Roland R-4 Pro 4-Channel Digital Recorder and Wave Editor Review (page 2)

Recorder:
Channels: 4
AD/DA Converter: 24-bit
Sampling Frequency: 44.1/48/88.2/96/192kHz
Record/Playback Formats: .WAV, .BWF
Recorder Media: Internal 80GB hard disk drive
Recording Time Ranges: at 16-bit 44.1kHz - approx. 116 minutes; at 24-bit 192kHz - approx. 17 minutes
Audio Input/Output
Analog inputs: 4 XLR connectors; Internal microphones (stereo)
Digital I/O: XLR type
Input levels: 11 steps from -56 to +4dBu br />R esidual noise levels: -90dBu (Sens knob at +4dBu, input level knob at minimum)
Total harmonic distortion (THD+N): 0.01%
Frequency response: 20Hz - 40kHz (0 to -3dB)
Phantom power: 48+/-4V /8mA (available 4 channels simultaneously)

• High quality portable recorder capable of producing professional level audio

• Poor access to some controls while in carrying case

A well-built portable audio recorder that rivals the quality of far more expensive units.

Brian Peterson is a video production consultant, trainer and lecturer.

$2,395
425 Sequoia Drive Suite 114
Bellingham, WA 98226
800-380-2580
www.rolandsystemsgroup.com

One of the hardest parts about writing a review on an audio device is the lack of a standardized vocabulary. If you've flipped through the pages or browsed a website of any audiophile publication, you've no doubt found yourself surrounded by a cacophony of adjectives used to describe the audio experience. Words that, at minimum, have dual use, such as "clean," "transparent", "smooth", etc., are often used to give you a sense of inherent audio quality. Confounding the problem is that we all have different abilities to discern fine qualitative differences in sound. Age, genetics, experience and training, even gender all come into play. So while frequency, amplitude, distortion and noise can all be measured with test equipment and represented by numbers, most of us just want to know if the product we are researching will do the job, with maybe a little quality headroom to spare. With that, it may be useful for you to know that, in this review, we combined both the subjective interpretation of this reviewer (a mid-40's male with tested good hearing and more than 20 years of professional audio experience) with several quantitative tests that should help you answer your basic question, "Is this the portable digital audio recorder for me?"

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