Field recording equipment reviews (for linguists)

Here's a listing of currently available reviews. Please, note that my reviews are specifically geared towards the needs of linguistic research, including acoustic analysis, cataloging, long-term preservation, etc. Because of that, the primary objective of recording speech signals is to obtain a digital audio file that is rich in spectral details, low in noise, and as spectrally neutral as possible.

Microphones

• Audio-Technica ATR 3350 microphone
• DPA 4006-TL and 4090 microphones
• Earthworks M30 measurement microphone
• Nady HM-10 omnidirectional headset microphone
• Sanken COS-11D lavalier microphone
• Audio-Technica BP982 omnidirectional earset microphone
• Audix HT5 omnidirectional headset microphone
• DPA 4066 omnidirectional headset (headband) microphone
• Sennheiser HSP 2 omnidirectional headset microphone
• YPA omnidirectional headset microphone
• Shure Beta 53
• Beyer Opus 55mkII
• Sennheiser HMD25-1
• RadioShack 33-3013 and 33-3003
• Plantronics 655

Field recorders

• Sony PCM-M10 field recorder
• Zoom H4N Handy Recorder
• Fostex FR-2LE
• Marantz PMD660
• iRiver IFP-899

Microphone pre-amplifiers and computer interfaces

• BEHRINGER U-CONTROL UCA202 USB Audio Interface
• Sound Devices USBPre
• Sound Devices MixPre

Other gear and accessories

• Ebtech Hum X, an accessory that eliminates ground-related hum