thumper1

Hi All...anyone ever heard of the Zoom H2 portable audio recorder? DS has asked for this for Christmas and we are getting it for him. Just wondered what others knew. DS's friend at Aspen had it, and said it was GREAT...and DS tried it there. I'd love to know what others think.

musicmom

Wow.
Pretty weird to see your post on the H2, thumper1.

Musicson told us last week that his (second hand) Sony minidisc recorder is DEAD. We had paid little for it used on ebay and he has had his money's worth. Very bad timing, though, since he's trying to put together CDs for summer programs for next year.

He briefly considered buying another cheap minidisc....but with Christmas coming.....he asked us about a hard drive recorder instead.
His Dad (a professional musician and 'black box' lover) offered to research the stuff out there. CNET is a great source on tech stuff....
ANYWAY, with the price range we were considering, the Zoom H2 made the most sense. There's also a slightly higher (H4?) model.

Soooo, a short 'buy it now' moment on ebay and son's new H2 is sitting in the box on our dining room table. About $180 ish new, I think.
Husband played around with it under pretense of checking it out and was impressed. It was lacking some feature H was used to on his minidisc.....put he said it would work out perfectly for son's needs.
Will be interested in hearing from folks with some experience with this unit.

Good luck!

neumes

My husband, who does the recording for our church choir on a DAT recorder with mics and all, bought the H2 a month or so ago. Both sons have used it at voice lessons--it's super easy to use and pretty darn good quality. It can take auxiliary mics, too.

My H put it in his jacket pocket and left it there to record a really fabulous concert at a university (nameless...!) and it worked amazingly well, until he coughed! i will post more after I ask him about it.

thumper1

DH got it online and got a good package with the memory card, charger, rechargable batteries, and something else...and free shipping. $217 not bad. Good to hear that others have something positive to say about it. DS has a minidisk, and recording capabilities on his Apple Computer...but this is something he says is well worth the money.

violadad

I'm a techie idiot as by the time I finish the doing the research, the item is either obsolete or far surpassed by the newer model.

So, if I too had a "buy it now" moment, no further research, no looking at alternatives, does this little sucker suit the basic recording needs of a conservatory level student for basic recordings, festival compilations etc.?

So I understand this correctly, it's a digital recording, then downloaded to your computer; CD's are then burned off your computer?

I'm inclined to just buy one based on the rec of thumper's s, but a few more comments might be appreciated from those in the know.

thumper1

Violadad...Thumper's son has been known to buy things that aren't perfect. BUT he got to try this during the summer as his roommate at Aspen had one. He said it was awesome. Since his current portable recording equipment needs some "replacing", he asked for one. You can also plug in a good quality microphone (which we bought for DS last year), and yes, you save it on a thumbdrive kind of doodad. Then you download onto your computer and burn the CD from there. I wonder if BassDad has heard of this thing...he usually is on the cutting edge of this stuff.

violadad

thump- what piqued my interest was the fact that your s used it and WAS impressed.

My boy's recorder is outdated, and virtual useless. With Xmas and his birthday (Christmas Eve) around the corner, it might make sense to just bite the bullet and go for the Zoom.

It would be nice to get Bassdad's opinion. He does seem extremely knowledgeable about the various techie recording options. His input or ImpZep's might seal or break the deal.

Hey, I can always get it and s can return it if it does not suit his porpoises.

thumper1

Zoom H2 SD Handy Recorder

Here is what DH ordered. He got the works (including the accessory package with the larger memory card) for $213 plus $9.95 shipping. Not bad. Sorry about the previous post...thought the shipping was free.

cartera45

My D has an Olympus digital recorder, a step up from the minidisc, but not as nice as the Zoom - but she loves it and can do all that downloading and burning. I was eyeing the H2 when I bought this one and I think I only knew about it from this forum so I think there is an older thread and I think it was Bassdad who mentioned the H2.

mom4

We purchased an H2 for my son to do prescreening recordings (he was making them at school); we also have used a snowball mic, which simply plugs into a usb port on the mac ibook or whatever and records directly onto the computer. Son has used the H2 for several recordings (cello+accompanist) and thinks it's better quality than the Snowball. We purchased it from a cellist who sells several different "portable recording solutions," Portable recording solutions. WingfieldAudio.com.. My son's teacher has had an Edirol recorder for more than a year, similar but more expensive than the H2; both do great recording.

Don't yet know if his H2 prescreen recording got him a live audition...

thumper1

Just an FYI...DS will be using the H2 primarily for recording himself for his own purposes. He is able to use the recording equipment at his college to record for auditions...and that is what he will do. But he does record himself a LOT and this will be much easier than the minidisk.

neumes

It's really a nice size. As I mentioned, can fit in your pocket. easy to record--makes a new file each time you press record, if I'm remembering correctly. Nice quality sound--clearly not as wonderful as fancy-schmancy mics with a DAT (H tested side by side) but pretty darn good and much more portable and easier to access the recording. (He's thinking this is a much lighter, quicker technology for recording choir trips, but, as I said, not as high-quality as the almost obsolete DAT.) It's like plugging your camera into your computer--you download the files, then do whatever. It can record in various quality levels (mp3, aiff? wav? I am not sure of the terminology), allowing you to record longer for less quality. And, as with a camera, you either need a device to download it to (computer, other?) or have lots of memory cards. H likes it but is still experimenting.

BassDad

I have not actually used one, since I bought my Edirol R-09 before the Zoom models were out. I know some friends who have the Zooms and they mostly like them.

The one major problem most frequently mentioned is that it is not easy to control the mic gain settings. You have a choice of high, medium and low on the dedicated switch, but any finer tweaking must be done via soft menu. That can be a bother if you realize while recording that you set the levels a little too hot and want to lower them a bit. If your recorder had a volume dial for the mics, you could simply turn them rather than having to fish around three menu levels deep.

Minor problems include:
- Mics have a bump in response around 6 kHz
- Internal signal processing (limiter, compressor, AGC) not very good
- Initial imcompatibility with Leopard OS (fix available at Download Software)
- Noise floor kind of high at max input gain
- Feels a little flimsy compared with pro gear (but good considering the price)
- early H4 units had a pulsing hiss when running on battery that Zoom claims to have fixed on the ones being shipped now. Be careful of this if buying an H4 on Ebay.
- If using external mics, use a line matching transformer rather than a simple XLR-to-1/8 inch stereo adapter. Most people will not need to bother with this because the built-in mics are pretty good, particularly on the H2.

There is a nice review done as a podcast that was actually recorded on an H4 and an H2 available at Zoom H2 Recorder Review - watch the video, vlog, or video podcast on mefeedia

I was pretty impressed with the results and would certainly consider one for casual use should my trust R-09 ever bite the dust. I would probably want something a bit easier to operate and something that was a little more solidly built for professional recording purposes.

BassDad

By the way, for those who like to read the manual before buying, the H2's is available at http://www.samsontech.com/products/r...ser_manual.pdf

thumper1

Thanks BassDad...I knew you would know about this. DS will be using this mostly for his own purposes. Luckily he had the chance to try one last summer. We bought it new from a vendor (as noted in above post).