Compare Prices on Zoom ZOO H4N
Just like the customer above me, I have a fairly early model (serial 2211) . I don't imagine them having any revisions or anything, because this unit is really solid. Let me originate by saying that this method should not be considered a Mic in its have legal. Definite, it has two condenser microphones stuck on top to recount in stereo, but I wouldn't utilize these mics in any studio unless I had nothing better. This unit is for those people who want to characterize in the field, and be able to lift 4 tracks of audio in a handheld way.
First, the construct quality. Obviously Zoom took a lot of criticism to heart from their first H2 and H4 models. The H4n sports a "rubberized" hardshell earn that's easy to grip, and seems to stand up well to surface scratches. (Mind you, the rubber texture can attract greasy fingerprints which can rep annoying if you're a gadget freak like me) . The top of the unit where the mics are is metal. There is some plastic on the unit, but definitely better designed than the previous two recorders from zoom. The buttons are easy to press, and the conceal is big, allowing you to glance everything you need to very easily.
The poster above me wondered why there was no metal cage protecting the microphones (like the previous H4 had) . The acknowledge to this is the switchable pattern on the microphones. Each mic can be curved and swiveled to change the directionality that the mic pics up. In its native space the mics pic up at a 90 degree angle, giving a exquisite proper stereo image. But when you twist them, the mics are then a 120 degree angle. This is righteous for picking up sources that are farther away, or even ambient sounds for a wider stereo image. If there was a metal cage over the mics, you couldn't near your fingers in to twist them. Overall, I would rather have a switchable pickup pattern, than a protective cage. Unprejudiced don't plunge a $350 recorder.
Second, the packaging. Inside the box, the unit came with a hardshell plastic carrying case, usb cable, foam windscreen, ac adapter, mic stand adapter, manuals and cubase le software, and a 1gb memory card. This is leaps and bounds above the competition. Most other recorders won't advance with any of this. Other companies will even acquire you engage your acquire ac adapter and memory card. And Zoom went even further and added a plastic carrying case (for those of you stunned about dropping it) . They were definitely thinking about the customers on this one.
Third, and most importantly, the sound quality. This is why you select the unit legal? The sound quality has to be noble or nothing else matters. Overall I was surprisingly impressed with the sound quality. I am an audio engineering student, going to school for sound reproduction, and sound reinforcement. Needless to say, I know my device around a microphone. I was expecting this unit to sound average, unbiased like a pocket (or handheld) recorder usually sounds. But in fact, the H4n sounds sparkling decent. The high destroy is nice and defined, the microphones built into the unit sound really distinct. The one thing I can say about the sound is that it is true. I have recorded a few tests using my swear, a guitar, and some other misc. elements. I did scrutinize that the microphones gave off a exiguous bit of condenser enlighten when the input bag was turned up. This could probably be solved or lessened if you were to derive closer to the object and turn down the recording level. But level-headed, it worries me to have a miniature bit of noise floor coming from the mics, especially if I were to spend the recordings for post production video work.
The other thing I noticed was a lack of bass response. This could have been because I was a foot or two away from the microphones, but the bass on the microphones was a diminutive lacking. My dispute sounded a minute thin. My guitar sounded elegant, but guitars don't really have a lot of indecent waste in the first space. Also explore out for handling noise. If you reflect that you're going to carry the unit around and do interviews while holding it, forget it. All handheld recorders suffer from this (I've read), but its factual for this unit as well. Anytime you own the H4n and disappear it around, you can hear indecent slay rumbling and handling noise. Unbiased employ a tripod, or the included hand/mic clip adapter and you should be blooming. (Also win a better windscreen if you're going to expend it outside, the one included doesn't do anything outdoors for wind noise. You should win a fuzzy or "hairy" windscreen if you want to employ it outside)
Overall I believe this recorder is the best on the market good now. Although there are a few units that have better sounding built in microphones (sony), it's only marginally better. Plus the H4 is cheaper (by about $150) and has more create in features/functionality. Like the fact that the H4n can relate with two built in mics, and two XLR mics simultaneously (4 tracks at once) . This means that you can portray with the built in mics, but also employ your occupy microphones if you want to add variety, redundancy, etc. You can also honest spend the unit for a preamp if you only want to spend your bear microphones to report in the field. I won't name off all of the features, but some included features weren't even significant and Zoom was nice enough to add them in anyway (guitar tuner, audio interface, stamina mode, MTR mode, 96k recording, etc) .
Needless to say, if you need a recorder for any reason, even if it's honest for a school project, or for recreation, don't win the cheapest recorder you can score. Employ a small extra money and bag the H4n, it's seriously worth the extra cash for something that will last you grand longer. It's simply the best value for a handheld recorder on the market just now.
Among the many other recorders on the market today, I looked seriously at the H2 and the unusual H4. I ended up not buying anything for awhile because every single one of these devices seemed to be missing something or have a negative aspect that I impartial wasn't alive to about paying for. Then I heard some rumbling that Zoom was coming out with the H4n, which was supposed to be their response to all the feedback they'd gotten about the H2 & H4. So after all the respectable things I'd read about those two, the H4n had me at hello. I grabbed one as soon as it became available, which was about a month after they announced it. (Serial # 1438!)
I won't review every cramped detail of the H4n but I'll deliver you the three major improvements that made me seize this:
- The hide is now a healthy size and displays everything you need to know clearly.
- The interface overall is a pleasure to expend. You can operate it easily with one hand. It's very intuitive and all the controls feel solid. I usually go through the manual once anytime I secure a modern fraction, but for basic recording you really wouldn't have to. Even the 4-track mode is a dart.
- Zoom has really stepped up the beget quality on this allotment. Unlike its all-plastic predecessors, the H4n's case is rubberized and the mics are solidly mounted on... what's this, metal? It has a nice solid weight and feels pro. One thing I didn't understand though: the current H4 had these protective pieces surrounding the mics and the H4n does not. But it's slightly top-heavy and if dropped I can easily imagine the mics hitting the floor first and I'm shapely determined they would be tweaked/broken. Or what if you had this in your support pocket and sat on the mics? It's like, for all the work they build into making this more durable, they left the most principal allotment vulnerable. Which kind of makes me wonder whether the extra heft of this unit is impartial for feel, not for staunch. (Time will advise..)
I will primarily be using this to characterize DJ sets and sounds from the field. I did that this past weekend and the quality is fair as fine as the other reviews say it is. I'm looking forward to being able to narrate a stereo mix from the mixer, simultaneous with a room mix with crowd noise, in 4 channel mode. Also this is the first condenser I've owned and I peruse forward to using it in the studio. I leave some cables hanging off the attend of the cable box so if I hear something on TV I can impartial slip in and hit relate. I idea I wouldn't spend the 4-track but already it has me exploring ideas in the car. The built-in speaker is really handy. The FX are very high quality and there are some sharp ones beyond the typical reverb and delay.
The H4n is like the Swiss Army Knife of field recorders. The expansive one, with all the unfamiliar blades and tools you'll probably never need. It's one of those rare moments of technical glory when a company collects a ton of titanic ideas from their customers, refuses to compromise, and you extinguish up with a truly inspired product.
In looking for a portable handheld recorder for scratch tracks and samples, I weighed the benefits of a few of the handhelds available today and settled on the H4n. The other recorders on my short list were the Edirol R-09 and Sony PCM-D50, and also the H4. So far the H4n hasn't disappointed.
I settled on the Zoom H4n for a couple of reasons:
1) 1/4" and XLR inputs with phantom power - Very handy for throwing a mic on a kick and snare, and the H4n will describe those plus the internal condensor simultaneously, which is perfect to gain the rest of the drum kit for some speedily loop scratch tracks.
2) More geeked out features than the others - They are not needed but mild fun to have. The H4n is like the Leatherman of handheld pocket recorders with plenty of built in effects (which sound really superb btw), built in 4 track recorder mode, tuners and metronome, playback rush control, MP3 encoder, acts as USB audio interface (both input and output), built in monitor speaker, and more. I also like the petite things I'm mild discovering, like when I set aside Ni-MH batteries in and then plugin in the adapter it recharges the batteries.
3) Construct - I like the acquire quality compared to the H4 - Not as nice as the Sony but the thing does feel solid and titanic in your hand. The built in mics are a microscopic exposed without a wire cage on the top like others have, it would probably not be a first-rate thing to descend this unit and have the mics hit first.
4) Cost - This recorder was midrange even with it being price modern. It's less than the Sony and more than the H4 or R-09. I suspect the ticket will reach down a bit when it's been out for a couple months down to where the R-09 is now. For what it has built in it's astounding to be it's as inexpensive as it is.
5) Sound quality - The H4n sounds trim. I occupy turning on the built in compressor, or boosting a really traditional input signal with a lot of input pick up could cause suppose, but for the most share I don't watch any. Usually the noise floor is so grievous on what I've recorded that it is not audible. Some different mics and setups might have different results, time will train.
6) Menu and button layout - I really like the procedure they residence this unit up. Very easy to navigate and relate with, and does what I want like a flash with only a few caveats mentioned below.
7) SD card format - SD cards are cheap and readily available. I don't care so noteworthy for the memory sticks the Sony uses.
Now the downsides, maybe all these handheld recorders suffer from similar issues but I'm going to give my first impressions never having musty one before and the H4n is the best I have to compare with:
1) Menu system - While easy to navigate, mild feels like it could exhaust refining through a firmware update. It feels like it wasn't finished when the product shipped. The fonts behold a tiny like a 5 year outmoded set them together, Zoom could have done better with the camouflage they assign in the H4n. A lot of products like this are rushed to market to meet revenue goals, so hopefully they will find time to lift another peek at the firmware and construct UI improvements. Also the firmware is trying to be a runt too cherish with the menus. There is a tiny expanding box conclude that happens when you initiate a menu, but it ends up objective looking like hide artifacts when changing the menus. It would have been better to immediately jump to the menu, it would be faster and would spy better.
2) File naming (another UI complaint) - I really wish the firmware gave you the ability to delete a character in a file name. The filename can be edited, but characters can only be added or changed, not deleted. If you utilize divide alot, the name gets larger and larger but cannot be made smaller. This is a bit annoying when combined with the divide implementation....
3) No divide while recording - there is no divide while recording that I could score. It seems like it would have been very easy to create one of the unused buttons act like a divide when recording. Instead you can space a "effect" (non editabled btw, after one is station it is permament in that wav file) . The marks let you easily jump to that point and divide it later, but when it divides the file you waste up with an 'A' or a 'B' tacked on to the filename. Now, imagine recording an entire gig or practice with only marks to employ to delimit the songs, and then you have to divide them later with the naming plot and lack of delete character function I mentioned above. What you kill up getting is files named something like 'STE-001A.wav', STE-001B.wav', 'STE-001BBBBA.wav', and eventualy 'STE-001BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBA.wav' etc and there's not a lot you can do on the method to fix it since the best you can do is replace the extra characters with spaces so that you raze up with a file named something like 'song blah .wav' (you can scamper it in as a USB interface later and fix all the filenames in the folders, but not a lot you can do on region except end and restart recordings versus using "marks") .
4) Documentation - I'm not determined what Zoom was thinking here. The documentation looks like it was passed through a translation program without any proof reading before shipping. It is filled with sentences such as "On stereo mode can be made 19 different setting using. WAV & MP3. If you want to change, operate before recording". I glean the general intent most of the time but it hurts. Luckily the unit is easy enough to exhaust that you don't have to rely on the documentation too noteworthy.
As I view it, the complaints I have are mainly around details of the UI implementation and documentation and relatively minor. All around the unit is big and a lot of fun to expend. The sound quality is top notch, and the capabilities of the plot are astonishing. I would have given it 5 stars if the few UI details had been better opinion out and someone had read the documenation. For a immense all around handheld recorder with wonderful sound quality, lots of features, and a reasonable imprint, the Zoom unit is going to be very hard to beat.
