I just bought a at899 lav and would like to connect it to a portable voice recorder so that I can walk around and talk at the same time. Kind of like having the advantages of a lav without the disadvantages of wireless. I will use it for shorts and for interviews.

I know alot of people use minidisc but frankly I couldnt be bothered to go through all the bullshit with getting the recording into the computer. The marantz 660 looks good but abit too expensive and more importantly too bulky. On this site some people have recommended the iriver 799. I am going to try that out. But there seems to be a plethora of mp3 players and ipod type devices that can record voice. Do people here use any other brand of flash or hard disk device here that they can recommend? They all record at the highest 128mbps in mp3, are there ones that can record wav?

AFAIK, none of the iRivers record in WAV or linear PCM.

I just made tests last week with an IFP790 iRiver using Giant Squid omni mics, an AT822 and an AT897. With these mics, I was not able to find a satisfactory compromise between good recording level and hiss. None of my iRiver MP3 recordings could match the recordings made with my camcorder or a Hi-MD MZ-NH900 Minidisc (that I tried out as well). But, this is very subjective and I guess it depends on the microphones you use and your personal expectations.

As for Minidisc recording, I suppose you refer to the analog transfer necessary with the older MD units. The newer Hi-MD models allow you to digitally transfer your recordings to your computer just as easily as with the iRivers (although there may be a few more mouse clicks necessary...).

HTH,

My (older) iRiver IHP-120 records in WAV as well as MP3. I use it with the Giant Squid lav and am happy with the results. I'm not sure about the newer iRivers.

There's an Edirol WAV/mp3 recorder that records to solid-state cards.
Could be ideal...

Robin

Interesting, about the older iRiver. It would be great if they had an ultra portable device with this capability. Besides recording, I actually liked the IFP790 a lot.

Just had a look at the Edirol R-1. It looks fantastic feature wise, but it’s a little bigger, and of course another price range. Twice the price of a recording capable Hi-MD Minidisc.

Thanks for the info, very informative.

Half the topics on these forums wouldnt exist if we could get our hands on these gear to play with. Anyone know where I can get some samples?
I'm going to research abit more.
Thanks guys.

As said in some other thread, that hiss might be being introduced from plug-in power sent out the mic input. You might want to try using LINE-IN instead of MIC-IN. I know some of those iRiver models let you specify a setting or MIC or LINE-IN. Once set, you use the same input hole either way. The problem with this, is you'll need to step up the mic level output of your mics to be line level. Not sure about your exact mics, but maybe they are XLR-based. If they are mini jack based, Giant Squid sells some 9v battery boxes that accept mini mic level input and put out mini line level output. It would be interesting to know if doing something like this would stop the hiss you are getting.