Comments

Subscribe to the comments RSS feed.

Comment #1 posted on 2026-02-27 08:33:24 by Dave Lee (thelovebug)

Audio quality

Anyone who knows me knows my opinions on audio quality, and particularly as it relates to HPR.

Listening to the results of your three microphones:

* the Zoom H1 sounded utterly beautiful
* the Tozo earbuds were moderately awful
* the Soundcore earbuds were quite decent, but your voice sounded a bit robotic.

You'll never experience decent audio recording quality from devices that weren't intended for that purpose. Earbuds are notoriously bad for quality due to the audio processing needed to handle the distance between the bud and your mouth.

I'd always recommend an audio recorder or decent quality microphone first, a mobile phone recording app second, a laptop's built-in microphone third, and anything else as a last resort.

This sounds a bit snobby, I'll grant you, and I know that it conflicts with Ken's stance that quality doesn't matter, but you really do need to consider the audience. It's also worth mentioning that any difficulties experienced through bad audio quality get compounded when listening at higher playback speeds.

Comment #2 posted on 2026-02-27 17:29:43 by Kevin O'Brien

The Zoom was perfect

I thought the Zoom microphone was perfect. The other ones were OK, though. I'd accept a show recorded with either of them.

Comment #3 posted on 2026-03-03 15:08:13 by Archer72

Bad mic

Hi Dave,

I wouldn't record with either earbud on a regular basis, but it works in a pinch.

My preference, if away from a proper mic, is to use the Axet Audio Recorder which mysteriously disappeared from the F-droid app.

Actually, this is not so mysterious considering the state of Google's current relationship against the developers of FOSS apps.

I have also heard the results of the android recorder with a lapel mic in a previous episode, which shows semi-decent quality.

Cheers,
Archer72

Leave Comment

Note to Verbose Commenters
If you can't fit everything you want to say in the comment below then you really should record a response show instead.

Note to Spammers
All comments are moderated. All links are checked by humans. We strip out all html. Feel free to record a show about yourself, or your industry, or any other topic we may find interesting. We also check shows for spam :).