Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder
The DR-03 from Tascam is an extremely compact digital audio recorder, ideal for recording interviews, lectures, music practice sessions, and much more. The pocket-sized unit can record high-quality WAV or MP3 files at rates up to 24-bit/48kHz. The unit records to readily-available microSD flash memory cards, allowing you to record hours of material and share it easily. A 2GB card is included for convenience.
The recorder features a built-in stereo condenser microphone with an automatic level control and switchable low cut filter. The mic also features an auto-recording function and a limiter to prevent distortion. A 3.5mm stereo mic/line input makes it easy to connect an external microphone or instrument, while the 3.5mm headphone jack allows you to connect headphones or small external speakers. An integrated speaker lets you play back recordings for multiple listeners. The high-speed USB 2.0 port allows you to transfer your recordings to a Mac or PC for editing or sharing.
The DR-03 can be powered by a pair of standard AAA batteries or by USB bus power. The recorder includes a microSD card, AAA batteries, and a USB cable so you can start recording right out of the box.
- Extremely Compact
- The small size of the recorder makes it easy to throw into a bag or pocket for use virtually anywhere
- High-Quality Recording
- Record WAV files at rates up to 24-bit/48kHz and MP3 files up to 320kbps
- Reliable Media
- The DR-03 records to widely-available microSD flash memory cards for stable, reliable recordings. A 2GB card is included
- Built-in Stereo Mic
- The built-in stereo condenser mic includes automatic level control and a switchable low cut filter for crisp, clear audio. It also features an auto-recording function and a limiter to prevent distortion
- Built-in Speaker
- An integrated speaker lets you play back your recordings instantly. A variable speed function lets you adjust playback speed without altering the pitch. Loop playback mode is also included
- 3.5mm Connections
- A stereo 3.5mm mic/line input is provided, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack
- USB 2.0
- The high-speed USB 2.0 port allows you to quickly and easily transfer your recordings to a Mac or PC
- LCD Display
- A backlit 96 x 96 LCD display shows vital device info
- Power Options
- The recorder can operate on 2 standard AAA batteries or USB bus power
- Desktop Stand
- An integrated desktop stand lets you set the recorder on a table or desktop for high-quality recording
- Accessories Included
- The DR-03 comes complete with batteries, a microSD card, and USB cable so you can start recording immediately
| Type | Hand-Held Stereo Digital Audio Recorder |
| Recording/Reading Methods | microSD |
| Recording Bit Rate |
WAV: 16 and 24-bit MP3: 32-320kbps, VBR |
| Sampling Frequency |
WAV: 44.1 to 48kHz MP3: 44.1 to 48kHz |
| Number of Channels | 2 |
| Frequency Response | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| A/D Conversion | 24-bit |
| D/A Conversion | 24-bit |
| Connectors |
1 x Power Input 1 x 3.5mm Mic/Line Input 1 x 3.5mm Headphone Out 1 x Mini USB Port |
| Battery | 2 x AAA |
| Dimensions (WxDxH) | 1.45 x 5.41 x 0.59" (37 x 138 x 15mm) |
| Weight | 2.72 oz (77g) (With Batteries) |
| System Requirements | Mac or Windows Computer with Available USB Port (Optional) |
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
by PowerReviews(based on 35 reviews)
Ratings Distribution
93%
of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Pros
- Easy to use (33)
- Excellent sound (21)
- Versatile (21)
- Low distortion (16)
- Good power output (7)
Cons
- Unnecessary functions (4)
- Weak (3)
Best Uses
- Amateur recording (26)
- Outdoor events / games (19)
- Performances (18)
- Home studio (9)
- Professional recording (6)
- Reviewer Profile:
- Experienced (19), Professional musician (8), Novice (6)
Most Liked Positive Review
Very impressive, especially for [$]
I am using this to replace an antique, a Vestax 4 channel (2 at a time) cassette recorder that finally gave up it's ghost. My wife and I make informal recordings of local ...Read complete review
I am using this to replace an antique, a Vestax 4 channel (2 at a time) cassette recorder that finally gave up it's ghost. My wife and I make informal recordings of local musicians for our own collection, my pirate FM station, and modest distribution. We have been doing this for nearly 20 years, using a couple of Sennheiser mics and a Behringer mixer feeding the Vestax. When it died I was looking in to making a noticeable dent in our savings when I ran across the DR-03 for [$] at a popular online musician's supply site; but then a quick web search found it for [$] at B&H.As to performance, all I can say is WOW! Using the Sennheiser/Behringer source combo, with 24-bit/48kHz capture. provides remarkable clarity and zero noise (or at less a VERY significant improvement over the tape at 3-3/4ips w/Dolby).The built-in mics aren't bad. There's not much stereo separation, and they are very much influenced by placement and room acoustics--but they are better than I expected and as I will only rarely, if ever, use them so what.Its size marvels our "regulars", particularly when I let then listen to the playback with some decent headphones. The GUI and controls are well thought out with dedicated controls for the usual functions and easily accessible (one or two clicks) less used functions. I/O capability is great with a shared external mic/line input (specific function configured in setup), a 200Ω headphone/line output, and dual sensitivity (and most importantly defeatable) auto level control; this via a three position slide switch on the unit's right side. I.e. accessible and not buried somewhere deep in a menu hierarchy.When ALC is defeated the fast reverse/forward buttons let you set the input gain, with a easy to see bar graph display of input levels, and the first pres of the REC button places the unit in a record standby mode so that initial level setting may be made. The level (+/-) buttons continue to control the monitor output--no annoying "dual function" nonsense. All this is the mark of engineers that have actually "been there and done that".The only thing I found at all awkward was file folder creation, where is does it (creates a new folder), but with little feedback to let you know it has been done. Once you "get it" this is not a big deal.Overall, 1 to 10, I give it an 11...
VS
Most Liked Negative Review
Decent Entry Level Portable audio record
I use this recorder for recording lectures and doing some interviews for audio productions in radio. I've also used this as a recorder when working with a flip cam to supplement its audio.
...Read complete review
I use this recorder for recording lectures and doing some interviews for audio productions in radio. I've also used this as a recorder when working with a flip cam to supplement its audio.
This product works great out of the box. Fairly easy interface and easy to record. The Stereo built-in Mic is decent.
Things that could be better
-The level adjustments are nice but could be better.
-When using the built in mic there is some low level static.
-Be sure to change the setting for either Line-in or Mic. If you use a dynamic mic when it is set on line-in the levels are a little low.
-the battery life could be longer
-Needs more precise audio level controls
-built in speaker is very low quality...I would recommend headphones all the time.
-Construction is ok but I feel afraid to drop it.
Overall not bad. More cons than pros but for what I use it for the price and functionality are good enough. This product is more for beginners than professionals.
REVIEWS
Reviewed by 35 customers
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Displaying reviews 1-20
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Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
- Versatile
Cons
- Some Functions Are Slow
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
- Performances
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
I was impressed with the recording quality. It had better fidelity and sensitivity that I expected for this price range. It takes a little time to get used to the menus and formating memory cards is on a geological time scale. I do like using the DR-03 and would recommend to a friend.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
- Low Distortion
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
First thing, I only used this product in 2 situations: Acoustic guitar in bedroom, and jam in basement. Really decent sound, picks up a lot of detail, unfortunatly including the harsh basement concrete wall reverbation. But it makes my acoustic sparckle.
Best features: Ease of use, small and sleak, simple quick acces interface.
Could improve: Pretty hard on the batteries
Great tool for quick recordings
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
- Low Distortion
Cons
Best Uses
- Events
- Performances
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
I use this to record directly off the mixer board. The ability to take line level input is great. For my purposes, it records well for both speech and music.
The micro-usb bus power makes it battery free. At the highest sampling rate, uncompressed, 45 mins is approximately 1 Gig.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good price
- Versatile
Cons
- A bit noisy
Best Uses
- Home Studio
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
My wife uses the DR-03 in music lessons and she says it is good enough even when compared to our other recorder (Sony PCM-D50). I think it is too noisy when the mic gain is set to high. In the low position it's fine and the price is very, very atractive.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
- Low Distortion
- Powerful
- Super good
- Versatile
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
i love it!!!
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
I decided to get this little guy because I couldn't afford something nicer-- I combined it with a $50 preamp/mixer, so far everything I've captured on the DR-03 has turned out great- it has lots of menu options and is very easy to operate--though it eats through batteries (we have to change batteries at least once during a 4+ hour shoot.) I'm very happy with this product.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Powerful
- Versatile
Cons
- Terrible Speaker
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
Use it for voice recording. Very compact and lightweight, with good mics. You will want to use headphones, as the built-in speaker is useless.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
Cons
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
- Performances
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
I use the DR-03 for live music recordings primarily. I use it on stage to record myself in the band. Be careful of mic placement--on manual settings, there can be distortion even on a "zero" setting.
This unit is easy to use and to upload onto the computer. Good battery life. Playback settings could be easier to negotiate--it wants to go into "repeat" and then I can't get out of it.
I'm using a 128 MP3 setting, and very happy with quality. There are lots of compression/quality options, which is good.
I haven't tried an external mic, but the built in is just fine.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Extremely Portable
- Good Sound
- Small
Cons
- Mics Not Studio Quality
- Mono Record W Ext Mic
- No Phantom Pwr 4 Ext Mic
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
- Performances
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
Sure there are higher quality portable digital audio recorders, but thanks to B&H and Tascam I think the cost to performance ratio on the DR-03 is unbeatable.
Perfect for a sound sketch pad, a super portable field recorder, and recording rehearsals and jams. Sound quality using the onboard mics is pretty good - NOT studio quality, but good enough for lots of projects. I like the convenience of having stereo mics built in, but an external mic can be used to record in mono (no phantom power though.)
Easy to use. I've recorded a couple of events and haven't opened the manual yet.
The DR-03 is very small - about the width and thickness of a cell phone, maybe a little longer. Can be easily concealed.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Versatile
Cons
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
- Performances
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
This is great recorder if you need extreme portability (you can slip it in your shirt pocket) and good audio quality at a very affordable price. Menus are slightly confusing but much easier and simpler than in the old Zoom H4 I used to use. Since the microphones are fixed and not isolated from the body at all handling noise can be a problem, so it is best set on a table or flat surface. Battery life is a bit of an issue, so I would suggest a supply of rechargeables as a must. I had no problem transferring files to or from my Mac. I use it mostly for recording rehearsals or at live dates. The feature that slows down audio is kind of cool and I will use that as a practice aid.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
- Low Distortion
- Powerful
- Versatile
Cons
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
- Home Studio
- Performances
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
This product is very easy to use and you can play back your recording instantly using the onboard speaker, or with a pair of headphones. Or, you can very quickly and easily pull the files off of the recorder and drop the files onto your PC. You can easily choose your recording format and very quickly specify file size and quality. It is light, compact and the mini kickstand is very handy. A great product all around.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
Cons
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
The best compact recorder for it`s price!
Professional approach in cunstruction !
Aluminium front pannel elecricaly connected as a shield, microphones inside are accusticaly isolated and dumped by rubber rings...
Microphone`s sensitivity is good!
All fetures i need or can imagine are inside!
Very simle interface, i never opened manual.
Only problem discovered - recording noise level is higher when comparing to computer recording interface with external microphone, but it is not critical for that thiny and powerful device.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Versatile
Cons
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Home Studio
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
I bought the DR-03 to record my progress as a harmonica player (I'm taking lessons) and to serve as an oral notepad when I have a bright idea or need to remember something. The DR-03 replaces my 4-track pocket studio, a bigger, full-featured recorder, and a tiny Sony I used as a note taker. The DR-03 can't do as many things as the first two and it's a lot bigger than he Sony, but it does most of the things you want to do and it fits in a pocket.All this for [$]. And it fits in your pocket.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
Cons
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
- Performances
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
Great for recording jam sessions. Low input works well for recording drums and guitar at high volumes. Small and easy to use. Plastic body could be improved.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
- Low Distortion
- Powerful
- Versatile
Cons
- Needs a tripod mount
Best Uses
- Events
- Nature sounds
- Performances
- Professional Recording
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
I have researched various handheld stereo recorders for a few years. Many have been in the running but for my recording needs, carrying a 4 rack space digital hard drive recorder, microphone preamplifiers, microphone stands, assorted cables and powering needs and the microphones has been the status quo.
This is a LOT of geat to haul around for a 2 channel recording. My search for a good 2 channel recorder has been based on many things, price being one of them. As we all know, inexpensive gear usually is met with less than steallar results as the 'get what you pay for syndrome' ranks surpreme in most cases.
Face it, the gear I have been setting up is in excess of $25,000.00 and simply finding adaquate power can be a struggle with remote recording. I figured if I were to try a handheld .wav file stereo recorder, I would start with low price and work my way up. Given that I have over 30 years (close to 40) of live recording experience, if anyone could make this work, I could.
Wow, this unit is most amazing! It is not my Bruel&Kjaer mics and Simonsen mic pre but it does do a very nice job overall. Plenty of gain, low noise, nice monitoring amplification internally for the headphones, good battery life and the ability to upgrade the internal micro SD card to 32 gigs makes this a nice package for capturing nature sounds, concerts or sound bites.
Varible input level is provided as well as 2 fixed settings. The screen and controls are intuitive. The multiple high pass filter selections in windy areas is most effective. I found that hand noise can be a problem as well as breathing and other sounds which are unwanted. I installed my Tascam DR-03 in a soft pouch glasses case and the hand noise went away.
The 3 point desk stand (internal) is effective for keeping the body resonance to a minimum as I actually recorded a concert on stage with the unit on a grand piano without undue piano case resonance interfering with the audio.
I really wish this unit had a tri-pod mount but it does not. At this price point one cannot be too picky. With a little invention tech, one could make a mount for the unit but it would more than not cover the internal speaker on the rear panel. This speaker is usable to review your recording if held close to one of your ears. It is a playback only monitor so no worries with it broadcasting into the microphones during recording.
All in all, this is a no brainer value. I have seen the SD cards alone selling for 1/2 of the total purchase price and this unit comes with a 2 gig/byte card installed and batteries. I suggest you use rechargable types.
I get roughly 4 hours of batter life cycle from alkalines and about 2x that with NiMh. The unit also includes a USB cable for your computer transfer but beware, it is not the same one that usually comes with digital cameras so do not lose it! It is a between the size of a mini and a micro. Mark it with a small piece of gaffers tape "TASCAM" and no worries.
I suggest this purchase. The frequency response (below 20Hz up to 24kHz) is really high fi. O captured loud thunder without clipping using setting number 5 (it goes from 0-35) on the recording inout control.
You can record up to 24 bit 48kHz. I love mine! I will buy another for backup as well. I see no need to climb the ladder to more expensive models myself.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
- Low Distortion
- Versatile
Cons
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
I'm primarily using this to record background sounds and an occasional interview. The audio quality is, for my needs, excellent. I like the size and weight (so much I sometimes forget it's in my pocket). I'm still on a bit of a learning curve trying to get around some of its idiosyncrasies. My only complaint is the built in speaker (about 1.5 cm in diameter). It is completely inaudible unless the unit is held next to your ear. Ear buds or phones are a must.
Pros
- Easy To Use
Cons
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
I got the DR-03 for two reasons:
1) To record my band's performances and quickly provide my band mates with the recording.
2) To record myself practicing guitar.
For both purposes it works perfectly! I am very happy with it. We also record our live shows with a 4 track Tascam, however, it takes some time to mix and get into a format capable of playing on PC. With the DR-03, I record, transfer to computer with the provided USB cable, and put it on a USB flash drive for everyone else. Could not be easier or quicker.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
- Low Distortion
- Powerful
- Versatile
Cons
- Unnecessary Functions
Best Uses
- Home Studio
- Performances
- Professional Recording
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
I use this recorder for making preview recordings of songs and for taking notes. I find it easier to use than the other one I own, a reason why I ordered it. I am vry satisfied. The instructin is too long. It performs functions that are too complicated, but hey I don't need to go there.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Low price
Cons
- Vocals not clear
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
Just wanted a basic device to put a critical ear to my guitar practice. For that it works just fine. The acoustic guitar comes through very clearly but overpowers any vocals disproportionally. Setting the unit on my music pointed stand away from the guitar helps somewhat. Has a line-in for an external mic or mixer, might give that a try. Comes with a 2gb card which lasts longer than I can play. Reasonable price considering what the other options are.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Excellent Sound
- Low Distortion
- Versatile
Cons
- None
Best Uses
- Amateur Recording
- Events
- Performances
Comments about Tascam DR-03 Portable Digital Audio Recorder:
Small, high quality recording, inexpensive[...]!
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Batteries & Power
-
- Original: $16.95
- Save: $1.69
- Price: $15.26
Cables
- Price: $4.49
Shock Mounts
- Price: $95.00
Headphones
- Price: $24.95
- Price: $49.99
Software
- Price: $149.00
This item must be downloaded from the manufacturer's website. An authorization code will be emailed to you within 48 hours after purchase.
Cases & Protection
- Price: $34.99
Stands & Support
- Price: $47.95
What's in the Box
- 2 x AAA Batteries
- 2GB microSD Card
- USB Cable
- 1-Year Limited Warranty
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