With superb mic preamps, 32‑bit recording and comprehensive timecode facilities, the Tascam FR‑AV2 is a miniature marvel.
When I started working in pro audio, a professional two‑channel audio recorder was the size and weight of a concrete block. It consumed 12 D‑cells each working day, could only record 25 minutes of audio (at 7.5ips) on a five‑inch reel of long‑play tape, and required a skilled operator to maximise the audio quality because the usable dynamic range was barely 50dB! By the mid‑1990s, of course, digital audio changed all that, first with the 16‑bit R‑DAT format, then with 24‑bit solid‑state recorders and, more recently, with 32‑bit floating‑point recording. Each technological evolution reduced the recorder’s size and weight, and today’s stereo recorders are barely large enough to accommodate the batteries and XLR connectors. Meanwhile, solid‑state media and lithium batteries allow continuous all‑day recording with ease...
And that pretty much describes Tascam’s new FR‑AV2, a miraculously compact professional stereo audio recorder with a robust fibreglass casing. It measures just 99 x 80 x 40mm and when loaded with a trio of AA batteries it weighs only 267g. If the numbers are hard to appreciate, they make the FR‑AV2 fractionally larger and heavier than the Zoom F3, which is its closest equivalent, but the differences aren’t significant in any practical sense.
Features
Tascam’s FR‑AV2 delivers professional‑quality, two‑channel audio recording, with sample rates of 48, 96, or 192 kHz in either 24‑bit linear or 32‑bit floating‑point files, using the broadcast WAV (BWF) format. Recordings are made onto a single microSD, microSDHC or microSDXC card, and data capacities of up to 512GB are supported. The memory card plugs into a slot behind a rubber seal on the right‑hand side of the recorder, alongside a USB‑C socket and on/off slide‑switch. Usefully, the FR‑AV2 features an automatic file closing system to prevent loss of already recorded material in the event of power failure.
The miniature memory card format is not a very practical one for physical exchanges with a card reader to transfer data to a computer. Instead, a more practical solution is linking the recorder directly to the computer over a USB 2.0 connection, and accessing the data as a remote storage device — it’s compatible with Windows 10/11 and macOS 13/14/15. A secondary application for the USB socket allows the FR‑AV2 to be configured as a 2x2 USB audio interface (supporting 48 and 96 kHz samples rates only), again with 24‑bit fixed or 32‑bit float quantisation.
Bluetooth connectivity is an optional extra, in the form of the AK‑BT2 adaptor — and this not only supports synchronisation facilities, but also remote monitoring.If the quarter‑inch threaded insert on the base of the recorder and 48kHz sample rate option didn’t give it away already, the FR‑AV2 is heavily optimised for use with video cameras. It boasts rock‑steady timecode synchronisation features with 3.5mm mini‑jack input and output sockets on the lower side panel for physical connections to any third‑party timecode sync’ing equipment. This is a really useful facility, with support for all the standard video frame rates. Moreover, a socket on the top panel of the machine accepts Tascam’s optional AK‑BT2 Bluetooth adaptor. This not only provides wireless timecode transmission/reception, but also remote stereo audio monitoring, BEXT and iXML metadata entry, and full remote control via Tascam’s Recorder Connect app. Both iOS (16/17/18) and Android (12/13/14) operating systems are supported for the Bluetooth app, and it’s also compatible with Atomos timecode devices.
Even more usefully, when not required for timecode I/O, those same mini‑jack connections double up as unbalanced stereo line inputs and outputs, which is handy for sending or receiving audio to/from a video camera. The nominal working level is ‑19dBV (maximum +1dBV), while the nominal unbalanced output is ‑10dBV (maximum +6dBV), making it well suited for consumer equipment. The input can also provide plug‑in power (2.5 or 5 V) for electret mics.
A third 3.5mm mini‑jack socket on the same panel provides a dedicated stereo headphone output, with adjacent rocker volume control. This delivers up to 50mW per channel, optimised for low‑impedance headphones (32Ω seem to work best), and while a little more headphone power would be useful, that would harm battery life.
Two professional electronically‑balanced analogue audio inputs are presented on combi XLR sockets at the left‑hand side of the device. The XLR mic inputs accept signals up to +4dBu, and the centre TRS sockets take line levels up to +24dBu. A menu page allows the recording source to be selected from the XLR (mic), TRS (line), mini‑jack (Ext), or USB audio. Phantom power can be switched on/off and set to 24V or 48V using the menus.
There’s more than enough gain available to capture low‑output mics like the Shure SM7B without noticeable noise.
Tascam say the FR‑AV2 mic preamps are “ultra‑low‑noise HDDA” with an EIN figure of better than ‑127dBu. That’s on a par with the best portable recorders on the market, as well as many high‑end studio mic preamps. The analogue front end feeds dual high/low gain converter stages, which are combined to capture a claimed 132dB dynamic range for the 32‑bit floating‑point mode. Although it’s possible to overload the mic preamps it’s unlikely in practice, and the dual converters ensure an incredibly low noise floor. To my ears, the FR‑AV2 sounds very quiet and clean indeed — quieter than the Zoom F3 and my own F8n Pro, actually — and I found there’s still more than enough (digital) gain available to capture low‑output mics like the Shure SM7B without noticeable noise.
The FR2‑AV is almost as small as it could be while still housing batteries, XLR connectors and the microSD card it records to.
Power Play
While miniaturisation can be a blessing in many applications, a small battery compartment inherently restricts the recording time, which is always a concern in portable applications. In the worst‑case scenario for the FR‑AV2, with 48V phantom powering of two mics and 32‑bit floating‑point recording, you have about 4.5 hours recording time with alkaline batteries, 5.5 hours with NiMH batteries, or 10 hours with lithium cells. Switch to dynamic mics or line sources and 24‑bit recording, and those times extend to around 9, 8.5 and 15 hours, respectively. Considerably longer recording durations, along with power source redundancy, can be achieved by using an external USB power bank connected via the USB‑C socket. For non‑portable applications, an optional mains power adaptor is also available.
On The Menu
The FR‑AV2’s operating status is shown on a 50mm (two‑inch) colour LCD screen, with four soft keys along the bottom edge to navigate a simple menu structure. Below these is a quintet of standard transport buttons, and menus enable various options for initiating and stopping recordings. The three LEDs on the panel’s chamfered edge below the transport keys illuminate when the unit is recording, and if either input channel exceeds ‑2dBFS. A five‑second pre‑record buffer is enabled by default, meaning each recording contains five seconds of audio from before the record button was pressed, to ensure that nothing is missed if recording in a hurry.
Returning to the display, it is crisp, bright and informative without being cluttered. Battery status and Bluetooth activity is shown in a blue bar across the top, and below that, on a grey background, is the elapsed record‑time display, file name, recording format, sample rate, and remaining SD card duration. By default, files are date‑stamped and numbered sequentially, but the date section can be replaced by user‑entered text (6‑9 characters), if required, to indicate a specific project or scene.
Moving on down, the selected input sources are indicated to the left of a horizontal stereo input meter, scaled from ‑48 to +6 dBFS. The meter is green up to ‑12 (the mid‑point), yellow to ‑6, and orange above that — an arrangement that I found worked pretty well — and if the A‑D converter is overloaded, the entire meter turns red. A second stereo bar‑graph meter underneath shows the output level and, at the bottom of the screen, four labels indicate the soft‑key functions, defaulting to Menu, Browse (file finder), Input and Output.
Pressing F3 (Input) accesses the input signal conditioning facilities, starting with two digital channel gain controls (0‑60 dB) that can be ganged or operated independently. By default, digital gain is set to 18dB, presumably on the assumption that this is low enough to avoid overloads in most situations, and the 32‑bit format allows low‑level sounds to be retrieved without significant noise.
A stereo‑link option applies most signal conditioning options to both channels together instead of independently, as well as encoding the recorded audio as a single stereo file, rather than two mono files. Processing options include polarity inversion, low‑cut filter (off, 40, 80 or 120 Hz), input delay (up to 300ms), a limiter/compressor (with preset parameters but pleasingly effective), a noise gate (with three threshold presets), an equaliser (with presets for ‘interviews’ and ‘music’, as well as a manual setup — the latter accessing a four‑band EQ with high and low shelves and two parametric mid sections).
While it works perfectly well as a high‑quality audio recorder in its own right, the FR‑AV2 includes a number of features aimed at audio for video work.There’s also a Mid‑Sides decoder which can be configured either to decode Mid‑Sides inputs and record the left‑right stereo equivalents, or to record the raw Mid‑Sides signals directly and place the decoder only in the monitoring signal path. In both cases, an on‑screen slider adjusts the stereo width and, if recording raw Mid‑Sides signals, the decoder can also be enabled on playback. However, there is a hidden trap: although these M‑S decoder functions appear in the Input and Output menus, they are disabled by default and can’t be enabled from within these menus at all. Instead, it’s necessary to navigate to Menu / I/O Settings / MS Decode, and then select either Rec (to convert on the way in) or Monitor (to convert on the way out). This seems unnecessarily cumbersome to me: surely these functions could be activated directly from the Input and Output menus, something that I hope can be addressed in a future firmware update.
The outputs have similar signal processing facilities, including independent or ganged level attenuation, a peak limiter, an adjustable output delay (up to 300ms) to compensate for latency between vision and sound in the camera, and Mid‑Sides decoding.
Marks are added to recorded files automatically, indicating specific periods of time (5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 minutes), or where the input signal exceeds the maximum A‑D level, or where there are ‘buffer overflows’ in the SD card. Marks can also be added manually using the F1 soft‑key and, on playback, marked positions (all, or a selected type) can be accessed using the F2/F3 buttons to fast wind in either direction. A menu screen also lists all recorded marks with their type and time location, if needed.
Best In Class?
Tascam’s FR‑AV2 is a seriously impressive and capable device. It is very well engineered, with blissfully clean and quiet mic preamps, excellent 32‑bit float implementation, rock‑steady timecode, and remote Bluetooth monitoring and control options. Also, despite the fibreglass casing, I had no problems at all with RF interference, even when deliberately abusing the recorder using a mobile phone or placing it next to radio mic equipment. That’s not something I can say of all the portable recorders that I’ve reviewed!
I found the screen larger and generally easier to read than that on the Zoom F3, although possibly not in very strong sunlight, and the Tascam’s menu structure is, for the most part, very simple and logical. The battery life is quite reasonable, and most importantly, I can’t fault the sound quality at all — it’s comfortably amongst the best I’ve heard from any portable recorder at any price. And at the asking price, that makes the FR‑AV2 really very special.
Alternatives
While the market is awash with stereo recorders of varying qualities, the closest equivalent to the FR‑AV2 is undoubtedly the Zoom F3, which is slightly less expensive. However, the Tascam’s better timecode options, clearer screen and quieter preamps will justify the extra cost for many. The Tascam Bluetooth adaptor also costs a little more than Zoom’s equivalent but, again, it allows far greater functionality, which will help to justify the expense.
Pros
- Class‑leading, clean and quiet mic preamps.
- 32‑bit floating‑point format negates worrying about recording levels.
- Comprehensive timecode facilities.
- Good battery life and powering options.
- Bluetooth remote control and remote monitoring features.
- Nice clear screen and simple menus.
- Extremely compact.
Cons
- Single microSD memory card.
- Bluetooth adaptor is a cost option.
Summary
A superbly engineered stereo audio recorder with superlative audio quality, the freedom of 32‑bit floating‑point files, sophisticated timecode implementation, easy operation, good battery life, and great Bluetooth remote control features.
Information
FR‑AV2 £369.99, AK‑BT2 Bluetooth adaptor £54.99. Prices include VAT.
TEAC UK Ltd +44 (0)1923 797205.
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