iflytek
$159.99 Price may change
30 videosDr Obbins
The recorder translates great in the office but has many errors when used on the shop floor. In the attached pic, the RED is the translation and the (***) is what it is supposed to be. The green was recorded in the office and is correct.
Matt
The transcriptions on the recorder were often wrong and inadequate.
I hope they provide updates to the firmware to make the transcript better in the future.
Recording was good, but failed my expectations on the transcript.
Riley
As a university student learning Korean, I needed a reliable tool to record my practice sessions, and the iFlytek voice recorder has been perfect for this. It's incredibly compact and lightweight, making it easy to carry around wherever I go. The operation is very straightforward and user-friendly, so I can start recording anytime without any hassle. I absolutely love how it helps me capture every detail of my language learning journey!
RCVR Tech
I got this because it doesn't require a subscription to work. Devices like these are often riddled with hidden fees and I was happy to find that this was not one of those.
Mo
I absolutely love this voice recorder! Has a nice modern look to it with a smart screen as well! Very easy to use and fits in your pocket to take on the go!
Voice quality is superb, I wouldn’t use anything else! The battery is very strong because I’ve been using it and still haven’t charged it once!. Overall great item in my opinion!
Wei Song
I've been using this recorder for a while now, and I have to say, it did really well. The four different modes are super easy to figure out, and the way it filters out non-voice sounds is genius. It's saved me so much time from having to replay recordings over and over.
And can we talk about the storage? There's plenty of room for days of recordings, which is perfect for my needs.
I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who wants to improve their note-taking. It really simplifies my work and makes everything more efficient.
Youlin Zhang
Easy to use, no subscription fee.
I bought it for meetings and lectures，it's incredibly handy for note-taking during discussions.
Instantly view notes on the device is particularly convenient.
Professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants would benefit from using this invaluabletool
Cloudydreams
THis recorder is seriously impressive. The offline transcription works like a charm, the audio quality is great, and there’s plenty of storage for days of recordings.
After using it for several days, I can say it’s awesome for transcribing notes. Unlike the older models, this one does offline transcription, which is perfect for making meetings more efficient, even if the internet is spotty.
The only downside? It’s a bit pricy, over $200. But with all the cool features and how much more productive it makes meetings, it’s definitely worth the investment.
nemo
During use, it has helped me tremendously with meeting notes, and my overall experience has been excellent. I recently used it for a meeting with an influencer to discuss our future collaboration, and it facilitated clear communication about our next steps.
As for its performance:
The long-distance microphone reception is impressive. Even sitting far back in a crowded meeting, I could still capture clear recordings of all discussions.
The transcription and highlight features are lifesavers. After meetings, I'm responsible for organizing action items, and these functionalities have significantly boosted my efficiency.
The touchscreen interface is really sleek. My colleagues have complimented its professional look and feel.
I must admit, before purchasing, I went through all customer reviews and was worried about its transcription accuracy. However, in my personal experience, it's been quite reliable. While it occasionally misses some technical terms, most of the transcriptions are accurate and understandable. One downside is the lack of Spanish language support, which is not very user-friendly. Thankfully, it doesn't affect my current work, but I hope they'll add Spanish transcription soon. Despite this, overall, I would still recommend using this recording device
Finally, the price tag is a bit steep, but if it continues to deliver such high-quality audio recording and transcription results and lasts for several years, I believe it's worth the investment.
JHoney
Slow boot, I measured 16 seconds. I'm used to other voice recorders that are pretty much instant on.
This is a pretty large device compared to your typical recorder. Mine weighed 99g, compare with a Sony ICD-UX560 Recorder at 51g. It is close in height to an iPhone 5s (113g), but narrower.
The two main mics are at the top. The other four surround the D-pad. It is not clear what purpose all the mics serve.
Charges fine from USB C PD (smart) chargers. I saw it pull 2 amps at 5V when I first hooked it up, but it backed off quickly to 1.4A or so. The battery is rated 2000mAh (7.7Wh).
File transfer is via MTP protocol (just like an android phone). I was able to access it from my phone with a USB C OTG adapter and an A to C cable, but not with a regular USB C cable.
The built-in storage is 32GB, but about 9GB is taken up by the operating system and offline language packs. It reports enough space for 175 hours of recording. Changing recording mode doesn't seem to affect the number of hours.
== User Interface ==
Nice touchscreen, unexpected with all the physical controls. Both touch and physical controls are very responsive.
From standby you have to press the record button twice to record. First time will show the lock screen, second time will start recording. You can have a lock pin set, and still record this way.
All of the built-in documentation is just QR codes that take you to a website. They are dense QR codes, and my phone had a hard time reading them. When you scroll to the Settings card on the main screen it also gives some random usage tips slowly, 2 lines at a time.
== Recording and Transcription Quality ==
The output formats are docx for the transcripts, and wav for the recordings. I didn't see any setting to change either. Despite all the microphones, it only seems to record in mono.
It supports 4 recording modes: Intelligent (General use), Conference, Speech, and Interview.
I mostly compared the audio with my Sony recorder. The biggest difference is this device records Mono 16kHz wav file, while the Sony records in Stereo 44kHz mp3 files. Volume-wise both had similar levels, but the iFlyTek has a tendency to adjust the base-level dynamically which can sometimes cause it to miss things.
I recorded some whispers from about 1 foot, and the sound was similar, but this unit peaked weirdly on some high frequency noises. The transcription only caught 3/10 words.
The second comparison was normal voice at 1 ft. I notice the iFlytek does a good job minimizing background noise. It still had high frequency peaking. It also recording my first few words at lower volume than the rest, but that wasn't reflected on the Sony recording so I think they're doing some dynamic adjustment. Transcription was 10/10 words, excellent.
Next I tried some random noises followed by weather radio. At first the noise recordings were very similar to the Sony, but when I got to some quieter noise, it recorded nothing. When the weather radio started it missed about 8 seconds of audio, recorded another 5 at very low volume, and then started recording acceptably. When I spoke after the radio was turned off it did a poor job of adjusting volume so the audio was peaking. Transcription struggled with the weather broadcast, 1-2 errors per sentence.
I recorded some more speech from audio playing on my speakers. There is some weirdness with the audio. I hear what sounds like a slight reverb effect or echo. It was really noticeable in one section where the audio became muffled, and the echo even more pronounced, but the Sony recorded this section clearly. Really feels like some post-processing gone wrong.
Overall the transcription is useful as a record, but not accurate and reliable enough. In most cases it would require a human relistening and editing to correct issues.
== Physical build ==
Most of the case is plastic. It has a aluminum front panel. The screen panel feels like glass.
The build feels very 2010s Apple-like. There are two plastic covers stuck on the top and bottom. Under them are 6 screws. The aluminum face of the unit is secured by 2 of those 6, then it also clips into the front of the plastic body. Behind the display/control panel is a plastic carrier with the PCB, and battery.
Overall I like the build. It is a little tight dealing with the microphone connections and LCD flat flex. Looks like a swell effort to me.
== Components ==
The main processor is a Mediatek MT8788V. This is a pretty serious 8-core (4 performance, 4 efficiency) Arm CPU. It also has a dual core AI processor unit.
Flash and RAM are both Biwin parts. The flash is qNAND eMMC BWCTARJ11X32G, 32 gigabyte something. The ram is BWCC2X32N2A-16G-X. It is a 16 gigabit chip (2 gigabytes) of LPDDR4 1866 Mhz.
The other big chip is Mediatek MT6358W, a power management IC.
All the other board components were under soldered shields.
The LCD is marked Yihua TFT YH-020BJ0057N4-90D00-PTM0. The screen seems to be about a 2 inch, 320x240 panel.
John
This voice recorder is able to transcribe on the fly which is displayed on the recorder's screen in real time, albeit with a slight lag of about 2-3 seconds. This is fine as I'm not expecting subtitles for conversations here. For everyday conversion, I see about an error or two in every other sentence uttered so the technology still has ways to go. Furthermore, I've been using it on lectures that frequently incorporate Latin which it fails to properly transcribe. Yes, I know that Latin is not English but it certainly should for a device that's advertised to be aptly suited to help the user with documenting university level lectures.
The device is said to incorporate dictionary files from various languages so that the user can transcribe beyond English. In fact, even Asian languages are included which admittedly, isn't too shabby in my opinion. Further, an update to a language dictionary would indicate a boost in transcribing performance with each iteration. We've heard Elon argue that the value of Tesla vehicles should appreciate rather than depreciate for the same reason but we all know how that turned out. I hate to be that guy here but hoping for a frequent update for a product like this is wishful thinking unless the product is flying off the shelves or the device is working off of an open source code base. And even then, it really depends on the manufacturer's due diligence in keeping up.
To close, the tech embedded on this device is just not there yet to justify its rather exorbitant price tag at the time of writing. I must admit, I fell to the trap of the "AI" keyword that ultimately led to my ordering the device so the fault is my own. I hope the reader would learn from my blunder if he/she has bothered to read this review thus far. I'd be happy to recant this review were things to change. But I just couldn't recommend this product to others as things currently stand.
Joel Miller
It's nice to have the option for transcription but in my particular case it's not really necessary, nor do I wish to spend the time to jump through the hoops to get the transcription on my computer. The touch screen is excellent but the interface is not really as intuitive as it should be. I like to just turn on a device and go through the menus, most of the time I can master a device in a very short time but not really with this recorder. The recorder might be helpful to record a class, etc. but I wouldn't rely on the accuracy of the transcription, you'll need to go through and check for accuracy. I think this recorder is priced too high and a bit difficult to use without quite a few dry runs.
MelissaCJohnson
This voice recorder is really incredible; supports 5 languages, works offline, and keeps recording for up to 7 hours straight. It's easy to navigate, which is a huge plus for me.
I cannot wait to use this! I have a resident who only speaks Korean, so it's been alot of communicating through his family members, rather than him directly. This is going to change the game and I'm so excited.
It's small and lightweight, so it's easy take with you wherever you go. If only it could handle a few more languages, like Spanish and Farsi-that would make it even more amazing!
Rosemary
This recorder is a smart recorder. I still have to figure everything out, but when you talk it types everything down and you can see it. We picked English and tried recording and it literally picks up everything being said. When you play it back you hear every voice including the chickens outside cackling. It is clear upon playback and I can see taking notes from this easily. It says you can record over 4 hours on just one single recording. It comes with an instruction booklet so you can figure this out. However it’s pretty intuitive and easy to use.
I don’t understand why the price point is so high for a recorder though.
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