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

Alan Doucet
Strategic Account Executive
Olympus America, Inc.

alan.doucet@olympus.com