation: Takes a bit getting used to, but if you pay attention and can read and experiment you won't have an issue. If you've ran a tape machine *and* an iPod you'll have no problems. One thing to point out, due to how many it seems to catch out -- to record you must push record TWICE. The FIRST push turns the REC light to flashing, and wakes up the meters. Set your levels. Then hit it again. the SECOND push actually starts the recording. Once you've installed the drivers (from tascam's website) then you can not only connect this to your PC / Mac to transfer your files, you can use it as a USB mike directly to your software. I use Audacity. In USB mike mode, the levels are set at the software, not at the mike. With my setup, a level of +0.03 was clipping with my mouth about 2 feet from the mikes. The hotter you make it the more it'll p-pop. Keep it 3 or so feet away and it becomes more civilized. In my limited testing the mikes seem fairly cardioid, quiet, with good rejection of ambient noise around you.Sound: As mentioned at the beginning, I got this primarily for line-recordings. With the cheap y-cord from the piano's outs to this thing's line-in, the sound is clear, with good imaging. No noise of any kind - no hiss, no RF buzz, just absolute stone silence until I make the piano speak. Once you've set levels correctly, you can wail away with no concerns. My teacher is impressed with it, he's one of those old-timey open-reel peeps with 3 or 4 mikes to record his piano.. well, he did his thing on this setup, and we were both gobsmacked by how good it sounds.Haven't had a chance to try live music yet, but in testing, vocals via USB to Audacity on a PC were great - just be careful with the levels. It'll pop like crazy when you start getting to the -6 range of the meter. More distance helps. I found the internal mikes quiet, very focused stereo sound in XY mode while still rejecting the noise of the fridge 15 ft away off-axis and only caught my voice. I have not tried the A/B mode yet.In short, this is a solid 4 stars. If it were made in Japan, out of aluminum instead of plastic, it would be 5 stars. It would also be a lot more $. But honestly, for this price and the versatility, this thing's hard to beat. Just baby it... it really does not feel like it's up to harsh outdoor use.But then again... who reading this would drop a thousand-dollar AKG condenser? Who would drop a camera? i've fumbled gear before, much to my horror.. but that's on me, not on the gear! Yes, sturdier gear is always welcome, but this thing is one hundred seventeen dollars.And for those who are constantly harping on about the "noise" and "RF Buzz" -- either your cables are broken or you didn't plug it in all the way in, or you have a defective unit. This thing is stone quiet with its own mikes, or through line in. And I'm using a cheap 10 dollar China-made "shielded" y-cord to do this with!

Portable, great sound recording, not sure what else you can ask for. I use it to record sound effects for ambient music, as it has a much better noise bottom than a cell phone.

If you use this microphone anywhere near electricity, like a light bulb turned on, you will pick up some distortion. Sometimes it gets so bad that the whole recording is just unusable. This is because there is a lack of RF shielding in the device and this makes it to where it creates a lot of noise in the recording when it gets close to things powered by electricity. Check out Samuel Sotiega's youtube video on the Tascam DR-07x and you'll see just how bad it gets. I had to return this and get a refund. Don't be fooled by the ASMR videos where they use this thing. Yeah, it works when it works, but when you get tons of noise in your recordings, it ruins the whole recording and no microphone for this price should do that. You won't find out your recording is ruined until you go back and listen to the .wav file.

Easy to navigate the menu. Nice fit in my hand. Takes up to 128GB MicroSDXC cards. Built-in speaker, but recommend a plug-in headset. TASCAM customer support helped me with configuring the device (where the user manual was light on information). Takes AA sized batteries, which are available everywhere (as opposed to built-in rechageable batteries that are often not easily replaceable, if at all, or batteries which cannot be purchased locally). The sound quality is adjustable and sounds very acceptable for our uses (to record to video via DSLR audio input jack and to record raw audio for an audiobook, as well as audio to be transcribed by our publisher). Overall, I am very happy with this portable audio recording device.