Why is it amazing?

• It's signal to noise ratio - a measure of audio clarity - is 93dB.
• At its higest, the PCM-D50 will surpass DAT recording quality.
• It comes with 4 GB of memory built in - this is enough to allow approximately 6 hours at an excellent 48 Khz 16 bit recording (CD quality is 44.1 KHz and 16 bit)
• It records natually in WAV format - so transfer using the USB port is a breeze. There are no weird Sony proprietery formats to deal with here.
• There are 2 microphones available - this allows stero recording.
• The battery life is 14 Hours when recording CD quality  at 44.1 KHz/16  bit recording or 12 Hours at the highest quality format.
• The recorder is made of aluminum - not plastic.
• It has the same limiter as the D1 - meaning that if there is any clipping, the PCM-D50 will take a signal at -20dB down and use that. You won't get clipping unless you have an extreme problem.

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Sony PCM D-50 Review 

            As a mainstay in the area of electronics, certain expectations are weighed on Sony products. In many regards, the Sony PCM D-50 lives up to the expectations that are put onto it. At first glance, and touch, it appears to be slightly hefty, but then it is generally found to be fairly comfortable when held in the palm of one hand. Indeed, it feels solid and rugged, sort of as if it was designed for work out in the field.

            Other features further reinforce this feel, most of all being the bars that protect the twin microphones at the top. Overall, it seems to be a digital recorder that can take a few hits here and there and still come out of it all doing well.

Flexibility and High Quality Performance

            Although in most cases it isn’t a good idea to judge a book by its cover, in the case of the D-50 the initial feel of it being designed to work out in the field seems to be spot on. With the inbuilt twin microphones providing good sound quality recordings, the more exciting feature that they have is their ability to be rotated up to 120 degrees or so each.

            On top of that, memory will possibly never be an issue with the D-50. Mostly this is due to the fact that, where most other digital recorders only provide storage in the form of additional memory cards, the D-50 has an internal RAM storage of 4 GB. On top of that, in is granted that the situation may arise where more is necessary, however rarely, in which case a Memory Stick of up to 4 GB can be used too, bringing the total up to 8 GB of memory.

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Good and Bad Go Hand in Hand

            Sadly, the one downside to the Sony PCM D-50 is that it is sensitive. True, this is not normally viewed as a downside, but the D-50’s microphones are too sensitive to win, and that presents potential problems. As a solution to this, Sony has an optional furry windscreen that cuts out most of the wind-noise. Naturally, this is hardly an ideal solution as it also means that in situations when things get very windy, it is difficult to record sharp and clear audio.

            Apart from this one flaw however, the rest of the D-50 is very up to date and brimming with useful features. Most are easily accessible, and the green and red set of LEDs that are used in conjunction with the meters can be handy for any situation where the meters are out of sight.

             All in all, Sony has come up with a very solid, functional, and rugged digital recorder that somehow manages to pull off high quality recordings. Of course the problems with recording in the wind exist, however there are ways around that, and even a little time spent editing could help clear the background noise up a bit. While not entirely perfect, it is certainly one of the better digital recorders on the market.