Freesound Forums
Tascam FR-AV2
Started January 14th, 2025 · 30 replies · Latest reply by klankbeeld 1 week ago
Edited the comparison video. https://youtu.be/UF9ajWotO4Q
And here's a multichannel wav so you can poke around the recording https://freesound.org/people/Sadiquecat/sounds/786389/
Similarly here's a H5 stock vs NT5 vs NT5 w fethead : https://freesound.org/people/Sadiquecat/sounds/786473/
I have also published some recordings inside the village of Quillan https://freesound.org/people/Sadiquecat/packs/42715/ . Mostly river sounds but there's a few church and traffic sounds.
I also have these ORTF recordings, in quiet conditions where I wouldn't have been happy by the noise of the H5. Recording a village from a hill point advantage.
https://freesound.org/people/Sadiquecat/sounds/786474/
https://freesound.org/people/Sadiquecat/sounds/786475/
Still have to trim all my whooshes 🫠
Hey Sadiquecat !
I’ve downloaded and listened the file, and it confirms my first impressions :
FR-AV2 sound richer and warmer than H5.
And, not surprising, internal capsules of H5 are way noisier than NT5.
Thank you very much for this very interesting comparison ! 
Wishing you all the best !
Kevin
So I had the Tascam FR-AV2 for a while now.
I see the Zoom H5 Studio came out, so OFC I had to compare and remind that I was taking notes of my experience with the AV2.
There will be duplicates with my last post of the kind :
-File name cannot have date AND TIME just date. I can open a column in my file browser and see the "date created" to find time of recording. It's an extra step taking me outside of my audio software when exporting.
-File sizes if you're curious :
No 44.1khz recording.
32bit 48khz stereo 23mb / minute, so 1.4gb/h (Tested 1.71 gb for 1H15.)
32bit 96khz stereo 45mb / minute, so 3gb/h. (Tested 500mb for 11min)
32bit 192khz stereo 95mb / minute so 5.7gb/h (Tested 800mb for 8min40)
You CAN record in 24bit! But in practice file sizes of 32bit float are marginally bigger. And I process all my recordings in audacity anyway so adios 24bit when recording.
-No internal speakers to review your audio.
-3 AA batteries is kinda awkward. My battery container are by 4.
-Power button doesn’t click and there is no notification powerup/boot down sound (no buzzer and doesn’t do it via headphones).
-It has no accessibility feature.
-Rubber feet are nice!
-Channel inputs can spill into another, (But I noticed it while shouting adding 84 gain, and it was barely above the self noise.)
-2 channels max but one can record from XLR and from the EXT in. If doing so, only the right channel of a stereo mic will be taken from the ext in.
-No Internal normalisation of recordings (It’s 32bit but you can still set “recording gain”, if your recording clips you can retrieve it in post, but there is no “normalize” onboard so you can’t monitor a clipped recording or bump up a quiet one onboard, you'l have to do it in post. I wish there was a feature of "normalise all recordings" so when out in the field, I could do it during a break, or individual files if needed.).
-Internal phase inversion is cool!
-Mid-Side can be on the monitoring output! Keeping a RAW recording but Stereo preview.
-One can set phantom to 24v if you need it.
-Date/time is kept after a battery swap. (My H5 re-setted after each battery swap which was tedious) Infact I can recharge my batteries leaving the Tascam empty, and it keeps the time!
-USB connection for file transfer is easy enough.
480mb file took 1m13 transfer from the control V point t’il the end. Over usb C. Micro sd card was a Lexar E series 32gb advertised 100mb/s read speed. (I need to try with a better SD card)
-There's a 40hz input filter option, which is cool if 80hz is a little too much. 40hz is a nice placebo middle ground of I put a filter but it won't de-nature the lows of the recording like a 80hz might in some scenarios.
- Not a fan of the display backlight options. 10 15 30s or always on. I wish there was a 5min and 10min option. And a Always on when recording which auto-powers off after 30s in menu. I currently leave it always on.
-Would be nice if REC button starts recording even when within a menu.
-Can safely send a healthy line input, and it doesn’t overload like a Zoom H1e
-Using it as a soundcard with a phone, meh, input works but I didn’t manage to listen the output of the phone.
-Low battery, cannot record. (Warn me with a confirm menu before each recording, but let me over-ride that "low battery" that very last 5-10min of recording :c)
-No “Lock” mode, there is hold which locks everything unless you press for 3s on the stop or slate. During a pocket recording with in-ear microphones, I did have the slate feature turn on during recording. So it’s fairly safe-proof, but what can go wrong will and it happened in practice. One can’t disable the slate feature in the menu :/ Slate makes a tone in the recording BTW.
-Moving the play-head in playback mode is tedious. Finding the right spot you want to monitor is really not great.
I have a 35s recording, It scrolls though it in like 1.5s. On the opposite a very lengthy recording, It can feel slow to reach like the 3/4. And visually on screen it's not smooth and jumps.
The functioning of it is hold = 3s jumps. Press = increase speed of scrolling (3levels total) feels like level 1=9s jumps, level 2 =20s jumps lvl 3=1.20min jumps. Or something like that.
I don't feel comfortable with this, and greatly prefered my Zoom h5 when it comes to finding a spot. 10s is too big on a short recording, level 2 what ever it is is negligible to the level 1, Level 3 is a good spot, but still too slow on a >1h long recording.
Here's what id like : Hold (2x realtime playback) so I can hear where I'm at.
Better refined searching levels 1=5s, 2=10s 3=20s 4=30s 5=1min, 6=3min jumps, maybe even a 7=5min jumps.
With a option in menu, to hear audio samples between each jump, or remain silent as is.
Bluetooth module :
Which I connected to using my Samsung galaxy buds pro (first gen).
- When in Bluetooth, “mono” output monitoring is disabled and back to stereo when recording. (You can set a mono output preview over BT, only when recording it switches over to stereo...)
- I think my earphones are at fault here. Their range felt limited to 10m. With my headphones (Sony CH510) feels more comfortable where I can monitor from the other side of the house.
- Latency wise it's uncomfortable speech jammer kind, I struggle to comment at the start of my recordings. (Tested with sony CH510 and Buds pro)
I don't hear any difference latency or quality wise be it in Prime, Normal, Stable quality modes.
- When selecting a paired device, the extra step of "are you sure you want to connect?" is unnecessary, like I went in the BT menu, connection, menu, selected my device, chose connection over delete, now you ask me if I'm sure? YES God damn it, what's the worse that could happen? It's not like I'm deleting a file lol
In conclusion, I don't find the BT monitoring practical as a field recordist. The delay is too muffling when set-ing up or for live manipulation, id be close enough to go wired in those cases. For set-up and leave it scenarios, monitoring was useful in 24bit where it could saturate, here 32bit makes a "setup and let it do it's thing" safe enough.
Maybe live monitoring at a distance with BT can point-out wind picking up and saturating the mics. But I don't find much practicality there.
You can listen wired and wireless at the same time, so film-producers with a boom operator might love that!
Corrections from my previous post :
You CAN skip to markers, need to hold MARK and then next/previous.
"I didn't find a auto-power-off", it exists under "Auto Power-Save", none configurable time but 30min is a nice time!
If I had more time, I would have re-ordered all these points by group x')
Cheers anyway 
Edit - As I find new things :
-Pre-rec cuts the preview audio. I don't like that. In addition, 2s isn't enough.
I would like pre-rec to still monitor audio, and have 30s pre-rec time.
Fellow Tascam FR-AV2 user here
https://freesound.org/browse/tags/?f=tag%3A%22fr-av2%22+username%3A%22nathanaellentz%22
Hey Sadiquecat !
Very interesting review ! Thanks for sharing !
It seems this small FR-AV2 isn’t perfect yet, but still looks very appealing.
Hope Tascam could think, one day, that it would be great to make their products accessible for visually impaired!
Cheers !
Kevin
Small thing after 6months of regular use.
The red paint on the rec button is fading off.
Yeah, I noticed the red dot coming off my Record button too.
Not sure what they used, water colours maybe, but you can scratch it off easily with your nail.
I can live without it.
What I do find difficult though is the array of buttons are a bit awkward to navigate when it's dark out.
Other than this I do love the recorder. Not sure why it's not more of a hit tbh.
Hi you all,
My old Tascam recorder died.
Now I bought a Tascam FR AV2.
Fine per-amps for regular recordings. For Super silent recordings, I do use my external mixer as an extra intermediate.
Here you can see how I incorporated the recorder with powerbank and XLR-5 pin connector into a small old waist bag for my field recordings.
I control the device with an app on my phone.
Recordings will follow later;
https://freesound.org/search/?q=klankbeeld+tascam+fr+av+2&f=&s=Automatic+by+relevance&si_tags=0&si_name=0&si_description=0&si_packname=0&si_sound_id=0&si_username=0&d0=0&d1=*&ig=0&r=0&g=0&dp=0&cm=0&mm=0
I've had the Tascam FR-AV2 for two weeks now and I'm very satisfied with it. I record in 32-bit float, and I no longer have to quickly adjust the volume knob like I used to with my old 302 Mixer. In fact, I haven't used it at all because the Tascam's preamps are perfectly fine.
Of course, I’ll still use the mixer when I go out to record extreme silence again.
I definitely recommend this recorder.