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1I've been using an Olympus DS 330 and external mic to transcribe my speech to NatSpeak Pref. My DS 330 recently broke down, so I am searching for advice about a new voice recorder.

The DS 330 worked and its included software managed its files efficiently, but the sound quality was like a cell phone call. Its highest accuracy was about 96%, but often it made mistakes beyond confusing homonyms and hovered in the low 90s. 

Newer voice recorders appear to have much better sound quality. I borrowed an Olympus WS 300M and its sound was so clear that without an external mic, NatSpeak had 99% accuracy with my regular work documents immediately. With less familiar content, the recognition rate was around 97-98%.

I never used the advanced features on the DS 330, but I could see the use for modest editing abilities on the recorder to eliminate long pauses or very loud noises that might halt NatSpeak's transcription process. However, I presume that capacity could be accomplished with external sound file editing software.

Other posters have described the "WS" as consumer grade and therefore less good for dictation than more expensive professional voice recorder systems? 

How does one review voice recorders for Naturally Speaking?

What specific technologies, software, and features distinguish voice recorders from each other? 

In your opinion, for Nat Speak voice recorders what characteristics are necessities and which are luxuries?

Thank you.

 

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1Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional 10 -->  Knowbrainer and Voice Power Software-->  CPU: Pentium E2180 (Dual Core, 2ghz with 1MB L2 cache) --> Computer Memory: 4 GB RAM --> Operating System: Windows XP Pro --> Soundcard: Andrea ANC USB Pod --> Microphone: Sennheiser ME3.

The Philips 9600 is a great digital recorder for NaturallySpeaking but the $499 price isn’t for everyone.  The Olympus DS-4000, DS-3300 and DS-2300 digital recorders are all designed specifically for speech recognition, perform just as well from an accuracy point of view and are lower-priced.

The Olympus WS 300 M (consumer grade digital recorder) sounds good on playback because the built-in speaker is larger but it's not ideally suited to speech recognition.  Even the DS-4000 speaker sounds a bit chintzy on playback but the playback speaker is designed for reference only; not quality.  You can always playback your recordings through your computer speakers if you need to hear them.

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                                  Developer of KnowBrainer 2008
                     Nuance NaturallySpeaking Certified BBB Accredited 
                              Speech Recognition Solutions Provider

BillPaul,

We tested the Philips 9600 with theBoom and Sennheiser ME3 modified. Both not only work with this recorder but yield accuracy comparable to dictation into the computer. Although Lunis does not feel it is relevant, we believe the new higher quality audio (DSS Pro) is what finally allows us to be excited about a digital recorder.

Martin

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Martin Markoe - BANNED USER: This user has been banned from these forums