At some point, almost everyone finds the need to record audio for one reason or another. For most of us, it’s just for remembering something important, as was the case the other day when I used the Voice Memo feature on my iPhone to make note of my brother’s new address. For professionals, however, audio recordings require a little more attention to detail. The Olympus LS-7 PCM recorder is one of the devices made for professionals.

Lots Of Features

Offering 24bit and 96kHz Linear PCM Recording, the LS-7 is not designed to just record a bit of audio for playback later. The sound quality is provided for professional use, offering crisp, clear audio recording and playback for things that require a little more fidelity and clarity than your shopping list. As you may be aware, higher quality in any digital media almost always means more storage space will be required and used. Thankfully, Olympus included 4GB of built in memory and a micro SD memory card slot for even more audio. At 4GB, you can get (according to the Olympus site) about 1.75 hours at a higher PCM quality and much more with lowered quality and varying formats, up to over 1,000 hours at the lowest quality with WMA files. In reality, anyone who pays the professional price for a high-end recorder like this will usually record in the upper limits of quality.

The recording and playback features are too numerous for me to go into detail on all of them, but there were so many, that I actually felt a bit overwhelmed at first. After playing with the LS-7 a bit and reading through the quick start guide, I was quickly navigating through several folders for audio file storage, recording, deleting, and changing many of the settings. The user interface required this practice in order for me to begin to feel comfortable, but it didn’t take long. With optional audio descriptions of every menu item and option, there was almost a feeling that the female voice was walking me through it. After getting comfortable with the menus, the voice can be turned off as well. The second feature that caught my attention was the storage folders. I thought it a bit odd that the LS-7 came with several pre-named folders by default rather than just adding and naming folders as needed. This is, perhaps, the one thing I would change about this device if I could. The final UI feature that impressed me was how I delete files on the LS-7. Although it sounds like a small thing, anyone who has ever lost any digital content that they created from scratch knows the value of confirmation before deleting anything. In this case, I would hit the Erase button that was ominously placed in a very easy to hit spot on the front of the device and I would be given an erase menu with the option to erase or cancel. After choosing Erase from the menu, I had to confirm. It’s an extra step, but it put a physical Erase button in a very easy place to find while not sacrificing my recordings to any mistakes.

The three built in microphones, including two Stereo Directional mics and a Center Omni Directional mic, are very prominent on the top of the LS-7. In my testing, I was easily able to see the Peak lights for the left and right light up as I moved my sound source. Upon playback, it was clear that they picked up as intended, too. Of course, this is another feature not needed for all applications, but when you need any kind of stereo or directional recording, this is a must. Other physical features included a built in speaker, microphone and headphone jacks, a large back-lit screen and even rechargeable batteries.

Device And Audio Quality

Weighing in at 3.17 ounces and with 4.4 x 1.5 x 0.6 inch dimensions, the LS-7 is small and portable, but also feels very sturdy and comfortable to hold and use. I wouldn’t want to drop it, but if I did, I think an external blemish might be the worst of it. To protect against that, a padded carrying sleeve is included, too, making the idea of breaking it accidentally a little tough to imagine. In addition to the features I mentioned above, the user interface as a whole is very detailed and easy to navigate with practice. Using the large screen well, Olympus left little to the imagination, freeing the professional to think about the work to be done.

The microphones picked up awesomely in my testing. I spoke normally, yelled and whispered and the LS-7 picked up every bit of my insanity clearly. Just to throw a curve ball at it, I even exited my home office with the LS-7 in my pocket, recording, to talk to my wife. The very beginning of the recording was lower, but after a couple seconds, everything she and I said was as clear as if I was holding a microphone in my hand.

Conclusions

The $199 retail price tag sets the LS-7 clearly out of the reach of those who don’t need a professional PCM recorder, but for those who do, it’s a welcomed and comfortably-priced offering. With an army of features, high quality microphones and intelligent design, the Olympus LS-7 makes a great little recorder for those with big needs.