Audio
February 2, 2025
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In this episode, we cover the new TASCAM DR-07XP hand-held audio recorder with built-in stereo microphones. The stereo microphones can be configured in XY or AB spaced pair configurations — giving you a couple of options for making stereo recordings of ambiences, sound effects, foley, or even ASMR. Let’s cover what’s new in this latest version of the DR-07 and cover the most important features.
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TASCAM DR-07XP hand-held stereo audio recorder
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Copyright 2024, Curtis Judd
This entire episode is recorded with the Tascam DR-07XP configured in XY stereo position, normalized to -23 LUFS with no other processing. What's new in this XP version: a USB-C port (replacing older USB types) and 32-bit float recording. RF interference testing with a phone (Wi-Fi and LTE) and a Deity Theos wireless transmitter showed no interference unless the transmitter antenna was held within about 2cm of the microphones — better shielding than previous versions.
It's a small handheld stereo recorder configurable in a tight XY pattern (avoiding phasing issues, cardioid pickup mostly to the front) or a wider spaced AB pair for a bigger stereo image, demonstrated with directionality samples. It records 32-bit float up to 96kHz, has a 3.5mm input for external lavalier mics (demonstrated with a Rode Lavalier II) and a 3.5mm output for headphones or powered speakers — the headphone amp can drive up to 250-ohm headphones but gets noisy at higher impedances, so stick to under 100 ohms for best results. USB-C can power the unit, act as a card reader, or work as an audio interface.
Powered by two AA batteries, using Ikea Ladda 2450mAh NiMH rechargeables I got 14 hours 25 minutes of continuous 32-bit float recording — plenty for most field work. It records to microSDXC, has a decent outdoor-readable LCD screen, a built-in speaker for playback checks, and impressively, when the batteries died mid-recording it still saved everything up to within a couple seconds of the cutoff. You can choose date-based or custom file naming.
Cons: files are capped at 2GB and split automatically when that limit is hit (not unique to this recorder — true of nearly everything except my far more expensive Sound Devices 888), and the headphone amp's noise makes it a bit risky to feed as scratch audio directly to a camera. Overall this is a fun, capable sub-$200 handheld recorder, especially nice for switching between XY and AB stereo configurations for ambient and sound-effects recording — it obviously doesn't outshine recorders 20x its price, but it's fairly priced for what it offers. Get out there, make some great sound, and we'll talk to you again soon.
