Coming soon - ZOOM H2N

[Erny]

Hi,

those, who are about to buy a recorder next time should know, that the new H2N will be delivered next month.

If the announced features will come true, the H2N has been modified in a way that the weak points faded away.

More technical information and a vid available here:
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=2080

Cheers...
...Erny

[EvanP]

Nice looking recorder! Any info what the street price will be?

[Erny]

Hope it´s not only nice looking....

concerning prices: US: 199,-$, GB:190,-Euro, Germany: 199,-Euro

In contrast to the H2 the H2N is merely endowed with accessory. The additional accessory-kit is named

APH-2N, see http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/811054-REG/Zoom_ZH2NAP_APH_2n_Accessory_Package_for.html

and will be available apart from 39,-$ or 34,-Euros in a german store.

Cheers...
...Erny

[michi]

This looks good! The major improvements to me are the larger screen and the improved battery life. Having the thumb wheel for level adjustment is also a major gain.

The accessory pack is nice too, and priced well.

For drumming, I doubt that anyone would ever use anything but the X-Y stereo setting, so the five microphones are wasted for that. But overall, this looks like a very worthy successor to the H2, and at a great price. Sony had better watch out!

Cheers,

Michi.

[bubudi]

that's a big improvement! they just need to make the operation more intuitive. the different mic configurations are a bonus, especially if you record bands where there are other instruments in addition to the drums. the trade-off is that 5 very small mics generally aren't as good quality as 2 bigger mics, so the quality suffers a bit. it may not matter for drums, though, as long as they don't pick up too much noise.

[Erny]

The major improvements to me are the larger screen and the improved battery life. Having the thumb wheel for level adjustment is also a major gain.

Cheers,

Michi.

Hi Michi and Bubudi,

to my mind the technical-main improvement is the stepless analog-gain-adjustment. The H2 had only three analog gain-presets (H / M / L) and the recording-level-adjustment via arrow-buttons just influences the digital side. This means: Analog-clipping can´t be corrected later, because it did already occur. Analog-clipping only is indicated by the red LED flashing below the mics whereas the display bars refer to the digital-side. If the L-preset of the H2 was not low enough because of a high sound-pressure of the recording-source there was no means to have clipless recordings.

Another subject is the noisy mic-input using external mics. Everybody assumes that this has been modified on the H2N but we still do not know if that has been realized.

Furthermore the H2N is endowed with a speaker. Thus you won´t need headphones for controlling recordings.

As far as I know ZOOM changed the interface in a way to make it more user-friendly, if that also happened, the H2N seems to be a good choice.

So let´s see what will com true...

Cheers...
...Erny

[bubudi]

to my mind the technical-main improvement is the stepless analog-gain-adjustment

that's definitely a big advantage. they've finally looked at the customer critique and what their competition offers. for field recordings, the battery time is very important, especially if you're going to record drums in west africa.

Another subject is the noisy mic-input using external mics. Everybody assumes that this has been modified on the H2N but we still do not know if that has been realized.

they'd probably need to do a major change of the internal amp to fix this problem, which is more expensive than all the other mods they've done. so since they didn't mention it, it's very unlikely that they did.

Furthermore the H2N is endowed with a speaker. Thus you won´t need headphones for controlling recordings.

depends on the conditions. if you're listening back in relative quiet, just to hear that it's working, that's all you need. however, the speakers on such units don't tend to have much volume at all, and you won't be able to hear how well individual things are being picked up. headphones may still be necessary.

[freefeet]

I'd recommend spending the little extra and getting the H4N instead. Having the phantom power and the ability to use all kinds of external mics placed wherever you want them is an incredibly useful feature that i'm sure many musicians will truly appreciate.

But whichever you go for, portable recorders like this are every musician's dream. I think these things will make an incredible difference, especially to young musician's learning (and therefore the future of music), as they are very much now in the birthday present price range.

[Erny]

they'd probably need to do a major change of the internal amp to fix this problem, which is more expensive than all the other mods they've done. so since they didn't mention it, it's very unlikely that they did.

depends on the conditions. if you're listening back in relative quiet, just to hear that it's working, that's all you need. however, the speakers on such units don't tend to have much volume at all, and you won't be able to hear how well individual things are being picked up. headphones may still be necessary.

I really hope,they fixed the mic-amp in the way the users expected it.

Yes, the speaker is just a little means to prevent having to use headphones. As it is very small, the sound-quality will be a corresponding.

Yes, freefeet, beeing able to use XLR-mics is a big advantage but using a H4N, two XLR-mics and two XLR-cables is far from a small recording-solution. However it is good to have a big choice of hand-held recorders available on the market. Thus everybody is able to choose the individually best deal!

Cheers...
...Erny