Zoom H2n

If you need ample possibilities, spacial sound and ease of use - this thing is unbeatable. At 96kHz / 24 bits it sounds crisp and clear, relatively low noise, and gives a great sense of space. It doesn't provide the strongest, or widest stereo effect (though You can play around with the settings and effectively widen the soundstage both while recording or in post) but it does give a realistic sense of 3 dimensional space. Perfect for cityscapes, parking lots, noisy clanky environments, afterwards when you listen back to the recordings, it really feels as if you're transported back to that space, the simpler, stereo 2 channel handhelds don't qite deliver the same effect. It also does well in nature, though you will need a windscreen, as without it it's going to be unusable, unless there is nearly zero wind. Out of all modes, at this point I like the 2 channel surround the best, as you can adjust the stereo imaging, and it's a bit less cumbersome than having multiple files and a slightly odd format in the end. Tried recording guitar and drums with it as well, works great, though it really shone with wind instruments, namely alto sax. Also has an extremely handy limiter and compressor built in. I only wish you could manually adjust the compression and limiter levels, as there are only three options on each one, but the options at hand are good enough, especially the limiter. Oh and there's a low cut as well, very handy. Overall, very happy with this, stellar quality for the price, loads of options, do recommend.

The Zoom H2N is packed with features, compact, well built and has great battery life.

2 AA batteries powers this 4 condenser mic portable field microphone. Small enough to fit in a big pocket or with personal belongings in a bag, it ships with USB and zip up carry case. The 4 different mic settings are easily selected with a dial at the top, a flashing light indicates if the signal is clipping. Dynamics such as limiting and compression and high pass filters can be easily applied if the gain, controlled by a dial on the side, is not enough. A wide range of resolution recordings can be selected via the menus which are not immediately intuitive to navigate however with a little reading all becomes clear.

Getting started straight out of the box is simple with an on switch on the side and a big red record button and red light indicating record is selected. Again, the menu is not immediately intuitive when wanting to navigate the dynamics and similarly i needed to read the manual to access the folder menu and playback functions however the plug and play (it can be used as a session mic as well) option and USB folder menu make this device great value for money and extremely versatile.

I use the Zoom for 2 purposes:

- recording guitar and bass at home directly from my amp
- recording our band

Warning: I did not have any experience concerning recording music before, so this review might be helpful for you if you are a beginner too and are looking for equipment with easy and beginner friendly handling. I am someone who does not like too Play around with technical devices and many Options, I just want the thing to work and to record my stuff in the most convenient way.

Home recording works really good. Recording guitar seems to be easier than recording bass. Perfect for saving your song ideas for later. Sounds great and works much better for me than recording with a PC. Turn on your amp, press recording button, play your riffs, that's how I like it!

Band recordings sound very good as well, especially at lower volumes. Had some problems recording a very loud and muddy sounding stoner band, no problems at all recording a rock/pop cover band playing at lower volumes. I had some problems with muddy recordings, but i think that was because the band sound was quite muddy too. Hi Hat tends too be too loud, but we still need to experience with the perfect recording Position. Sound quality of bass guitar and bass drum could be better, but both are audible. Overall perfect for holding on to your song ideas, but of course not good enough for professional recordings.

Handling: Deleting data directly from the H2n can be annoying, because you have to open some menues. Some sort of erase button would be good. I did not use a lot of the functions like bass cut/boost etc., I just used Stereo and Surround and the Gain buttun to regulate the Signal strength. So the H2n has a lot of functions, but if you don't want to use them you don't have to and get a good Sound anyway. Some buttons seem to be a bit shaky, but no problems up to now. Recommended!

I buy this to mainly do real world sampling and field recordings. I used to record on an iPhone 6s and its noise level is high, it also clips. This recorder is totally different. Sounds are more crispier, the pre-amp is clean. Most importantly, my favorite part of this recorder is its 4 types of recording. I recently just went to a concert and I recorded live with 4 channels' mics, and it sounds really like real life. Comparing this recorder to the H4n Pro, I love its small form-factor, its portability and its available mic options. For the price, I don't see anywhere else on the market that offers portable recorder with such compact and thoughtful specs.

On the down side, its build quality does not feel sturdy enough. The bottom part of mic is made out of plastic. Buttons and dials are plastic too. Guess this is the divining line of Pro products and Consumer products. It would be perfect if they offer metal build on the whole thing.

Another thing, during recording, one cannot switch the mic type seamlessly. Doing so will automatically stop the recording.

All in all, I would recommend the H2n to anyone trying to get into recording. It has great function at a great price.

How can it be that such a cheap recorded is so darn amazing???

We use this to record our practice sessions and our live gigs. After listening the first recording out of this bad boy I was mindblown! The drums had such high fidelity that I'd much rather just use the Zoom than plug mics everywhere! The brass where also in very high fidelity and the guitars as well.

The only cons is that the vocals and bass were not really sounding amazingly, specifically the bass frequencies were drowning a bit. But there are a lot of options to change how you record and we were already so pleased that we didn't bother adjusting anything.

This recorder is a outstanding piece of art. I have all that high end mics and preamps apogees focusrites, neumann tlm103 mics, rode nt2a etc etc etc but... this recorder does almost every single jobs that related to audio recording in the planed and does that amazingly simply... There is combos os built in mics... phantom power for external mics a lovely preamp, use this device as a USB mic interface for you DAW clutter free, direct monitoring latency free, you can see the meters on the big screen as you adjust the levels. One set of batterry lasts for life. There is nothing is even closer to this babies versatility. If you are a kid looking for a all in all package and quickly start doing music... look no further. Shut up and buy this one.

I will explain each sub-rating I have.

Total: 5 stars because it is fantastic at what it sets out to do; be a relatively inexpensive yet capable and feature-rich field recorder.

Features: 5 stars because of the impressive quantity and quality of features in such a small package. The various recording modes are useful in a variety of scenarios and I was particularly impressed by the spatial audio recording. I used it to record audio for a 360-video project.

I have knocked one star off the Sound and Quality ratings because these are not as good as the more expensive zoom recorders however they are still very good for this price range.