Product reviews are done by Johnny Ferreira –
Professional Musician, Recording Artist, and
Home Recording Studio Owner and Enthusiast.
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Zoom H2 Review

 

zoom-recorder

The very first thing I noticed when I sat down to do this H2 Zoom Review was the very cool front screen grill which reminded me of an old classic studio condenser microphone.

 

Lots of important and useful features for most people, and even some cool but not-so-important ones… unless you're a musician like me, in which case built-in instrument tuner and metronome do come in handy.

 

This handy digital recorder got a 4.5 out of 5 rating average from well over 500 customer H2 Zoom Reviews from Amazon.com were it's usually on sale for around $146.00

 

My Personal Opinion & Overview:

 

Is this the very best portable recorder you can buy? No… but there are competing pro models that sell for twice as much. The H2 Zoom has twice as many mics as these others and is even smaller in size: 2.5 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches. That's just a couple reasons why they're selling a ton of them.

 

The list price on this thing was a little over $300 when it came out and places have been selling it for well under $200 lately and lately Amazon.com has it for under $150. I had a quick look at the Zoom H4 which has a lot more to it but isn't as user friendly. The H1 didn't have quite what I needed. The Edirol R-09, it's closest competitor is almost twice the price.

 

The H2 is just right. Loved the price, the size, the look, the handy and easy to use features. What I really thought was very useful with this Zoom Recorder is that it records both MP3 and WAV formats at a variety of resolutions.

 

You might not want to record an important performance on the MP3 setting but for a rehearsal it's nice to have the option and save a ton of it's memory. For those more important events you can go for the pro audio setting of 24-bit/96kHz. You can record the input signal directly to a computer through the USB port but when you play it back via the H2 it will be 16-bit/44.1 or 48 kHz format only.

 

 

My Zoom H2 Review Video

Check out Amazon.com where it was recently on sale for $146.00

 

 

What is it good for?

  • Recording seminars & conferences
  • Media interviews
  • Podcasting
  • Recording concerts
  • Songwriting sessions
  • Band rehearsals
  • Theater rehearsal
  • Outdoor sampling

 

 

USB Port For Your Computer

zoom-recorder-usb

Sometimes in a little machine like this it can be a little painful to do some of the editing tasks you eventually need to get done… no problem there, just plug it into the USB port on your computer to work more comfortably with all the editing functions. Of course you can download audio from it as well.

 

* The W-XY mic patterns with 4 mics and signal processing allows Front 90 cardioid, Rear 120 cardioid and 360 polar patterns.

 

This is a unique and great feature of the H2 Zoom… quadruple mic capsule, which actually gives you various types of surround recording, including a format that stores 360° information onto 4 tracks which you can extract later into 5.1 surround sound. Here's a good example of how you could use the Zoom Recorder to record a band:

 

zoom-recorder-patterns

 

Glance at the main features:

  • 4 mic capsules allow Front 90° cardioid, Rear 120° cardioid and 360° polar patterns
  • USB 2.0 interface
  • Records in WAV 96kHz/48kHz/44.1kHz at 16-bit or 24-bit, MP3 to 320kbps and Variable Bit Rate
  • Time Stamp and Track Marker functions in Broadcast WAV Format (BWF)
  • 512MB SD memory card included
  • Accommodates up to 16GB SD memory cards
  • Auto Gain Control for pristine recordings
  • Auto Start function means you're always ready to record
  • Low-cut filter eliminates wind noise
  • On-board chromatic tuner

 

The Good
  • Best all-around bang for your buck
  • Unique 360 degree 4 mic capsule feature
  • Small in-your-hand size – small in-your-wallet price
The Bad
  • Small display screen
  • Built-in limiter is a little slow to react

 

 

H2 Zoom Review Bytes From Other Users:

 

"As good as the Edirol R-09 for about half the price!"

 

"A fantastic USB audio interface (I can record directly into my computer)" 


 

"A surprisingly good microphone for my mini-studio" 


 

"Every once in a while, a product comes along that so exceeds expectations, it it almost hard to believe it is real An outstanding Field Recorder "

 

 

 

 

What's Included:

 

Included with the H2 are earbuds, 1/8 inch stereo to RCA cable, mic clip adapter, tripod stand, USB cable, AC adapter and a 512MB SD card. You can also buy a carrying case and wind screen for the microphones.

 

Warranty?

 

Yes, it comes with the standard 1 year limited manufacturer's warranty.

 

Where Can I Buy the Zoom H2 Recorder?

You can buy the Zoom Recorder on Amazon. At the moment they include free shipping and from what I can tell when comparing prices with other online shops, Amazon have the best deal especially with the free shipping option as most of the others will add a shipping charge to their advertised price. Click here to view on Amazon.com

 

Leave a comment if you thought my H2 Zoom Review was helpful