Bos BR 864 or 532?

[Jim Eveland]

I do strictly conversation-level speech: voiceovers, radio ads, audio books & instructions, radio drama, etc. (Shure SM7) Been recording to computer, but too much noise/buzz, etc, and not very portable. So, I've been looking for a record-to-memory-card unit with minimum CD-quality uncompressed .wav format; do not need more than 2 tracks, no effects, etc: I'll edit on the computer. The Boss BR 864 looks good in the ads; the older BR 532 is available used but I'm not sure what the difference would be to me. Any comments on these two, or suggestions for something better for my simple, narrow, but quality needs? (Easy on the tech-speak: I started out on reel-to-reel tape in the '60s!)

 

[A Reel Person]

Neither the BR-532 or BR-864 record true 16/44.1 wav file format.

They both use a proprietary data format, (MT2), that's equivalent to 16-bit/44.1kHz resolution,...

"Useful Capacity CompactFlash: 32 MB to 1 GB
Data Type HiFi (MT2), STANDARD (LV1), LONG (LV2)
Sample Rate 44.1 kHz "


but unfortunately it's not a native windows wav format file. There may be Boss utilities that convert it to true wav format, which is something that should be checked out.

A recorder that comes to mind that records in standard 16/44.1 wav file format to CF cards is the Fostex MR8. Maybe check that out, too.

 

[A Reel Person]

In fact, there is a Wav conversion program for the BR-864

BR WAVE Converter Ver.2.00
...
- Exports BR-900CD/864/532 files to WAV/AIFF formats
- Imports WAV/AIFF files into BR-900CD/864/532 tracks
...