Tonfarb 96GB Digital Voice Recorder with Playback,Audio Recording Device

I bought this device primarily to facilitate recording from the headphone outputs on my laptop, portable TV, cell phone, and other devices. For this reason, I needed a mic or line level input that would be compatible with a wide range of signal levels. This unit not only allows you to select "line level" when you plug a cable into the "mic" input, it further allows you to set any of seven different recording levels and verify them visually while recording. Perfect. An added bonus is that the device adds "LIN" to the audio file name to indicate that it was recorded using a "line level" source instead of a microphone. I'm impressed overall with the quality of the recorder and some of its features. (Many of the features are nice, but not useful to me personally.) Here are a few positive comments: 1. The USB interface with my laptops is quick and reliable. File transfer speeds are good, but not great. (The device must be OFF when you connect it or it will not be recognized by the laptop.) 2. The included 64GB TF card is a nice bonus and works fine. 3. You can select from four compression levels for MP3 encoding and four levels for WAV encoding. At least one of them is bound to be perfect for your needs. 4. AVR has adjustable sensitivity and it works fine, but I have no need for it myself. 5. The internal mics work well for most applications, but performance really improves if you use a decent external mic. I tried one of my Sony stereo lavaliere mics (about $30) and the result was very, very good for recording personal conversations and meetings. Again, this is not my primary use for the recorder, so your opinion may differ. As other reviewers have commented, the instructions that come with this unit are a cut above most that come with foreign-manufactured products. This is a good thing, because the recorder has quite a few features that are not obvious at first glance. TL;DR: If you need to record what's coming from a headphone jack, this is a great product to do that. It even comes with the 1/8" stereo cable you commonly need to do this.

Had gifted one and he was so pleased with the voice recorder, bought one for myself, too. If you are looking for a small recorder for local usage, would recommend. Found the directions to save recordings to different folders confusing, so there is a bit of study to the process. Depending on your settings, it may auto-turn off while recording & what I noticed is leaving the setting open to not shut down, it was very important to manually turn it off when done recording because it is pocket size & if you forget to turn it OFF manually, it will wear down the battery. That's a user & settings issue. The instrument itself in our experience has been well worth the purchases.

Update: I raised it by a star because they reached out to me to see if there was anything they could do. I value that quite a bit in a company. It tells me that they genuinely care about customer service since they are investing in resources to deliver it. Along the same lines they also listen & take note of the things they need to improve on. I'm looking forward to their next version which I'm sure will incorporate some of the user suggestions. Great job. I am really impressed on several levels: 1st off, it was shocking to find out that the instructions were actually written in plain English. I could actually read and understand without the help of Google translator or AI. That in itself tells me that this manufacturer is thinking at a higher level of marketing and user-friendly instructions. I really like the organizational features of folders and different choices in easy to follow tabs. The 64Gb micro slot mem card is a gem too. Very light and small and easy to handle. I have used it for a week and the battery is still fully charged, good sign. Now to the stuff that disappointed me: 1) the replay volume for recorded conversations is too low and the volume button don't really change it by any degree both on the recorder and the earplugs. 2) the earplugs are too ruff with hard plastic against your skin. A rubberized or softer material would have been very helpful. They are also too big for my ear canal, so giving option of s,m,l like many other earphone devices would have come a long way. So I have to spend extra and get a more convenient set. 3) the sound seems to be coming out of only one side. Is the unit defective or it just doesn't record in stereo? I have no idea but I guess I can get by (not too happy about it though). 4) the forward & backward playback is probably the biggest issue I have. If you click it quickly it takes you back to the very beginning. If you go slow it speeds up quite a bit. So you end up wasting a lot of time trying to find the spot you intend to land in. It should be exact reverse: hold long to go back all the way and short clicks to advance or go back a small stretch at a time. This is the reason I'm going to have to return it and gave it a 3 star (it really deserved 2 for missing this most essential feature of a recorder but I was so happy about the understandable English instructions that I had to give them a big star just for that). 5) the last that is not critical but definitely desirable is that while you are charging it you can't do a darn thing. Imagine you're in an important lecture and your battery runs out but you have a backup charger. Tough, you're still going to miss the recording. That's a bummer. It would have been almost a perfect product except for the big #1 & #4. Too bad, great potential though.

Light weight, about the size of a pack of gum. High quality sound and lots of features.

This was very disappointing after hearing the mic quality ,You literally have to wear it for it pick up anything. Goin to try a better mic see if works better or return it.

Works great. User interface is really simple. Battery life is impressive!! The audio quality isn’t the clearest I’ve ever heard, but it does what it needs to. It’s super light easy to store and quite functional.

So far not so good. Tried line in recording. Only records one side. Tried different devices, different hook-ups. Still will only record one side. Tried different cord just in case. Tried connecting cd player, a cassette player even an 8-track player, yet only one side will record. Records voice both sides ok through external mic but line in mic only records on one side. I will probably never use this to record anyone talking but oh well. It is just the line in not functioning properly. It plays waves and mp3s just fine and it is simple to use and load music. Too bad about the line in though because that is the main function I wanted. The rest of it still works so I guess I have a mp3/wave player only. Kinda bummed. But I'm pretty sure life will go on. I haven't decided if it is worth sending it back or not. A lot of trouble for something so small. I'll think about it for a bit. Update. I have decided to return this item. The sound isn't really all that good through headphones, and there is nothing to clip it on with when jogging. Makes no sense to keep it when I can't really use it for anything. No harm no foul and nobody got hurt so it's no big deal. All is good.

Way too difficult to use even after reading the instructions four times. Lots of questions unanswered. Would not buy this again.