Zoom H2n

Although I have yet to experiment with the multitude of settings, I can say the XY Stereo is outstanding. Aside from the quality of the recordings, I am impressed by the build quality and ease of use. All the knobs and buttons are firm and positive, and the menu system is a doddle! The screen is easy to read and has an adjustable contrast for comfort. Although photos make it look substantially larger than the alternative I was considering (the ZOOM H1), it's really very pocket friendly; not the lump it appears. For in-the-field monitoring, I bought some Audio-Technica ATH-M40X headphones which power easily directly from the ZOOM's line-out, providing a purely flat reference. Highly recommended for saving a lot of time and energy. Using these headphones revealed to me just how much detail the ZOOM's microphones can pick up! They are really amazing. That's not hyperbole - I am actually amazed by what tiny detail can be clearly recorded. There are already so many reviews of this device available here and elsewhere, so I'll not clutter the place with repetition. Suffice to say - it's great. UPDATE: Can also be used as an extremely high quality Mp3 player for music, audio books (in the right file format) etc. After connecting the ZOOM to a PC and entering USB > SD Card Reader mode, files can be dropped into the SD card's folders, and played back in the same way as recorded files. Excellent sound quality and album tracks played in the correct order, which apparently some dedicated Mp3 players inexplicably have trouble with. A very handy bonus feature.

I am writing this review a bit early to be honest. I have only tried the H2n briefly and certainly haven't 'put it through its paces' as yet. I must say though, it's an impressive piece of kit. The few test recordings I made sounded beautifully crisp and clear, with a good display screen to keep you informed. If I am being critical I guess that I find the multi-function main switch a little 'vague' but actually I was aware of that from reading other reviews — but I certainly don't think it's all that bad and I am sure that with regular use the traits of the switch will be forgotten. It does the job very well and so if you read other reviews which mention the 'soft, vague' switch then I wouldn't let that worry you (it's fine with me... and I am a fussy old geezer!). The overall build is nice quality and I can see me using the microphone for most of my projects. I do have more expensive and sophisticated mics but they are certainly not as portable or quick to setup as the H2n. I have since invested in the accessory kit as I feel the H2n needs a nice padded case and windshield... and the other items in the accessory kit will come in handy too I reckon. I paid just over £20 for the accessory kit on Amazon and I believe that's extremely good value. Admittedly the mini-tripod is a bit naff, but it'll do the job. The value is mainly in the lovely case, decent windshield, cute remote control (with extension lead too!), and even a main adaptor. I must say that the 'dummy mic handle' in the accessory kit is a great idea, either for slotting the H2n into a standard microphone holder... or as a 'hand-grip' for the odd occasion. I must find something to have a gripe about though! I was rather miffed to discover that in my H2n box there was a very impressive printed manual(s) which actually consisted of three manuals measuring about 1/2inch thick. Almost every language under the sun in it but no English!!! I was rather amazed. I have since obtained a PDF English Manual online but can't believe that all the documentation that came with the H2n did not include English. A lot of gadgets these days you can fathom out without a manual, but the H2n is quite a complicated device with many options and settings. I pity anyone buying this who hasn't got internet access etc. Anyway, there's the good (and the bad) about the H2n. As I mentioned, this is a very early review so I can't say I have tested the H2n much yet. Time will tell whether it continues to impress me — if I discover anything worthy of note I may add to this review at a later date. So far though, the H2n seems to be a little belter!!!!

This is a great piece of kit, clear instructions, good method of setting up, the five mics in three easily accessed settings, easy to start and stop recordings, and to review the recordings on headphones, and an easily accessed lo cut setting to reduce background noise, and a simple dial for adjusting recording volume, a great simple tool for high quality tracks, well done.

As the sound recorded from my action go pro type camera is prettey useless and after doing some research it became apparent, not many decent film makers use the audio in camera. I wanted to do some decent filming myself and I like to try and do youtube videos, but the sound is aweful from most cameras. A lot of people use this to record live music and ambient sounds and due to the available mic patterns from the on board 5 mics I guess this is going to be pretty impressive, its not something I have tried as yet but will look forward to being able to record live music. I have successfully used it to record narration through a lapel mic and sync the sound to video using adobe premier elements, but you can do similar with many other programmes, imovie included. Obviously you can either use the H2N with suitable mic pattern switched on or a mono input through the socket, usually with the auto gain switched off. You then hide the H2N in your pocket etc and record your narration. When I did this I did a video of a car review, it was then easy to insert cut aways etc and the original video and sound from this, once synced, remain so during the video and during the period of the cut aways. Its a really nice piece of kit, maybe doesnt need to be shiny plastic, matt would be nicer, but it is what it is, the controls are easy to use and there are many available settings for the quality of the recording, I have not yet learned which is best for what purpose but generally leave iton the default which is good enough for my purpose. The ability to screw a handle on from the available kit is quite handy as it turns it into a handheld mic, a bit more cumbersome than most but very useful. If you are thinking of dabbling with recording sound separately, give this a try for an intro bit of kit, I think most people would be quite satisfied with it for a long time before needing to upgrade

Too eager to try it out I took it to band practice placed it a chair about 3 mtrs away and in the middle. Line up was drums guitar, bass and keys, pa speaker at either side. I set it to stereo and at the highest mp3 format. Away we went . Recorded about 2hrs worth but stop starting for each song. Plugged into my mac when I got home and the results are outstanding. No distortion, There was good separation of stereo and the quality was superb. I only bought this because my iPhone quality wasn't too good, drums sounded like tin cans and symbols sounded like burning frying pan. If you are a band and want to record yourselves and create promo's this is the baby, I took ages reviewing different devices but went for this one in the end worth every penny! Plug in your headphones into the unit and the playback quality is great as well. I bought a mini tripod for a £1 and used an old camera case I had, so if you prefer to use mains just buy the adaptor! Watch out for some YouTube recording of Dawn Patrol coming in the next month.

I found this really straightforward to use and had it up and working within minutes. I have used it a lot recording outdoors, indoors too, and the quality of sound is excellent. I downloaded the user manual in advance, which I recommend doing. Battery life is very good, and a 32 gig SD card will give you heaps of recording space. I'm very happy with this product and would recommend it highly to anyone as a starter/beginner recording device for podcasting.

I had this sound recorder before when I lived in another country. But I couldn’t bring it with me when I moved. So I found it to buy again in the UK. First, it was a lot more expensive than I thought it was going to be. Still, I already knew it’s a good device so I just went ahead and bought it, even though I felt ripped off. No way is it worth £145. In my opinion £95 is what it should be sold for. Especially considering it doesn’t come with an SD card. But it’s even worse than that… the device arrived 2 weeks ago. I have only just had chance to get it out of the box. That’s when I realised it didn’t even come with a USB lead to charge it. The one I had before was cheaper than this, plus it came with a USB charger lead and lots of other accessories such as tripod sound muffler. Really annoying that I now have to go find and buy the USB charger lead separately. So overall, even though it’s a good device, it’s overpriced and doesn’t come with everything you need to get using it. That’s really poor. And so… one star!

I am very pleased with my purchase. I needed a good quality recorder for various activities and this one has proved to be just what i needed - for recording fiddle tunes at a fiddle course, for using with young guitar pupils, and for recording my singing group. It is extremely easy to use - works on ordinary batteries as well as from power source. you really need to buy the accessory pack as well though. The quality of sound when played back through the computer and good speakers is excellent, but the playback sound from the recorder itself is only really for checking - not good sound. transferring recordings to the computer using the USB is easy and then you can edit your recordings using Audacity or similar. some people at my course were recording using their smart phones but had to hold them - whereas the Zoom recorder sits nicely without being held and can record for a long time - it is very easy to switch on and off, and there is also a remote control in the accessory pack (which you have to buy separately)

This is an absolutely fantastic little unit. It came out half a decade ago but even despite huge technological advancements in other areas (smartphones, computers, etc) this thing really does holds its own still and will be a great product for years to come. This thing is like a little Swiss army knife for general purpose recording. You can record high quality tracks directly on the unit itself, you can import these tracks to your favorite DAW (digital audio workstation) for further processing, you can use it as a great little USB mic, and it even doubles as an audio interface with a stereo input. There are some great options for mic configurations. You can configure it for X/Y, mid-side, 2 channel, and 4 channel, easily adjusted with the turn of a little dial. A pair of handy LED lights tell you which side (or sides) of the mics are active. These same lights will flicker when the signal is clipping, which is a very nice visual indicator. Furthermore, it can be mounted on a tripod or you can buy the super cheap mic stand adapter for around $10 which allows you to mount this unit on a mic stand (plus it doubles as a useful handle). It has an onboard speaker so you can listen back to recordings, or you can plug in a pair of headphones to the line out. The on board speaker is terrible, but what do you expect? It’s a recording device, not a mini boom box. You can also plug in a remote which is useful for creating WAV markers. I like this because with a DAW that supports it allows you to easily navigate through your recordings. There are some useful options, such as auto-gain (to help prevent clipping and such), a compressor/limiter, a low cut filter, and a few other options. This unit operates on a pair of AA batteries and it’s amazing how long the batteries last given the quality of recordings. Zoom claims about 20 hours of battery life which I find to be a bit optimistic, but even still at around ~15 hours the battery life is great. The interface on the device is quite nice. It has a backlit LED screen and navigation is simple with a selector switch that allows you to move up/down or press it in to make a selection. It only took me a few minutes to get used to it. This recorder uses a single SD card for storage, up to 32GB which is plenty adequate for my needs. I record at 44.1 kHz / 24 bit (any higher is overkill for something like this IMO) and with a 32GB SD card I can get about 33.5 hours of recording. If you record at CD quality, which is 44.1 kHz / 16 bit, then you get a little over 50 hours of recording time. The max setting of 96 kHz / 24 bit will give you over 15 hours of time, and if you don’t mind recording in mp3 then 128 kbps (said to be CD quality, but debatable) gives you over 550 hours! 256 kbps will give you half that. I primarily use this for recording band rehearsals and even demos. Recording rehearsals in the past was annoying, either I would use a smartphone which would provide terrible recordings, or I would use a laptop, dedicated recording interface, and microphones, which did give me better recordings but it became really cumbersome dragging that stuff around to every practice/demo session. Plus it’s annoying dealing with all the extra wires/cables and such. Also, I believe it’s a law that when you introduce a computer into the mix then you’re going to have glitches and other issues. The H2n solves all my problems, all I have to do is plop it down and hit record and I feel confident that my recordings are going to sound good every time. The negatives are pretty minor. The biggest issue being that it only has a single universal gain knob, it would really be nice to have separate gains for each side of the mic. A minor issue is that it doesn’t come with a USB cable in the box (my H6 did), I have plenty of USB cables lying around but including one in the box would have been useful for a lot of people. It does feel a little cheap-ish being all plastic, but I haven’t had any issues with durability yet, though thankfully I haven’t dropped it. Also for the best results you really need to mount it on something, whether that be a tripod or mic stand (using the adapter, not included), recording while handling the device introduces a lot of noise, though this is probably just the nature of the device. Despite the minor issues noted above, this is an easy 5-star product. 5 stars doesn’t mean “perfect in every single way” it means “I love it!” and I certainly do love this thing. It’s super useful and feature-rich, all in a device that can fit in my pocket.

I've recorded guitar, vocals, piano. And also regularly live stream acoustic performances through zoom using this as a mic. A lot of people have commented on how good the recordings sound, and asked what mics I used. I tell them I did it with this little zoom

Ótimo gravador, sonoridade excelente! Recomendadíssimo!!!

Lange habe ich überlegt, ob ich mir das Zoom H2n zulegen soll. Ich war schon vorher versorgt mit diversen sog. "Note-Takern" und Fieldrecordern, dass mir der Preis von 199€ zu hoch war für ein neues Spielzeug dieser Preiskategorie. Der Preis ist nun gesunken und so habe ich es mir doch gegönnt und bin vollends zufrieden. Natürlich habe auch ich in den Rezensionen geschaut und habe einige Einträge gefunden, auf die ich mal vernünftig und für Laien eingehen möchte. Vorab meine Anforderungen und Aufgabengebiete: Als Amateur-Vlogger auf einer recht bekannten Videoplattform benötige ich ein Gerät, welches ohne massive Störgeräusche zu 98% die Stimme ordentlich aufnehmen kann, ohne sie zu verzerren, zerreißen oder verfremden. Ich mache sehr häufig Aufnahmen im Auto. Bislang war das nur möglich im Stand und ohne laufenden Motor, da ich bisweilen ein Tascam DR-05 (eine Preisklasse niedriger und mit dem Zoom H1 vergleichbar) in Nutzung hatte. Ein gestarteter Motor war schon störend, aber eine Stimmenaufnahme bei der Fahrt war unmöglich. Ein Schlagloch, eine Bodenwelle oder gar die Fahrtgeräusche, haben sofort bis zum max-Anschlag geführt (Einstellungsunabhängig), da das Tascam absolut übersensibel ist und daher für andere Aufnahmen besser genutzt werden kann. Soviel zur Vorgeschichte und zur Grundlage des Kaufs. Das H2n habe ich mir genau aus dem Grund zulegen wollen, da ich wusste, dass es sehr viele Störgeräusche auspegelt und das automatisch, ohne große Fummelei. Mein erster Aufnahmeversuch war schon brauchbar. Ich habe das Gerät direkt während der Fahrt getestet, bis zu einem Fahrtgeräusch bei Tempo 220. Überhaupt kein Problem. (Pegel 7/10). Montiert habe ich es dazu auf einem Kamera-Traveller-Stativ mit Schwanenhals, sowohl an der Windschutzscheibe, wie auch an der Seitenscheibe. Abstand zu mir, ca. 40 cm. Hat vollkommen ohne Probleme nach Wunsch funktioniert. Ich war nur überrascht über die wirklich gute Ausgabequalität. Einige Leute haben sich in den Rezensionen darüber beklagt, dass das Handling mit dem H2n so schwierig sei. Nun, als jemand, der "so ein Teil" schon mal in anderer Bauform in der Hand hatte, muss ich gestehen, funktioniert die Bedienung dieses Gerätes sehr intuitiv. Wenn ich mir aber vorstelle, dass man sich im "Bürobedarf" so ein Gerät für die Aufzeichnung von Meetings zulegt, so muss ich gestehen, ist die Anschaffung eher zu umfangreich, als dass man das "mal eben" irgendwo hinstellt und dann das Meeting durchgeht. Was der eine oder andere Rezensionist schier übersehen haben muss, ist der Aufbau des Mikrofons, denn hier sind mehrere verbaut und dazu noch wirklich für JEDE Situation des Alltags (Nicht Profi-Studio) geeignet. Unter der schwarzen Abdeckung befindet sich nicht nur ein Kondensatormikro. Über dem Display (knapp über dem Schriftzug) befindet sich ein XY-Mikrofon, was man in der Regel für Interviews super ausrichten und nutzen kann. Auf der gegenüber liegenden Seite befindet sich die MS-Stereo Position. Hier sind ebenfalls 2 Mikrofone verbaut. Eines für die Zentralen aufnahmen (Center) und ein sog. Dipol-Mikro für äußere, bzw. Seitenaufnahmen. Auch hiermit lassen sich Interviews aufnehmen, ist aber eigentlich dann DIE Einstellung für ein Meeting. Zusätzlich findet man aber auch noch eine 2ch und eine 4ch Aufnahmeeinstellung auf dem Gerät. Auf 2ch nimmt das Gerät Sourround auf, mischt aber XY, sowie MS zusammen, während auf 4ch eine Sourrund-Aufnahme entsteht, in der beide Mikroeinheiten getrennt aufgenommen werden. Würde ich - wieder auf den Bürojob angewendet - nutzen, wenn eine Veranstaltung gegeben würde. Der Raumklang hier ist sehr gut. Was ich bislang noch nicht probiert habe, da ich keinen Bedarf an dieser Funktion habe, ist die Möglichkeit einer Aufnahme mit RAW-Funktion. So soll es möglich sein, die Aufnahme noch nachträglich zu bearbeiten. Funktioniert nur im .wav-Format und ausschließlich in der MS-Einstellung, wenn ich das korrekt verstanden habe. Positiv aufgefallen sind mir die Ein- und Ausgangsbuchsen (jeweils Klinke). Diese sind nämlich aus Metall und halten was aus. Als negativ empfinde ich jedoch die 1/4 Zoll-Stativaufnahme unter dem Gerät. Diese ist komplett aus Kunststoff. Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass hier ein Verschleiß nicht auszuräumen ist, wenn man das Mikro viel auf Stativen nutzen möchte. Es sind allerdings auch 4 Gummifüßchen angebracht, die puffernd wirken. Wer nicht raten möchte, ob die Aufnahme etwas wird, der nehme sich doch einen kurzen Moment, und schließt einen Kopfhörer an und macht eine kurze Aufnahme. Das Aufnehmen und mithören ist auch bei diesem Gerät verzögerungsfrei und gleichzeitig möglich. Auch bietet dieses Gerät sogar die Möglichkeit, eine Fernbedienung anzuschließen. (Nicht mit dabei.) Was mich extrem überrascht hat, war das Gewicht. Es ist unheimlich leicht, da viel aus Kunststoff verbaut wurde. Verbaut in mein Auto wackelt und knarzt da rein gar nichts und die Batterie soll angeblich 20 Aufnahmestunden aushalten. Ich habe allerdings noch die ersten drin, und b Fazit: Ich habe DAS Modell für mein Anwendungsgebiet gefunden. Es ist aber eher suboptimal für Leute ohne Zeit für das Manual, wobei einmal eingestellt eigentlich alles einfach von der Hand geht. Einzig die 2GB-Speicherkarte, die mit dabei ist, hat viel zu wenig Platz für lange Aufnahmen, wenn man die bestmögliche Qualität nehmen möchte. Qualitativ kommt dem Gerät aber derzeit bereits mit einem guten Preis-/Leistungsverhältnis mit dem Postboten an. Ich hoffe, ich konnte an dieser Stelle weiterhelfen.

C'est un tout en un vraiment génial. J'ai longtemps chercher avant d'acheter ce recorder, et franchement je ne suis pas déçu. Primo le son est d'une super qualité, mais voici pourquoi je l'ai choisi: A la base, je voulais enregistrer mes cours d'amphi, j'ai donc hésité avec un enregistreur dédié à cela comme les philips, sauf que j'avais un doute, celui-ci étant dédié au son. Après analyse du web, j'ai décidé d'acheter celui la. Et le résultat est époustouflant, il enregistre ce que vous entendez, avec un son clair et nette, de plus à longue distance dans un amphi, il perçoit aussi très bien la voie des profs. Savez-vous qu'un ami a acheter lui par contre le fameux philips dont la pub vente, la capacité d'enregistré justement les amphi. Et bien résultat du compte nous avons comparé les enregistrements. Surprise!!!! l'enregistrement effectué avec le philips est tout bonnement inexploitable on ne comprend rien du tout. Comparé au zoom, la prise est hyper compréhensible. Secondo comme j'ai la un outil super, il me permet soit d'enregistré les sons de concert pour un live de bonne qualité,ou les sons de la nature ou encore de le fixer à ma caméra, la sortie son et très bonne. La restitution suround aussi mérite d'être citez, le rendu est vraiment impressionnant. Si vous avez besoin d'ajouté un micro un peu plus longue porté et un peu plus directionnel, pas de problème, il prend en charge d'autant que vous pouvez le combiner dans le mode suround, et utilisé les micro X/Y et celui ajouté. Tercio le prix l'autonomie le design, tout cela bat un record d'ergonomie, la finition est impeccable. tout cela je penses se répète dans les autre commentaire mais voilà n'hésité surtout pas, les modèles supérieur conviendrons surtout au professionnel. mais même celui-ci est utilisé par les pro,