Dry Case Review Posted

[MikeRivers]

The Dry Case is a watertight vinyl pouch designed to protect a phone or other similarly sized portable device from the elements. When I saw it at CES, I thought it might also work for a handheld recorder. It's about the right size, and it has a cable and sealed jack for connecting headphones or a TRRS headset for monitoring or listening to playbacks.

Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be so hot unless you're happy with telephone quality recordings, but I had a chance to test it using methods that I haven't had occasion to apply before. I found it interesting, and you might, too.

Even though I can't recommend it for making high quality music recordings out in the elements or while you're riding the waves at the beach, it's decent for phones or music players,

Visit the Product Reviews section of my web page or just grab it directly here. In the review, you'll find a link to a reasonable quality MP3 file illustrating the results of my testing.

[Nate Dort]

Don't most of these recorders have an 1/8" external mic input jack? Plug the Dry Case's headphone jack extension into the Zoom's external mic input and use a waterproof lavaliere mic, something like the Countryman B6. Or maybe a waterproof stereo mic of some sort. You wouldn't be able to monitor with headphones at the same time though.

[MikeRivers]

Don't most of these recorders have an 1/8" external mic input jack? Plug the Dry Case's headphone jack extension into the Zoom's external mic input and use a waterproof lavaliere mic, something like the Countryman B6.

Yes, the Zoom does indeed have a jack for an external mic, and it indeed works with the Dry Case, but have you ever tried to use an external mic with the Zoom H2? There's not enough gain and too much noise. If the Countryman has a really high output it might be OK, but the only power the Zoom provides is the 5v plug-in power. The external line level input works OK but that means an outboard preamp which you'd then have to waterproof.

So, sure, there might be a combination out there that would work out well with an external mic (the Sony PCM-D10 that I reviewed a few years back worked fine with an external mic) but that's something you'd have to try for yourself if you're interested.

Also, while water doesn't seem to adversely affect the high level headphone signal, since the jack on the outside of the case doesn't have any sort of seal where the plug goes in, I suspect that a low level mic signal might not take too kindly to water leaking in. My experiences with mic snakes that find nearby puddles suggests that this is the case.