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.
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Zoom H2n Handy Recorder
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Customer Review: Zoom H2N Digital Audio Recorder Review
Larry Turner
From the manufacturer
The H2n comes with everything you need to get started right away.
The Zoom H2n Handy Recorder
Five microphones, four ways of recording
Zoom's H2n Handy Recorder is the only portable device to come with five built-in microphones and four different recording modes: X/Y, Mid-Side, 2-channel surround and 4-channel surround. The H2n can handle just about anything from live concert and rehearsal recording to location videography. It's also a great choice for generating lasting audio documents of important events like lectures, meetings, weddings, and parties.
- Five built-in microphones and four recording modes: Mid-Side (MS) stereo, X/Y stereo, and both 2-channel and 4-channel surround
- Records directly to SD and SDHC cards up to 32GB
- Supports up to 24-bit/96kHz WAV audio as well as a variety of MP3 formats
- Analog-type mic gain knob
- Onboard effects, including compression/limiting and low-cut filtering, plus chromatic tuner and metronome
- Auto Gain, Auto-record, and Pre-record features, plus Data Recovery function
- Requires just two AA alkaline or NiMH rechargeable battery, with up to 20 hours of battery life
Spatial Audio for VR
The Zoom H2n is the only handheld recorder perfect for the creation of 360-degree 'Spatial Audio' VR audio files native to the Google Jump Virtual Reality Platform.
Flexible inputs and outputs
The H2n offers a variety of inputs and outputs for flexibility in recording.
There's a Line In jack that can accept two channels of mic- and/or line-level signals (including microphones requiring plug-in power), as well as a stereo line out / headphone jack with a dedicated volume control. There's even a built-in speaker for fast monitoring without the need to make any connections.
In addition, the H2n's USB port allows recorded files to be imported into computer editing software such as the supplied WaveLab LE. You can even use the H2n as a 2-in/2-out audio interface or as a USB microphone.
H2n Microphone configurations
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X/YX/Y recording provides a great way to cover a wide area while still capturing sound sources in the center with clarity and definition. The H2n's built-in X/Y microphone provides two matched unidirectional mic elements set at a 90 degree angle relative to one another. |
Mid-SideThe 'Mid' microphone element in the H2n's MS mic picks up signal coming from directly in front, while the 'Side' mics capture the sounds coming from the left and right. You can then adjust the relative level of each, either during recording or during post-production, to alter the stereo width while still maintaining perfect mono compatibility. |
SurroundThe H2n allows you to combine the signals from both the X/Y and MS microphones in order to create two- or four-channel surround sound recordings that capture everything you hear, not just those sounds coming from in front of you, but from all directions. |
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| H2n | H1 | |
| Customer Reviews |
2,581
|
8,518
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| Price | $179.99 | $119.99 |
| Recording modes | Stereo X/Y, Stereo MS, 2-channel surround, 4-channel surround | Stereo X/Y |
| Provided microphone(s) | X/Y, MS | X/Y |
| Number of external inputs | 2 | 2 |
| Plug-in power (2.5 V) | Y | Y |
| Recording media | SD/SDHC, up to 32 GB | microSD/microSDHC, up to 32 GB |
| Auto-Record, Pre-Record, tuner, metronome, compression/limiting, variable playback pitch/speed | Y | N |
| USB audio interface in/out | 2/2 | 2/2 |
| Weight | 130 grams | 60 grams |
Compare with similar items
This Item  Zoom H2n Stereo/Surround-Sound Portable Recorder, 5 Built-In Microphones, X/Y, Mid-Side, Surround Sound, Ambisonics Mode, Records to SD Card, For Recording Music, Audio for Video, and Interviews |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $179.99 | $234.95 | $109.89 | $79.99 | $89.00 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11 | Get it May 9 - 13 | Get it May 13 - 24 | Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11 | Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11 |
| Customer Ratings | |||||
| Battery life | |||||
| User interface | |||||
| Sound quality | |||||
| Easy to use | |||||
| Sold By | Amazon.com | Photo4Less | Amazon Japan | 6ave | Amazon.com |
| hardware interface | secure digital | usb, sdhc | usb | usb | usb |
| memory capacity | 2 GB | 32 GB | 32 GB | 32 GB | 128 GB |
| format | wav, mp3 audio | wav | wma, mp3 audio | mp3 audio, wav | live |
| battery quantity | 2 aaa, 2 aa | 4 aa | 2 aa | — | 2 aa, 1 lithium ion |
| weight | 0.29 pounds | — | 0.32 kilograms | 8.2 ounces | 0.7 pounds |
| mic form factor | Built-In | Lavalier | Built-In | Built-In | Built-In |
| mic operation mode | Stereo | Stereo | Stereo | — | Stereo |
Reviews with images
Super convenient, but some interference issues
I bought this to record a cappella rehearsals, and for the most part is is amazing. The mic setup is super convenient and versatile both for recording the group from the audience's perspective and for when we're standing in a circle. The auto 2-channel surround is amazing for a true snapshot of what we sound like in a circle, and with the configurable 4-channel surround you can make recordings where you can rotate the sound during playback as if turning to focus on individual people. So overall - I've never found another tool like this, and it's really great.The one downside is that it is susceptible to EM interference. I live in a city with a fair amount of radio congestion and probably some power line noise and that kind of thing. I have an old H4 that was really good at rejecting all of that and provided a great noise floor (but of course only had the X-Y pair built in). But with the H2n I'm finding the noise floor is not quite as good as the H4's overall, and also that there are particular locations in the park nearby where it audibly picks up weird 1kHz (plus octave harmonics) interference. (I've attached a spectrograph showing the faint horizontal lines at 1k intervals.) I'm not sure if it's a 1kHz external signal that isn't being filtered, or if there's just some strong EM/RF power there that is causing the internal circuitry of the H2n to fail in this oddly specific way.I actually returned my first H2n thinking it was partially defective, but the replacement, from a totally different manufacturing lot, behaved identically. So I think it's just an inherent issue with this model (and with my neighborhood's electromagnetic fields!). But I kept the replacement because I actually still love it! And it's been amazingly useful overall. But if anyone from Zoom is reading this, I'd gladly pay double for equal convenience but improved performance.
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lano pires
Exceletente gravador!
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Reviewed in Mexico on August 26, 2021
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Gwen Wilkinson
Easy to use, good quality, great value.
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