Just received a mailing on the Philips SpeechAir, which I assume is their response to the Olympus DS-9000. It sure does LOOK pretty! Do you anticipate carrying it? Thoughts on its performance?

The Philips SpeechMike Premium Air SMP4000 (Wireless USB Handheld/TableMike) is arguably the best handheld microphone which includes programmable buttons and mouse controls. However, it is in no way related to the Olympus DS-9000 which is a digital recorder. In other words you are comparing apples to carrots.

We suspect the confusion comes from the option of adding the Philips SpeechExec Pro utility, which is trash when compared to Dragon 15.3.

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Sorry, I should have included a link. https://www.dictation.philips.com/id/products/mobile-dictation/speechair-smart-voice-recorder-psp1000/

KSN, this particular model is discontinued and replaced with the Philips SpeechAir PSP2100

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Thanks, Lunis for the Philips SpeechAir PSP 2100 review. Your assessment is spot on with my experience using this recorder daily.  The only thing I would recommend when buying this recorder is to invest in the additional protective carrying case, which only costs about $40, but it will ensure protection from drops that may occur.

 

Additionally, under the specifications for the Philips PSP 2200, which has the software built in Philips recommends using 4GB RAM.  Under the Philips PSP 2100, I have tried to see if the 2GB RAM can be increased to 4GB; however, I do not see how that can be done and what, if any real difference that would make. Are you able to advise whether the 2GB can be increased and to what advantage?

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Upgrading the RAM seems highly unlikely because it is probably soldered to the motherboard.

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Actually this link works better. The other one says the product is unavailable but this one should list retailers carrying it. The unit is the PSP2100 https://www.dictation.philips.com/id/products/mobile-dictation/speechair-smart-voice-recorder-psp2000/

Our apologies for confusing the SpeechAir with SpeechMike Air. You are correct, this is a digital recorder but the previously mentioned DS-9000 and DS-9500 are notably superior to the SpeechAir which we have opted not to carry on our website, because we feel it is inferior to the latest Olympus technology.

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Okay, thanks!

I have a Philips SpeechAir recorder which is primarily used to record meetings and transcribing interviews using DPI 15.3.  Prior to purchasing it, a non-expert, subjective test was done to determine whether the Philips SpeechAir or the Olympus DS-9500 recorder was better. I determined the Philips SpeechAir overall recording quality was better, except when recording in very noisy environments, which is never my recording situations.  I think having three microphones makes a difference in making it a real good recorder. If a peron is looking into getting a high recorder, in my opinion, you cannot go wrong with Philips SpeechAir.  It is the best recorder I have owned.

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Thanks for your test results and they look promising enough that we have decided to add the SpeechAir to our website, within the next few days.

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Hey Nelson,

 

I'm curious, do you happen to recall what settings you had the Olympus recorder set on when you were doing your tests?  In our testing, even in quiet environments the Olympus recorders still came out on top so I'd love to learn more about how you tested the devices.

Cheers,

 

Alan

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Alan Doucet
Strategic Account Executive
Olympus America, Inc.

alan.doucet@olympus.com

Because of increased demand, we are now adding the Philips SpeechAir to our website and will additionally perform an AB comparison, between the 2 recorders, in various environments. Our review will be added to the current KnowBrainer Digital Recorder Face-Off which needs to be updated.

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Alan:

I do not recall the settings used, other than my provider who handles Olympus and Philips, tested them in conference and dictation modes at variable settings to give me an assessment, which was better for my needs. I ultimately bought the Philips SpeechAir Smart Voice Recorder PSP 2000, because to my ears this recorder speech pickup was clearer.  Additionally, one of my objectives was get rid of the transcriptionists in my workflow as it caused undue delay in acquiring the finished transcription, so the convenience for the transcriptionist was not a factor in my decision.  The other thing, I was able to get rid of the external microphone in most instances unless the dictation source was too far away.  I am sure when Lunis tests these two recorders, we will receive an objective, expert opinion which device is best.

 

 

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Thanks for the reply Nelson.

Don't get me wrong, at Olympus we've got a ton of respect for the Philips products, I do believe the Philips SpeechAir has a place in this market and I'm genuinly happy that you're enjoying it so much!  I think at both Philips and Olympus we're both happy anytime we hear that people are still dictating!!  In fact, that's given me an idea for a new thread that I'll start right after this.

And lastly, I'm definitely very interested to see how Lunis' tests play out.

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Alan Doucet
Strategic Account Executive
Olympus America, Inc.

alan.doucet@olympus.com

You will find our test results here

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Hi everyone,

One thing I wanted to add (and keep in mind I'm an Olympus employee so I'm absolutely biased) while the SpeechAir does have 3 microphones, they work independently. On the Olympus DS-9000 and DS-9500 we have 2 microphones, however they work in tandem. In Dictation mode, we use the time differential between when sound hits the first and second microphone to build a 360 degree map of sound, and we actively suppress any noise not coming from the speaker. In conference mode, we're able to use both microphones to build a very accurate stereo recording. This is important for a transcriptionist who has to type up meetings with multiple speakers who may have similar voices. Wearing stereo headphones, you're able to hear where the voice is coming from.


The SpeechAir is still a great product, and as Nelson mentioned above does a great job in quiet environments, however as soon as there is any noise, the Olympus recorders will provide the best results.


From the Philips website, "Three professional microphones deliver ultimate sound quality in any recording situation. The 360° microphone is ideal for recording dictations and meetings. For noisy environments, such as when dictating on a train or in a shared office, the directional microphone is best suited. It filters out background noise and records your voice perfectly for excellent playback as well as speech recognition results. You can even record clear VoIP calls with a third, dedicated microphone."
https://www.dictation.philips.com/id/products/mobile-dictation/speechair-smart-voice-recorder-psp2000//?tx_philipsproducts_pi1%5BtargetGroup%5D=436&cHash=7f3d22ccd400daa523972af15876049d

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Alan Doucet
Strategic Account Executive
Olympus America, Inc.

alan.doucet@olympus.com

I just picked up the Philips SpeechAir and also have a DS-9500. Lunis's review of both recorders is pretty spot on in comparing the actual recorders themselves; the Olympus is better on battery life and noise cancellation but they are otherwise equal. Philips does have the upper hand for mobile speech recognition software, however. I can be on a bus and take my SpeechAir, hit two buttons and have the recording sent by WiFi through my iPhone to SpeechLive, have Speech Exec Pro automatically download it to my computer where it gets run through Dragon (and my custom vocabulary), sent automatically back up to SpeechLive, and have a near perfect transcription emailed directly to my account. All of this is done automatically (well, except the pressing of two buttons on my SpeechAir) in literally less than a minute. What's even more amazing? Speech Exec Pro and Dragon 15 are both doing all this magic inside of Parallels on my Mac!

I travel a lot for work. So this now means I have leverage Dragon from my home desktop to (nearly) instantly transcribe my recordings accurately while I'm on the road without a laptop! All I need is a WiFi connection for my SpeechAir to connect to.

To make this work, I needed a basic SpeechLive account (the cheap one for $10 a month is fine), a copy of the newest Speech Exec Pro software (about $100 from Philips), and Dragon Pro 15. Install Speech Exec Pro (SEP) after having both Dragon and SpeechLive set up as it will walk you through the wizards to connect your SpeechLive account and Dragon profile. Then, search for the checkbox "automatically queue downloaded SpeechLive dictations for offline speech recognition" (checked) and radio button "dictation state after speech recognition-- transcription finished" (checked). Then just keep Dragon and SEP running on your PC and take your trip!

It does take some searching and playing around with settings to make it work. But it is pretty magical when all is working well. Far better than Dragon Anywhere because you're using a professional grade recorder and your own custom Dragon profile.

What happened to Philips SpeechAir?  Seems to have disappeared.

If you are referring to the Philips SpeechAir PSP2200/00, we believe it is no longer manufactured; although still available on a few overstocked sites. Philips and Olympus typically go back and forth creating the world's best recorders. It was time for Philips to up the ante. Their approach was to release a recorder with an Android operating system that looks like a cell phone and did pretty much everything but dial numbers. It was an interesting concept but only received a consumer lukewarm reception. We discontinued carrying it on our website shortly after we sold out of our initial run because no one was interested. The SpeechAir PSP2200 was excellent but you can optionally add the SpeechExec utility to a cell phone with most of the same features, quality and you would only have to carry one mobile phone around.

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All I want to do is dictate and have DNS type it for my later review.  How would SpeechExec on my cell phone work with my DNS 13?  Do you recommend Olympus 9500 over SpeecExec / cell phone?

SpeechExec turns a cell phone into a digital recorder. Olympus makes a similar utility but of course it won't be as good as the Olympus DS-9500. HOWEVER, if you are serious about transcribing digital recordings, you really need DPI 15.61 (includes complimentary installation/training manual). The new Dragon (Philips) speech engine is far more ideally suited to transcribing digital recordings; even different voices. 

If speech recognition plays an important role in your workflow, don't try to get by with Walmart consumer tools (Premium 13)

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How would SpeechExec utility on my cell phone work with my DNS 13? Would you recommend Olympus 9500 over SpeechExec / cell phone?