The Best Voice Recorders 2021

A voice recorder is a simple, compact device that can save you time, increase your productivity and record your work and ideas with greater clarity.

While many smartphones have great built-in recorders, phones are not a replacement for a built-for-purpose, high-quality voice recorder.

If you record audio content regularly, a voice recorder will be an essential purchase, and you won’t be interrupted by phone calls, messages or other alerts, or have to worry about conserving your battery or if you have enough storage.

The sound quality is also much better.

To choose the best voice recorder for your needs, you need to choose your preferred features such as the sound quality, type of microphone, usability, design, battery life and storage.

The price of voice recorders can vary considerably. The more features you want and the higher the audio quality – the greater the price. You can get a good quality voice recorder for under £50 or the most expensive voice recorder that we reviewed – the Sony PCM-D100 was £555.

Whatever your profession or schedule, the Sony ICD-UX570 is a great addition to your day-to-day life.

The audio and sound quality is very clear stereo sound and it has a low noise, 90-degree directional microphone.

The device itself is slim and light with an OLED backlit screen, and is an easy system to navigate.

This voice recorder has a good battery life at 23 hours with 4 GB of built-in storage. You can add a microSD card to increase that to 32 GB of storage.

The UX570 also has features like long and short-range skipping, and equalizer settings of bass, speech and treble to aid your recording.

It has features like ‘time jump’ and ‘easy search’ to help you to easily find your recordings. Audio files are also easily transferred using the USB port.

Finally, it includes a handy quick charge feature giving your battery an extra hour with just a three-minute charge.

The Tascam DR-40X is full of tech features such as high sound pressure levels set up in AB or XY, a pre-amp, mic input ports for additional microphones, peak reduction, sound limiter and auto-level. It also has dual-level recording to avoid distortion.

This voice recorder does have lower battery life than others at 15 hours, but it has an adjustable mic system that allows it to record up to four tracks at once.

It comes with an inbuilt storage of 4 GB and you can add an SD card for up to 32 GB of storage.

The Tascam DR-40X also has some great mixing features allowing you to equalize volume and audio quality as you go. It also can transcribe the voice recordings with dictation mode and, when ready, you can transfer the files using the USB port.

If you are venturing into podcasting or looking to level up your voice recorder to improve the quality of your audio files, then this is the voice recorder for you.

The EVISTR 16GB Digital Voice Recorder is a high-quality budget option. It has 8 GB of built-in storage and can transfer files via USB to PC and Linux operating systems.

It also has a few useful tech features such as voice-activated recording, A-B repeat, and fast forward and rewind options during playback.

It also has an auto file saving function every five seconds, an easy file navigation system and a timestamp function allowing you to organise your recordings efficiently.

For the everyday user, this efficient but high-quality voice recorder is a must-have as you go about your day.

What Is a Digital Voice Recorder?

Digital voice recorders capture sound and convert it into an audio file that is then conveniently shared or transferred to a laptop, computer or another device.

It is somewhat similar to the record function on your phone but with a lot more clarity, sound sensitivity and features designed solely to improve the audio.

Many voice recorders have at least 4 GB of internal storage and have the option of adding external storage.

Some of the better recorders can record in different file formats, making it easier to share the audio file with different devices.

Depending on what you are using your recorder for, there is a myriad of features to choose from.

Reasons You Might Find a Digital Voice Recorder Useful

To Share Your Work With Others

Whether you are a musician, songwriter, podcaster, author, presenter, teacher/lecturer or journalist, there are many instances you might find yourself needing a voice recorder to record your performance, conversations with others, or your thoughts and ideas.

It can also be a handy tool to record an audiobook, if you are an author.

You could also read aloud storybooks for your children to play back later.

To Remember Ideas or Things to Do

You might be commuting home or having some downtime in the park when you think of a great idea or concept.

Recording yourself is a useful way to ensure you remember these things later.

You might be in a meeting and want to record the ideas and strategies shared, especially if you are the one keeping the meeting notes or responsible for the deployment of a new project.

Voice recorders can help you record an interview rather than try to take notes, reducing distractions which might affect the rapport you have with the interviewee.

It is also a much easier way to get a word-for-word quote. Just make sure you have the permission of everyone present before recording.

For Learning (Again With Permission of Course)

We live in an age of constant information. Recording someone while they speak during a lecture/lesson or public presentation can be very useful when trying to remember the ideas and facts later on.

Transcribing

You can speak much faster than you can type or write and there are many apps that you can use to convert your recordings to text.

Using a voice recorder in your daily life can be useful if you need to jot down some important notes after a phone call or meeting. It is also much easier to put together an article or other written text by talking rather than typing. This article might have been written a lot faster if I were speaking into a voice recorder.

Legal or Medical Settings

Lawyers and legal assistants sometimes use voice recorders to take notes while preparing for a case.

In the medical field, doctors and other practitioners record notes during an examination so that patient notes can be saved to their systems.

Things to Consider When Purchasing a Voice Recorder

Voice recorders are a personal choice and to make sure you use it often, save yourself time and increase your productivity, you need to choose the best option for your needs.

Here are some things to consider:

The Reason

• Why are you are recording, for how long and how often?
• Are you recording notes from a meeting or a lecture?
• Are you transcribing or will someone else be transcribing your recording?
• Is it for a podcast, a public lecture or performance, a to-do list, or are you interviewing someone?

The Setting

• Will you be indoors or outdoors?
• Will you be stationary or on the move?
• What is the size of the room and layout of speakers (if any) or acoustics?
• What will the lighting be like? (If it is dark, you would want something easier to use or have a backlit screen)

The Participants

• Will you be alone or will there be others – how many?
• Are you part of the audience or participating?
• Is there one speaker/performer or many? Do they have a microphone?

The Result

• How would you like to share your work and what file storage would you prefer?
• Are you publishing or producing your recordings?
• Are you recording this for yourself or someone else? Is it for transcribing?

Important Features to Look For

Voice recorder features to choose from include, audio quality, supported microphones, storage, recording clarity, noise cancellation options, editing options and more.

For example, if you are using the voice recorder to record a presentation, then unrelated noise removal is very important.

If you are using it for interviews, having a bidirectional microphone can be very useful.

Use the guide below to choose the best voice recorder to meet your needs:

1. Storage

Imagine you are in the middle of a music recording, presenting your next lesson or podcast, or recording a great interview. You want to make sure that you don’t run out of storage space during the recording.

This is particularly important if there is no immediate opportunity to upload your recordings to a computer or laptop.

Memory space is affected by different factors, such as the type of file (wave, mp3, etc.) and recording quality – the higher the quality, the more space it will use.

Many voice recorders have at least 4 GB of built-in storage, and some have additional options such as built-in USB ports or a removable memory card.

2. Sound Quality

One of the most important things to consider is the quality and clarity of your recording.

High-quality audio files are easier to understand and have the advantage of being compatible with automated speech recognition services.

Remember, the higher the quality of the audio, the more storage space it will require, reducing the overall amount of time you can record.

Digital voice recorders have multiple sound quality options such as:

• LP (long play) – the lowest quality
• SP (standard play) – medium quality
• HQ (high quality) – the best quality

For something simple like recording yourself for your own listening, you could use the LP option on your voice recorder. If you are producing something or creating a podcast then you should choose the HQ option so that the clarity and sound quality of the audio are the best.

3. Microphone Type

Depending on where and how you use your voice recorder, you might want to consider the type of microphone it uses.

Most modern voice recorders come with built-in microphones; however, this is only useful when it is a single person's audio in a quiet room as it will capture all surrounding sound.

An interview situation with two people would be best recorded using a bidirectional microphone. Otherwise, you would need to move the recorder back and forth between the speakers.

However, a quiet room with several speakers such as a meeting, a panel conversation or a lecture hall would be best recorded using an omnidirectional microphone.

A voice recorder that has an external microphone jack is also a great option as you can choose from a unidirectional, bidirectional, omnidirectional or a lavalier microphone based on the setting you are in and the audio you are recording.

4. Battery Life

Most people who use digital voice recorders are looking for a portable option that will last a long time. This is one of the benefits of using a voice recorder instead of a phone as a dedicated recording device.

Ideally, you want your voice recorder to have a battery life of about 48 hrs, giving you enough power to record. This is especially important if you are conducting fieldwork or are on the road.

A device with a rechargeable battery might also be more useful than constantly replacing regular batteries.

It is important to note that while many recorders boast that they can record for 1,000s of hours, that number may reduce based on audio quality – the higher the quality, the fewer recording hours.

5. Portability, Sharing and Convenience

You want your voice recorder to be portable and convenient to use. A simpler interface is ideal for someone who is recording for personal use as you won’t need a lot of extra features.

Compact voice recorders are about the size and weight of a smartphone. Additional features or better audio will result in a larger and heavier recorder.

A more advanced recorder will also organise different audio files into separate folders.

All modern voice recorders have sharing options for easy transfers of recordings. Most use a USB connection, others use SD card options or share via WiFi connectivity.

Most voice recorders also save in formats that are compatible with Windows and Apple operating systems, but sometimes the file format will need to be edited before you access it from your operating system.

6. Transcription

There are many paid and free services that convert voice-to-text. You would need to see which options are compatible with your voice recorder.

Some digital voice recorders already have built-in transcription and voice recognition software but others will require you to purchase it separately.

If you are regularly using your voice recorder and need the content in text format, you may prefer to purchase one that can easily do this.

If you are planning on manually transcribing your recordings, you might need additional accessories such as a foot pedal or headphones.

7. Editing and Playback

Editing features on your voice recorder such as cutting, trimming, deleting, merging files or editing it into sections will significantly improve your workflow and improve productivity.

However, editing features will increase the purchase price as they require a lot more processing power.

The convenience of editing as you record – especially if you are a podcaster or publishing other media content – is worth the initial upfront costs.

Even if you are recording a file that requires transcribing, you won’t need to manually edit the file before sending it on to a transcribing service. Irrelevant content would be reduced and this would cut down the costs of transcription and increase the speed.

Most recording devices also have other features like review, cue, speed, skip ahead and playback.

Another convenient feature is having a recorder that has voice activation with a simple on/off button. Here, the recorder starts recording when it detects sound and stops when there is silence.

8. Extra Features

Additional features can add to the price of the recorder, but some, like noise cancelling, can be worth the cost. Here are some things to look for:

• Noise-canceling will reduce any background noise and create clearer audio.
• Filters also contribute to reducing excess high and low frequency sounds similar to treble and bass settings on a stereo system.
• LCD or backlit screens are useful if you are using your voice recorder in a darkened environment.
• File organisation is another handy feature if your voice recorder has multiple recording formats. The stored files on the voice recorder are organised and easily accessible based on the type of recording.

Other Voice Recorders We Reviewed

There are many voice recorders out there. Some of the better-known brands such as Sony or Olympus regularly update their devices even if the older models are just as good and are a lower price.

Here are some other great recorders to consider:

The Olympus WS-853 is a well-rated voice recorder and one that has topped many lists in the ‘best voice recorder’ category.

It has an impressive amount of technical features, such as auto mode to match the recording level to the volume of the person speaking, distortion avoidance, and will automatically edit the recording.

You can start and stop the recording using its voice-activated functionality and it has noise cancellation features which include a low-cut filter to reduce ambient noise.

It has an impressive 110-hour battery life and comes with 8 GB of built-in storage with a USB for file transfer.

It is presented in a sleek and slim design and can easily fit into a pocket.

The Sony ICD-PX470 is very similar to the UX570, not as stylish and the audio quality isn’t as good, but it is also cheaper.

This recorder is ideal for clear, stereo recordings of quiet memos and personal notes. It has a focused and wide audio recording function and can capture quieter sounds with its S-Microphone.

It also has four pre-set recording settings for a meeting, music, dictation and interview, and you can record and listen in MP3 and PCM.

It has 4 GB of built-in stereo, which can be increased to 32 GB with an SD card, and 55 hours of battery life. It has a low-cut filter and noise cancellation to increase the clarity of the audio file.

The Sony ICD-PX470 has a transcription-friendly playback service and other useful features, such as easy search and calendar search. It also has a USB port for easy transfers.

All-round a great voice recorder for day to day personal recordings.

If you want a feature-packed voice recorder with excellent, professional-quality sound at 96 kHz/24-bit recordings and two microphone noise cancellation, then the Olympus LS-P4 Hi-Res Audio Recorder is a great choice.

It features a TRESMIC – a three microphone recording system – and has a zoom microphone mode for distance recording.

It also has a FLAC recording and playback system.

This is one of the smallest hi-res audio recorders from Olympus and it has a lot of features packed into it.

This voice recorder is Bluetooth compatible, has a fade in/fade out function, voice balancer, trimming and partially erase functions, overdubbing, and can be controlled remotely.

It can record better than CD quality and is a great recorder for music performances or video shoots.

If you are a sound purist then the Sony PCM-D100 is the voice recorder for you.

The PCM-D100 is made to focus on technical specifications for sound. If you want to record the performance of a singer/songwriter or record an important interview, this voice recorder will ensure you get the crispest and cleanest audio file possible.

There is little or no harmonic distortion, as well as reduced jitter noise and other ambient sounds.

It has a highly sensitive directional microphone and comes with a wireless remote control.

It has 32 GB of internal storage space that can be increased to 64 GB, and a 12-hour battery life.

It has some tech features such as equalizing and can record PCM and MP3 simultaneously. You can also change the playback speed and it comes with a five-second pre-record function which can be handy in case you don’t hit the REC button in time.

It is not the most versatile product and is quite steeply-priced, but the audio quality on this recorder is excellent.

It makes sense that after looking at the priciest voice recorder we reviewed, we look at one of the lowest-priced.

The KINOEE 8GB Digital Recorder might be affordable, but it does the job. It is a voice recorder that is great for personal use whether that is to record a few notes, a lecture or a meeting.

It has a simple and easy to use three-button interface with record, stop and play buttons and can record in MP3 or WAV files. You can rewind or fast-forward your recording.

It also provides a recording function for telephone conversations – something that is useful as many important conversations are conducted via telephone.

The KINOEE has a 20-hour battery life and 8 GB of built-in storage. It has double sensitive microphones that record at 128 Kbps and a noise reduction chip for cleaner recordings.

Overall, a great device for a budget price.

The Zoom H4N is another top of the range voice recorder for a podcaster or other production enthusiast.

The audio quality on this recorder is very rich – a pristine and natural sounding recording in either mono or stereo options.

It comes with a built-in X/Y stereo unidirectional microphone that can be used in either a focused 90-degree layout or a wider 120-degree layout.

It can also do Mid-Side recording and has a low-cut filter and a very low noise floor to capture audio at lower volumes.

The H4N also has XLR input and built-in preamps with four-track simultaneous recording channels. It has a bright, backlit LCD with other features such as time stamping, overdubbing and phantom power input jacks to connect external microphones or instruments.

It also has onboard multi-editing effects such as compression, reverb, limited, etc. You can attach it on top of a DSLR for the ultimate audio/video combo.

It is a great choice for a seasoned podcaster or other production professional.

Final Thoughts

Accuracy matters and audio quality in production is important. Voice recorders can do both.

Whether you want a recorder for interviews, for a podcast or to carry in your pocket for personal use, there is a recorder for your needs.

As we move further into a more digital lifestyle, digital voice recorders have become quite common and, in turn, have become considerably more advanced and compact.

There are many available options on the market and it is important to research and consider your recording needs to make sure you get the correct voice recorder with the features that matter to you.