The two-minute reviewer

Denon DN-F20R Portable IC Recorder

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How’s this for torture? Think of it as a classified advertisement.

LIGHTWEIGHT FLASH RECORDER: no moving parts; XLR connectors (mic); line in and out; linear recording;4 hours of power with backlight on; instantaneous response to commands; impervious to mechanical shock and inclement environments; exceptional ergonomics; removable media (compact flash) plugs in to computer via PCMCIA slot - computer sees it as a hard drive (immediate access to the audio); uses AA batteries. Price (fully loaded): $nnnn. 11 minutes of recording time

Ahhhh, the big print giveth and the small print taketh away. This device is an interesting new entry into the demanding reporter-oriented recording equipment arena that Minidisc has vainly attempted to satisfy. It has everything advertised above, including great sounding audio. The price, however, is pretty steep. The removable Compact Flash cards are currently $160.00 for 64Mb of storage – the recorder holds two cards – so we’re talking 11 minutes of linear stereo recording for $320.00.

Okay, okay, okay, yes, there’s more to the story. The Denon DN-F20R offers a wide variety of data compression algorithms, one of which is useful. Since linear is simply out of the question (because of cost), the only reasonable good-sounding one is MPEG1(L2) at 48k/64kbps. This will provide 4 hours and 26 minutes (mono) with two 64mb cards in place. Done recording?? Pop that card out and plug it into your laptop and begin editing. No download! The computer reads it like a hard drive! Wow!

Let’s talk how it sounds. Linear is, well, linear. While 48k/128kbps sounds quite good, it lasts only 1 hour in mono. This leaves us 48k/64, no distinct artifacts and believable audio. It falls off immediately after that.

Surprisingly, voice suffers more than music. Grunge becomes objectionable even at the highest MPEG2(L2) setting (24k/64kbps), while complex music is still quite listenable. Algorithms below this are just painful to listen to, even goofy. They sound remarkable like G.722 ISDN connections, deteriorating further into low-fi streaming audio-over-the-net quality.

For an initial investment of $1,320.00 or so, 4.5 hours of solid state RAM recording isn’t so outrageous. As the storage size of CF cards goes up and the price comes down, this device will become popular as a rugged, good-sounding, reliable recorder.

* two pounds loaded (!)
* XLR mic input connectors
* line in and out is –10 on RCA connectors
* built in speaker
* manual record level
* totally shock-proof
* cold/heat/humidity/salt air/dust resistant
* excellent menu options
* wide variety of algorithms to choose from:

per 64mb Compact Flash card:

ALGORITHM RECORDING TIMES

if you’re not going to use the audio on the air - if you just need a log of  what is transpiring – nearly 18 hours (!) of crummy but intelligible audio is available on two 64mb cards.

* Compact Flash cards can be removed from recorder, inserted into an adapter that plugs into the PCMCIA card slot of a laptop; it then is seen as a hard drive, so audio does not have to be transferred to the laptop before work can begin on it
* linear mode is indistinguishable from the source
* "cue in review" function works well
* file and directory erase is instantaneous
* directories and files can be labeled
* files can be divided
* response to commands is immediate – no waiting for tapes to load, no discs to be read, no mechanisms to engage. As [NPR Senior Engineer] Jake Widoff would say: "Boom!". It’s done!
* uses AA batteries
* more than 4 hours operation with the backlight on!
* time used/remain selector
* clear case is good idea – you can operate the device right through it
* parallel remote jack for remote control
* controls are very straight forward (PLAY/PAUSE; STOP; REW; FWD; INPUT SELECTOR; MIC LOW CUT; MIC LIMITER; MIC ATTENUATOR). That’s it. As my beloved Austrian grandmother would say, "What’s not to like??"
* Compact Flash cards are extremely stable – impervious to magnetism and moisture
* cards are reusable over 1 million times

* very short linear stereo recording time (unless you’re fabulously wealthy)
* no phantom on board
* line and out is –10 on RCA connectors (yeah, it’s a bad thing, too)
* display is quite busy though good information is available
* display does not reveal if recording is at 48k/128kbps (linear) or 48k/64kbps (linear)
* tiny battery indicator does not appear in the display until 10 MINUTES BEFORE FAILURE – easy to miss
* sluggish bar-graph meters
* alpha-numeric scroll is very slow
* there is no "/" (slash) in the alpha-numeric table
* there is no ":" (colon) in the alpha-numeric table
* there is no " " (space) in the alpha-numeric table
* the protective case is a joke – it won’t last a week
* the carrying strap is really crummy
* if you remove the Compact Flash card while the device is in "RECORD" or "PAUSE", display will say "ERROR" and the card will not record any more in that directory or any higher number directory. Previously recorded audio remains available. Card must be reformatted before it will work properly
* archiving must take place before the cards can be reused