[RWP] Zoom H6

[Patrick Perdue]

I had a Zoom H4N for about six months. Made it go away because I was so 
disappointed about how noisy the XLR mic inputs on it are. Having come 
from the original Zoom H4, that part of it really was quite a downgrade. 
I eventually replaced the H4N with an Olympus LS100, which, granted, 
costs about as much as the H6. I didn't buy the H4N to use it's internal 
microphones. Same for the LS100. Most people I know who are happy with 
their H4N's just use the internal mics, and nothing else. Those mics 
sound pretty good, but they're a little noisy, more of an issue if you 
want to capture quiet/detailed stuff. You won't notice or care if 
you're, say, recording bar gigs.

The 3.5mm input on it is OK if you want to use plugin powered mics or 
whatever, but honestly, that part of the recorder is almost identical to 
the much cheaper and floppier Zoom H1.

I've heard the H6, and I'm not a fan of it's included mics, either. I 
can't call them internal, because they're technically not. The fact that 
it has four xlr/phone jacks, and you can use it as a multi-channel or 
stereo USB audio interface with the ability to mix levels and pan on the 
unit itself would be kind of nice in certain situations, but I don't 
think I would personally need something like that enough to justify 
buying one, at least not at the moment.

Also, one really bad thing about the Zoom H4N, which could have been 
fixed with a firmware upgrade but wasn't, is that the bigger your SD 
card, and the more stuff you have on it, the longer it takes to boot. 
Then, on top of that, the longer it takes to actually start recording 
when you press the record button. Sometimes it could take nearly a 
minute from cold boot to recording if you had, say, a nearly full 32GB 
SD card. A great way to potentially miss things.

I really wanted to like the H4N, but I just couldn't.

On 8/12/2013 6:55 PM, Kevin Brown wrote:
> OK,...The "Zoom H4N" is going for $270...At "American Musical Supply",
> you can setup a "3" payment plan for $90 per month...
>
> The "Zoom H6" is going for $399,...You can setup a "3" payment plan at
> "American Musical Supply" for $133.33 per month...
>
> I usually get all of my gear from "American Musical Supply", because
> they have an extensive payment plan that won't break the bank...
>
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