Semi-Pro portable audio recorders have come a long way from the days of the bulky reel-to-reel Uhers and the compact but fragile Walkmans, with the emphasis now squarely on solid build, a minimum of moving parts to damage and superior sound quality. It's in the spirit of this new aural age that Sony has brought out the successor to its popular PCM-D1.

OK, the PCM-D50 is encased in an aluminium shell unlike its big brother, but it is about one third of the price and is intended to be both an ideal recording and interviewing tool for the journalist in the field, and for the musician wanting to produce high quality and virtually noise-free demos.

Powered by four AA batteries that ensure up to 12 hours recording at the most demanding setting, this 96kHz/24-bit linear recorder is a reassuringly chunky bit of hardware, measuring 73 x 155.6 x 33.4mm, weighing 365g and designed in stylish silver and grey. Key areas like the record and playback dials are protected with metal strips and the microphones are similarly enclosed by a solid cage to avoid accidental damage.

All your information is displayed on the 2-inch mono LCD screen which can be lit up in dim conditions and, in a hark back to simpler days, there's a full array of separate control buttons below to cover all stop/start/record/fast forward, etc., operations in addition to further buttons for A-B looping, track dividing, Display and LCD light. Menus are easy to scroll through and set and recording is in standard WAV file format; while it has the capability to play back MP3 files, the PCM-D50 can't record MP3 input.

The recorder comes equipped with a high sensitivity, built-in, two-position electret condenser stereo microphone with flexible rotation for either X-Y or Wide stereo positions. When it says high sensitivity, it really means it as we discovered when attempting a simple one-on-one interview. Even the slightest of movements produced a significant amount of wind noise, so it would be worth investing in some of the important optional add-ons; a wind screen (AD-PCM1), remote and tripod. While you can attach external microphones, there's no XLR adaptor so you might well find yourself adding one of those too (the XLR-1).

The really good news is that once the equipment is set up and recording modes are established, the recorder has a low signal-to-noise ratio (93dB or greater when set to 24-bit) and the resulting quality of the recording thanks to the Super Bit Mapping technology is crystal clear. The stereo effects achieve a wide, dynamic range especially for wildlife and live music.

The Dual Digital Limiter feature performs sterling work to prevent distortion and there's a pre-record buffer that captures five seconds of audio from before the record button is hit. Musicians in particular will appreciate the special Digital Pitch Control feature that slows down playback up to 75 percent or increases it by up to 100 percent without changing pitch.

Unfortunately there's only 4GB built-in memory which enables the PCM-D50 to record up to six hours when recording in 44.1kHz 16-bit CD quality mode, with a minimum of two hours at 96kHz 24-bit mode and a maximum of thirteen hours at 22kHz 16-bit mode. These record times can be doubled, though, if you use the optional 4GB expandable memory via the Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo Slot. Note, however, that standard Memory Stick media is not supported.

Verdict
For around the third of the price of the PCM-D1, Sony has produced a well protected, easy to operate audio recorder that provides an excellent set of highly sensitive, adjustable stereo mics of outstanding quality, which should make this an essential bit of kit for the journalist and musician.

Company: Sony

Contact: 08705 111 999

Tags: pulse-code modulation compact disc super bit mapping liquid crystal display sound recording and reproduction wav xlr connector universal serial bus