Audio Reviews

I don't have to purchase another digital audio recorder in order to compare and find the "better" brand. There is nothing better than this one! If you are in a professional business, needing to store all your data and dictations, this is the one for you! Get rid of wasted space easy with the "divide" method. Don't worry about your voice sounding garbled. This recorder, with all Panasonic digital recorders I'm sure, has such clarity that you will think you are hearing it "live"!
And if you are a ghosthunter, as I am, in search of the perfect device to capture EVP, this is SURELY the recorder for you, as well! The very first time I used this recorder, I captured my very first EVP! It was so crisp and clear, that after I heard it, I knew that I had purchased the BEST recorder for EVP. I had been recommended the use of Panasonic digital recorders before I bought this one, and it's the best advice I've ever accepted from someone. This model, to my knowledge, has been discontinued, but I strongly suggest ANY of the Panasonic digital recorders for ANY type of office voice dictation and for those who are beginning their search for paranormal sounds. Thanks to Panasonic for giving me something unique to discover, and I know their work will get even better!!!! Two thumbs up on this product!!

I've had two of these. Perfect size and layout, work well. thought I lost one when I jumped in a swimming pool with it in my pocket and it filled with water, but after letting it air out for 3 weeks it worked fine.
For a while they were improving them, cutting the price, upping the memory then for some reason Panasonic discontinued them, the new ones are way too big.
After thousands of hours of use, one basically lost most of its memory - it can hold only about 4 minutes of notes now. The other one (the wet one) looks totally beat up and has lost its screen coating-no more display :( But it still works perfectly!
Operational problems: One is that the hold button can be accidently released in your pocket and then you find you have 20 minutes of ambient pocket noise and a full recorder. this happens at least once a week. Also, they can get confused somehow and you'll see the display all wierd with no way to fix it, you need to remove and replace the batteries to recover, but that's no problem really, you don't lose your notes.

First, if you're perusing these reviews because you're switching from a micro cassette recorder, you're in for a treat. While you can't take the tape out and hand it to someone, the advantages of digital are too numerous to mention here. My favorite is the ability to playback or erase individual notes without having to search the tape to find them.

Anyway, as for this unit: I was looking for something easy to use, [price], decent sound quality, small, and good reviews. While it does take awhile to decipher the instructions, the RR-QR80 is relatively easy to use, and I especially like the fact that the two major buttons are Record and Stop. Let's face it, these are the buttons you want to get to fast. You press and hold the Record button for about a second to pause, but I wish you could just click once to pause, then click again to resume. Playback is easy, but all the secondary buttons, including the Erase button, are quite small but have a solid feel. The Hold button feels secure and is easy to use. I've seen some small units where you need to use your fingernail to move the Hold button.

I got my unit refubished from Sunshinelect, so the price was right, and the unit was shipped the following business day. Excellent! However, you have to wonder why there are so many "refurbished" RR-QR80s out there. One can only hope there was some inherent problem with this unit that Panasonic fixed. So far so good.

Sound quality changes with record mode. HQ will only record for 15 minutes, but sound quality is outstanding. Standard mode will record for 30 minutes, and quality is more than adequate. LP mode will record 60 minutes, and is okay but not great. Let's face it, your not going to be recording live concerts with this thing. Also, the mic level is adjustable, and set to High will record voices from a distance accurately.

Size is where this unit really shines. It's the size of a business card/credit card and <.5" thick. It fits easily in a pocket, but if it finds its way to the bottom of your purse you may forget what you wanted to record by the time you find it.

Anyway, I write two newspaper columns and needed something to record fleeting thoughts, and wanted something small enough that I wouldn't hesitate to carry around. So, this unit works perfectly for me. However, if you intend to record lectures or lengthy notations, a unit with more memory and a "real" fast forward and rewind might be a better choice (this one will cue and review, but it's choppy).

This receiver is just amazing! I went from the 445 to the 845, and I have to confess that I only changed because I bought a full set of five Cerwin Vegas, LS12's front, LS5's center and rear and an LW12 subwoofer, and I wanted a few more watts to get the most from the Cerwins, not entirely necessary really, because the 445 is no slouch in performance and still went very very loud, then I connected the 845, OH MY GOD! this receiver is a beast!! I put on a CD first, a jungle cd from the UK, I cranked it up and nearly had a cardiac arrest, it is breathtakingly powerful.

The controls were set flat "as always for music" using only the two main speakers, the bass treble and midrange blended really well, the low bass notes common in jungle music were deep and low, and kept good pace with the music, the treble sounded rich and clear. An audiophile "if there really is such a thing" would no doubt think the sound was just brute power with no class, besides you cant get a great sounding receiver for just a few hundred dollars right!!! wrong, you can, and this receiver if you are lucky enough to find one, would be a great place to start.

I found mine in mint condition, I have seen the new 875 and appreciate some of the changes sony have made, banana plugs, front panel hookup, great, but the remote, the front panel nahhhh dont like em! the 845 for looks and that awesome remote wins me over easily, and I intend keeping it for a long long time, just wish I could have found the silver version, WOW I really like those but you dont see that many of them around, hope this helped you.

I'm not a Sony worshipper or prone to hyperbole (see 3 star review on Sony changer CDP-CX400) but this is the first stand alone receiver I've bought and I love it. I use it for music listening and between the 3 band EQ and 27 DSP modes I can customize the sound to my idea of perfection. The volume is unbelievable. On my old systems I would turn it up halfway to two thirds, on this one third is loud enough. I've heard complaints about the LCD remote but I love it. There is an extensive set-up which is good but could be confusing for the novice. My only minor complaints would be lack of a digital CD input. You can use any of the four that it has but 1) you may want them for the components that are supposed to be there and 2) if you are using a Sony CD player with Control A1 capability, the Control A1 only works when the component is hooked up to its matching jack. It also gets quite warm when it runs for awhile but it is well ventulated and has never overheated. The biggest drawback is that this model has been replaced with the 875 and seems to have lost some front panel functionality (instead of having a button to select each component you have an input selection button that you have to cycle through) and EQ range (845 +10/-10 875 +6/-10). The newer model does create a virtual rear center speaker (not an input for a real rear speaker)and has renamed two DSP modes after concert venues in Europe (and I guess recreated their acoustic environments). Sony also added banana plug connectors for all 5 speakers (instead of just the fronts) but took away the option of hooking a second pair of front speakers to use instead of / addition to the primary pair. The remote is also simpler (way to listen to your customers: they want the cheaper remote, sure we'll do that). Haven't heard it (only looked at it and played with it in the store) so I can't comment on the sound. Anyway, this is a great receiver if you can find it. If not, the 875 should suffice but I'd rather have my older model.

I bought this receiver to finally finish off a home system I had wanted for a long, long time. When I bought it the sales girl told me it was the top of the line receiver that they carried at the time. It was the store demo unit in a small town so I knew it didn't get all that much use plus I bought the 4 year extended warranty (parts and labor). I got it home and hooked it up to my Acoustic Research surround speakers with a 125 watt powered sub woofer. I was blown away! Everyone told me I had to spend at least $1000 on a receiver and another $1000 or more on speakers! I spent $284 on the receiver and $299 on the brand new never hooked up before speakers and we are enjoying movies like never before! This receiver does everything you'll want it to do and more. If I had one complaint it would be that it only has one set of 5.1 inputs on the back and I have the DVD player running through it. If it had one more set I could run my 5.1 capable satilite receiver into it also. This receiver has more power than you'll ever need, we can't even turn it up 1/3rd or we are blown out of the house. Everything is adjustable from the remote which can also run sub routines of other components you have hooked up to the receiver. You'll love this RECEIVER!

It has far exceeded my expectations. Sounds great on DVD or Audio CDs. The 'party' decode is unusual, allowing stereo CDs to sound 5.1-ish.

I did spend good money on speakers, especially a quality sub.

As another reviewer wrote here, this is my favorite toy.

I've had mine for almost a year now and love it. If you don't have a DVD or 5.1 receiver yet this is a great way to get both for a reasonable price and reduce the wiring clutter of separate units. Only gripes I have are that I could have used one more audio input for the CD changer, and the remote is one big checkerboard of small buttons. You can also find more features on newer DVD player components. But all in all, this is a great deal for keeping the budget down and having one less component to fit in the entertainment unit.

Go for this and Bose Acoustimass 6 speakers and you've got fantastic theater sound for a pretty reasonable investment.

I have owned a Toshiba 6109 for about 1 year and I am very happy with the unit. The dvd player is excellent. 50 watts per channel is sufficient with the efficient speakers I have attached to the dvd/amplifier.

I have recorded several CD's from albums with a Phillips recorder and they sound good. I have had a problem with recording more than 60 min. on a CD however. If I try to put more on a CD the recorder stops and indicates 74:57 min. and will not finalize. I'm not sure if it is the CD or the recorder. However, I have used Memorex without this problem.

These cdr's are great. No coasters yet. They've been backordered for some time. Come on guys, let's move it. If you can't get the three pack, your competition has them in ten and fifty packs. Wakeup call!

I have tried them all,but TDK are the best.I have an original pioneer cd recorder and tdk still works the best.

The sound quality of this amp is much cleaner than any of the "consumer grade" stuff I own. The amp is a little short on power but an excellent piece of equipment for the price.

very flat sounding. i'm tired of people comparing other amps and thinking they are better for one reason or another.. but thats consumer audio for you... the goal should be to have flat sound that is as true to the origional recording as possible.

at any rate, this amp doesnt stray much in frequency response across the spectrum, has practically no noise (most notably, you can turn it up all the way with no audible hiss at all) and very low harmonic distorion.

the only real downside to this amp (for this price.. or mabye even a much higher price) is that it would have a pretty hard time driving some of the bigger floorstanding speakers.. but if you have a good subwoofer, who cares, right?

I bought 2 AudioSource Amp One/A's and am running them as monoblocks to drive my front L/R speakers. The difference in sound quality over my Marantz SR-5300 (brand new) is quite stunning. The sound stage sounds much wider and deeper, and even the most delicate note can be clearly heard. I'm using the Marantz as a preamp to drive the AudioSource amps, BTW. With the AS's taking the load of the front speakers, the Marantz's dynamics and clarity have also improved dramatically with multi-channel recordings since it's now only handling the center and surround speakers.

I'd recommend buying a pair of these to anyone who has a low-mid priced home theater receiver with preamp outs. The difference is quite extraordinary. I now understand why people spend thousands of $ on monoblock amps.

I also tried running the AS's stereo mode, driving Front L/R, Center and Center Surround speakers. The sound was not as dynamic or clear using them this way, though movie soundtracks sounded dramatically better (the Marantz was now doing even less). I'm more of a 2 channel music buff who happens to love multi-channel movies, so I'm sticking with the 2 monoblock approach. Eventually, I may purchase additional AS Amp ones to drive my other speakers...

OK - I guess it's obvious I'm really happy with this product. Try it for yourself, you won't be disappointed. It's the cheapest way to get a monoblock amp without spending alot more, or dealing with equipment with noisy cooling fans!

I purchased two of these units and am using one of them in my current system. For the price, the sound and operation is very good. The remote codes programmed easily into my DSS receiver remote control, making for a very easy system to use.

I give it 5 stars because it's gives great sound and features for your money.

Let me just start out by saying. Dolby did good with DPLII. I can't live without it now. I listen to near enough everything that's not DD or DTS with DPLII on. Wonderful!

OK onto the niggly bits that make this imperfect. The remote could be better and have some more options. It's annoying not being able to adjust things like bass and treble from the remote.

Inputs and outputs are a bit weird. I was used to my old Sherwood 925's ins and outs. The 6108 you have to kinda fiddle with shared ins and stuff. It's not as straighforward layout as the 925 was.

The sound. Sometimes you can hear very low level hum. This is more pronounced if you have PCM signals being sent (As I do from an optical CD deck). What happens is that when a track finishes and there is a silent spot, the reciever stops any and all sound. This can sometime make for an audible click as the sound (and that very low level hum) cuts out for a moment. I've gone back to analog from the CD deck because of it. Not ideal.

The DSP's I hate (Other than DPLII of course). I wish they would drop them. It's a pain having to keep pressing the DSP button again and again to get past those stupid 'church' 'hall' modes to change from DPLII Music to DPLI and DPLII.

OK those are my niggles just to show that the reciever is not the greatest thing since sliced bread. Other than that it's fantastic for the price and kicks my old speakers into overdrive!

Oh and to the dude who was having problems. Yes it does do Dolby Pro Logic. The sound is also great. You need to check you have some decent speakers and READ THE MANUAL!

I own an Onkyo TX-SV646 & a Yamaha R-V905 A/V Receiver. The Onkyo is a Pro Logic Receiver only. The Yamaha has Dolby® Digital & Pro Logic.No DTS or Pro Logic II. I bought the Sherwood RD-6108 that has Dolby® Digital,DTS & Pro Logic II... The sound quality is just as good as the 2 high-ends that I own. I can't believe it!! I use small JBL speaker in my bedroom with an 8"JBL POWERED sub. The Sherwood has a nice natural sound coming out of the JBL's. Amazing how clean it is!!
Sherwood is a brand to reckon with. The remote is [weak],but I bought a Sony RM-VL900 remote.This remote is truly amazing. It is smarter than the human brain! I think it's a great buy. NOW,Back to the Sherwood, I really love having Pro Logic II & DTS.Pro Logic II & DTS are amazing!! I watched Pearl Harbor & Planet of the Apes in DTS & both sound AWESOME!!!! This Sherwood sounds better than my Yamaha 905(with Pro Logic II & DTS). My PS2 is my DVD player & it never sounded better. I soon will get a REAL DVD PLAYER,but for now it will work fine.
Next for me to buy is a nice JVC 20 inch I'Art.

People you must read to set it up right. I think it was EZ.

This unit is like a baby HK.

It appears that some unfavorable reviews have been pulled. They are trying to unload a bunch of these and appear to be trying to show it as a five star.

I'm at a loss for words. I was aiming for a digital voice recorder, but after checking a few price tags and reading the reviews for this one, I decided to go analog.

These are my two cents: Amazing. I use it mainly for classroom lectures (I find that going through the parts of the lecture I was asleep through *does* help :). I sit at the very back of the classroom (room that fits about 50 people) and I don't use the external mic. I just press the record button and leave the recorder next to me. I use the so-called _low quality_ setting (slow tape) to extend the recording time on my tapes, and this recorder picks up the sound of the chalk on the board as clear as day!

Highly recommended.

I had a digital voice recorder....now I have a Sony microcassette recorder. The Sony is 10 times better. Easy to use, wonderful sound on playback. Excellent value.

This is a supa little recording device. Very compact and easy to use. I agree that the LP mode is rather crap, but it does work for emergency long recordings (if you were say kidnapped and held in a small box and needed to record what the criminals were saying). The HQ mode is cool tho, offering 22mins of hi-quality recording time.

I mainly use it for recording ideas for tunes that I have whilst away from my Mac, so 22 mins is easily long enough. Much better than trying to remember a tune in you head until you get home.

I recommend this voice recorder. The size is excellent. I carry it everywhere in my pocket and use it everyday at least once. Haven't had to change the batteries yet after 3 months of use. It's easy to use, easy to organize your recordings and will keep track of when you recorded them (date and time). It doubles as a pocket clock for those without a wristwatch.

You can even keep it by your bedside and use it at night if you have to make a note. The REC button is easy to locate and there's a small red light for when it's recording. The voice detection feature works well, too (it stops recording during periods of silence). You can turn on distinctive beeps in the menu, which could work pretty well for the visually impaired.

The reason I rated it 4 stars instead of 5 stars is because it claims 90 minutes of recording time at LP, when SP (33 min) and HQ (15 min?) are the only modes that produce voice recordings you can actually understand. If you think you need more than 30 minutes, go for the model with more recording time.

I've had this recorder for almost a year. I've dropped it, gotten it wet, and it's still ticking! Never had any problems with it; it's been a huge asset in my record keeping. I HIGHLY recommend this recorder!!!

I've owned and used this for several months. I am happy overall but here is a list of things that bother me:

1) The romote control does light up which is good, but stays lit for only 7 seconds after you push a button. It takes MUCH MUCH longer than that for song titles to disply fully. Pushing a button to keep the light illuminted for another 7 seconds doesn't really help cuz it'll stop displaying the title and will display the info for whatever button you pressed instead.

2) The wire from the remote to the player is too short in my opinion (2 feet). It doesn't reach properly from the player inside your backpack or briefcase to your chest area where you'll probably want the remote clipped to. I also will sometimes keep the player under my car seat attached to my car stereo, and there too the wire is just a little too short.

3) The remote knob and buttons suck. They are too small and seem to play games with you. The diplay is too small as well. The entire remote and display should be much bigger! I would prefer to see the entire album title, artist name, and song title at the same time rather than small portions of only one of the above. Also, the display scratches too easily! And there is no pause button on the remote either. All very annoying.

4) The headphones that it came with have a good sound quality but they are a pain to use. One wire for one ear is much shorter than the other. One ear is always being tugged and you can't get comfortable.

5) The player does not always play MP3s in numerical or alphabetical order. If the tunes were converted to MP3 directly from a regular audio CD album, it seems to play in order. However, for people who often organize MP3 songs themselves individually on their home computer, most tracks will not play in order despite how you name them. Some tracks won't play at all! There is a small mention about this in the instruction manual. But really, this problem should not exist at all!

6) YOU CANNOT FORWARD OR REWIND WITHIN AN MP3 TRACK! You can only skip ahead to the next track or back to the previous track when listening to MP3s. This won't bother people too much who listen to 2-minute tracks, but for many people like me who listen to long tracks, this is really annoying!

7) The battery level indicator is not accurate. With my unit, it goes from full to 3/4 rather soon, but it can stay on empty (flashing danger) for another 12 hours.

8) I am sure I can think of more annoying things, but these are the big ones. However, like I said, overall the player itself is very good.

Everything was working great initially.
But two weeks later, the CD player is dead!
I tried it for a long while and finally decided that the rechargeable battery went bad since CD player still works on AC!
Why the battery died so fast? I remembered that we put it on charger for a whole night a few days ago! And this baby is so vulnerable to a very common human habit. Look! lots of people put cellphone on AC charger overnight and that doesn't kill their cellphones.

And the manual does say "battery may go flat if AC adaptor is kept on after battery is finished charging" and the battery is only in warranty for 10 DAYS!
And I searched lots of places even on www.panasonic.com, can't find any replacement of this new and special Ni-Mh type(Why not Ni-Cd?) battery.

It basically useless without its rechargeable battery.
Really disappointed!

This was bought as a gift and I absolutely love it! The Directions are easy to follow and it's perfect for those people that love to workout. Highly recommended!~

A good mp3/WMA player with a lot of features for the money. Overall, I am quite pleased with it so far.

Pros:
- Good sound quality
- Plays both mp3 and WMA files.
- FM tuner and recording

Cons
- Controls a little difficult to use when protective case is on.
- Separate cable for USB donwload.
- Cover for USB port is not well designed, hard to open.

I've been looking for a decent mp3 player at a decent price for a while and it seemed like this one fit my needs with a rebate. At the current price, I would've bought something else but it was about a half price so I think it was worth it. Anyway, here is the review...

Pros
- cheap
- very small but not too tiny
- looks good
- sound quality is good to excellent
- comes with FM tuner
- has voice and FM recording feature (I make voice notes)
- has SM expansion capability

Cons
- buttons are too small
- recording button is hard to activate (it's either my unit or due to the small buttons)
- weird ergonomics (when you hold it on you left hand, looking at the LCD, the left voice button raises the volume and the right one lowers it. Also left select button is for the previous track which is up and the right one is for the next which is down on LCD... I don't know about you but I am used to the notion of right is up and left is down. It took me a while to get used to it)
- useless cover (it's too bulky)
- earphone is cheap quality
- USB 1.1 only (but is you are transferring several songs at a time, I don't think it matters much. Just be patient. You saved $50 over USB 2 unit)

I would most likely recommend this unit if it has a rebate. If not, go with something else.

Pros:
-A lot of features
-VERY easy to use PC software and mp3 player menus
-SD/MMC expansion slot
-Supports MP3/WMA up to 320kbps, VBR MP3, ASF,and ADPCM
-Stylish design, metal on front looks cool, case is looks nice , pretty backlight
-High quality/good sounding earbuds
-Useful and detailed manual
-iTunes, Realplayer, Windows Media Player compatible
-Can use it to transfer files
-Can record voice memos/radio
-Built in equalizer
-Size/weight, I can put it in my pocket w/out feeling it there
-Multiple languages(English, Spanish, French, Japanese)
-Upgradable firmware
-Comes w/Duracell battery
-20 radio presets
-Very good price from amazon, about one hundred dollars.

Cons:
-Small screen, but still readable
-Plastic feels a bit cheap, but many mp3 players are worse, the battery door also feels flimsy when opened
-Buttons are a bit small, but are placed very well
-Carrying case poorly designed, it makes it hard to use the buttons
-Radio sound quality is just OK and the reception could be better(I still got some static at some places even w/local station)
-No cover for SD slot because dust can get in, this isn't problem if you have a card inside or if you use the case
-USB cover is annoying to use
-Doesn't come w/the text to voice software like the 256F
-No USB 2.0, but transfering doesn't take that long

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars