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bkovacs
Annandale, VA

Very cool handheld audio recorder, but pricey

3 star rating

a longtime audio guru, an electronics buff, a gadget geek
Pros

    small size and weight, easy-to-read screen, built-in rechargable battery, CompactFlash memory, lots of I/O flexibility

Cons
    expensive, controls a little glitchy, no built-in microphone, cheap headphones

OCT
19
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Earlier this year, I was given an M-Audio MicroTrack II audio recorder, ostensibly to cover news events at a major technology convention at which I was a reporter. Funny thing is that I was traveling when the unit was sent to me and didn't get it until after I returned home from the convention. Since then, I've used the Microtrack II a few times and now have a decent sense of the unit. I didn't know until today that that the M-Audio MicroTrack II has a list price of $500.

What it is

The M-Audio MicroTrack II is a small handheld professional-grade stereo audio recorder. It's a little bigger than a full-size deck of cards and weighs a bit more than eight ounces. At that size and weight, it's easily carried in a shirt pocket with room to spare. The MicroTrack II has a built-in rechargable battery that is replaceable.

The MicroTrack II has a good complement of connectors, including a mini-phone stereo mic connector, left/right balanced mic/line-in connectors (1/4-inch tip-ring-sleeve), left/right line-out connectors (RCA), S/PDIF (RCA) and a stereo headphone jack (mini-phone). CompactFlash cards are used for memory and the MicroTrack II ships with a 2 GB CompactFlash card, enough for at least a couple hours of recording at the highest quality. One more nice thing for professionals is that the MictroTrack II offers 48-Volt phantom power for condenser microphones -- sweet.

The M-Audio MicroTrack II comes with a power supply/charger, small stereo microphone, headphones, software and manuals. The unit has no built-in microphone or speakers -- it works only with external microphones (or line inputs) and headphones (or line outputs).

How it works

The M-Audio MicroTrack II has a 1.25-inch square monochrome display that's used for nearly all control options, including adjusting volume and selecting recording parameters. And this thing has a wide range of record parameters, from very high quality (16-bit 48 kHz uncompressed) to low quality (92-bit MP3) recording. I've used it at standard CD quality (16-bit 44.1 kHz sampling) and a couple different MP3 settings, and it worked beautifully on all of them. Obviously, there are differences in the sound quality at different settings -- I'll discuss that more in a moment.

Once the recording bit rate is selected, the Microtrack II can be put in either automatic or manual volume control mode. In manual volume mode (which is how most professionals will use it), there is a limiter that will prevent distortion with loud sounds. This works pretty well, although it is not perfect.

A switch on the side selects and controls the menu, and it's pretty convenient... at least for use in my right hand. It might be tougher for lefties.

Using it

I've used the M-Audio MicroTrack II with its accessory stereo microphone to record me on guitar and vocals. It's clean and clear, but a little problematic getting the unit to a spot that works well for both voice and guitar. I can hardly blame the unit for that, however. I used both uncompressed (16-bit 44.1-kHz) and better-quality MP3 settings (320-bit) settings for this and both sounded good. I also used it to record a few long phone calls, and the MicroTrack II works beautifully for that. I used the absolute lowest-quality setting for phone recording (MP3, 92-bit) and it was fine for telephone audio. Running the MP3 telephone recording through my computer and converting it to a Windows Media Audio (WMA) file at the lowest possible audio setting yielded a file that was about 4.2 MB for a recording longer than one hour. And the sound quality was good, for a phone call.

I'm pretty gentle with my technology items, and the M-Audio MicroTrack II still looks good after six months of me fumbling around with it. However, the included headphones quickly broke after not much use -- that was disappointing.

I found the start-stop interface to be a bit glitchy and I still haven't completely got the hang of it after several months of occasional use. I can use it, however -- it just doesn't seem to always work the way I expect it to work.

Impressions

The M-Audio MicroTrack II is a nifty recorder for serious professionals who need something small that records really well. It is less nifty for working news reporters who need to start recording quickly without a lot of settings. Using an external microphone is problematic for reporters, and the included stereo mic looks like it could easily break with even slightly rough treatment. I like the fact that I can pop out the CompactFlash card and load files directly into my computer. However, the unit should have a simple jog control to go back-and-forth on a recording, to help with transcribing interviews.

No question that the sound quality is excellent, though. With good headphones, the MicroTrack II sounds great.

Summary

At a list price of $500, the M-Audio MicroTrack II is too expensive to give it five stars. Add to that a couple of user-interface glitches, cheap headphones, and the lack of a built-in mic and jog control, and the MicroTrack II is down to three stars. However, it has beautiful recording quality and enough record flexibility to actually merit its professional status. Pros will also love all the inputs and outputs, even if they do little for a working news reporter.

If you record audio professionally and need something small, the M-Audio MicroTrack II is a very good little recorder -- for a price. If you are a reporter and are looking for the perfect recorder for interviews, the MicroTrack II is more complicated and fussy than you will want. Not to mention too expensive.

I like the M-Audio MicroTrack II and will continue to use it, but it really fits the needs of a certain type of professional recordist. And I'm not one of them.

Last edited on Oct 20, 2008



I_thumb_up M-Audio MicroTrack II (2048 MB) Handheld Digital Voice Recorder is recommended by bkovacs

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