I am not sure if this is a Windows 10 issue or not. I am using Audacity 2.1.2 on a new computer.
Every recording I have made using the DR-05 has a constant noise floor, it may internal noise from within the recorder, I don’t know how to find out. I am using the attached mics on the recorder (an external is not in the budget right now)
Has anyone else on here had any issues with this combination?
We may be able to tell you if it’s normal or not. What kind of noise? Rain in the trees soft hiss fffffffffffff?
Voice? Music?
Make up a 20 second voice test. This is the one I tell people to use for AudioBook testing. It’s rough to judge noise cold. It’s a lot easier when you have a real voice to compare it to.
http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/TestClip/Record_A_Clip.html
It really is that simple. Hold your breath and don’t move for two seconds. Talk at normal levels according to the Tascam sound meters for 15 to 18 seconds. Export as mono WAV and post it here.
Scroll down from a forum text window > Upload Attachment > Browse.
Let us know where you get stuck.
I wouldn’t get all excited about an external microphone. This recorder doesn’t have an XLR connection on the bottom (that I’ve been able to find). And without that, the best you can do is a computer or home-style microphone.
Also, the built-in microphones are typically much better matched than something you plug in from outside.
Unless you absolutely will not keep breathing without a portable stand-alone recorder, there are far better ways to record an XLR microphone.
I noticed another telling Google Search. Every time somebody compares the DR05 to something else, they always use the Zoom H1. Zoom’s dead-last, bottom product.
Koz
Nature audio recordings, I set up the recorder and walk away, usually far enough away the recorder does not “hear me”. I will do up a sample 20 seconds mono as requested, as well as the location info, btw the price was right, free, In spent over a grand on photo equipment, and as a result got a coupon, net price with shipping $0.00, The Dr-05 is way better that what I used to cobble up and try, I will tell you this much…it was cassette based 
In that case, just post the recording without the voice. Room Tone (background sound) is the whole point of the recordings. Don’t process the file. Just Export WAV (Microsoft) and post it.
Recording systems tend to get quieter and more stable with price increase. Yet more good news.
it was cassette based
Cassettes!!
“Stayin’ Alive, Stayin’ Alive”
“Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Stayin’ Aliiiiiiiiive.”
At the risk of being totally sacrilegious, here, did you actually compare them? I just recently found a solid-state Personal Recorder which could do a better job than my Olympus Micro-Cassette Pearlcorder.
Besides having decades experience with moving tape, they also had world-class quiet microphone preamplifiers and auto-gain processing. I took all of this for granted, of course. All I knew was I pushed the button and good recordings came out. Not always in High Quality Tape setting, either.
Then I got my first solid-state recorder. They got the design out of basic electronics cookbook, packed it with lots of features, left out the low noise preamplifiers and auto gain and shipped it. What could do wrong?
[PLAY] ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
The work was always buried in the rain, irretrievably so, because at the time, Audacity had Noise Removal…which didn’t. Time to find a new supplier for Micro-Cassettes.
Koz