Zoom H6 Recorder Shootout

[Doug Young]

That was my impression as well, or alternately that the Zoom chain was a tad thinner. But I wasn't able to prove it via an ABX. Maybe if I tried harder :-)

You can download the tracks, as well, of course, to bypass soundcloud.

[Andy Howell]

C had more to it when listening through my monitor speakers but A surprises me by being so good. And I take it be zoom has no trouble phantom powering those mics?

[Doug Young]

It provides 48 volts, haven't noticed any issue with phantom powering.

[Andy Howell]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

It provides 48 volts, haven't noticed any issue with phantom powering.

Thanks for that. I've heard a few murmurings which I tend to discount!

[azbluesplayer]

Well I will admit after making my choices I saw your answers and I picked the following, was way off, maybe my hearing and age, lol!

A - Great River
B - h6n internal
C - h6n external k184

That sound you are hearing, I hear that on my h6n too at times, was told I needed a DI box.
Mine is heard at beginning and end think the sound must mud it out the other times, lol, not sure. Mine is alot worse

recording from mic > boss ve-20 > h6n > pc

Now i recorded this right after the one above nothing canted and sorry for the bad take, cannot hear it as bad still some strange pop or clicks only being heard.
recorded from shure beta 58a > boss ve-20 pedal > H6N > pc

Here is using the H6n with my acoustic a few months before my back injury and not being able to play now, probably not again until next spring : ( will start all over again. Just went through this last yeR and had to stop. Think next time will just Mic the acoustic w/o running into the amp, would sound better. Was doing this for a class and normally use my electric. Needed to change strings so grabbed my acoustic for my video lesson.

2 Mic's just about 1" off cones with shures 57a/58a on a 2x12 cab no pedals, just some a little reverb


Called and spoke with tech from radial and said I need to isolate to find out the cause, could be that I have everything plugged into the same strip creating a ground loop and could also be the cause! I think its my high impedance harp crystal Mic maybe, bad thing I was not writing down the configs I was using during each video tape for utube. From here out will make notes of what was used and the setup for reference, so over the next day or so will have to test my different amps, mic,s and pedals.

Normally my chain for live recording of harmonica or guitar is just different amp
For harp
2 - mics on my cab a shure beta 57a/58a into my 1&2 tracks, 1 - mic shure beta 58a for harmonica/ vocals > H6n > pc win > movie maker and video using a usb logitech 920HD for video.

Or when I need to be quiet chain is
Harp/vocals into a shure beta 57/58a change it up sometimes > to either pedals or a boss ve-20 > H6N > pc win > movie maker and video using a usb logitech 920HD for video.

For daw
Harp/vocals/guitar > mbox 3 or elevenrack usb > pc win > Reaper then Pro-Tools to polish the track up, still learning all the time, your sound a lot better Doung

He said to try a few things first, nice guy!

* To try plugging my amp into a separate power source or plug.
* To put headphones on the H6n to see if I hear it
* Plug headphones into my pc via the daw software is it heard.
* Or it after processing the video or daw is this when you here it.

Unlike the music shops, he was,nt worried about selling me something, rather customer service and finding the problem first. So I at least have some things to try and isolate the source first. Then call him back with results and he requested a drawing of my chain as well. Very nice people at radial and have not even bought anything yet, very helpful, the rep was Ryan. Was being steered to switchcraft by the music chain or art brand.

Thanks Doug nice sound you have

[Drubbing]

Well, I have no idea what most of this is about, but A sounded very sweet. The others were nice too.

I'm thinking about the zoom H2n. Can I ask, is it a big drop in SQ over the 6? And do you have a quiet studio-like setup to do this? I'm just slumming it in my office with the door closed and my iPhone video recording suck terribly..

[tdq]

Originally Posted by Drubbing

Well, I have no idea what most of this is about, but A sounded very sweet. The others were nice too.

I'm thinking about the zoom H2n. Can I ask, is it a big drop in SQ over the 6? And do you have a quiet studio-like setup to do this? I'm just slumming it in my office with the door closed and my iPhone video recording suck terribly..

I, too, have little idea what is being discussed. I like A the best, followed closely by C, B the least. Which makes me think I should get at least a mike for my H2n.

[anton]

I think i am going to pick up a Zoom H6, maybe today. I will use it with my ADK A6 mics. Doug's comparison proves, at least to me, that the unit is good enough for recording a solo guitar cd. I can hear little to no difference between it and his high end chain. Maybe in a critical environment on higher end speakers, but how many of us listen to music that way?

I am a quieter player, and would like to be able to shut off my computer when recording the solo tracks. Plus with this I can take my right to other locations. My work has a larger room that is eventually going to be a tv production studio, but right now its empty and totally lined with acoustic panels. And I can use it for free after hours. Should be a nice place to record, as its dead silent.

[Earwitness]

I listened without knowing the "reveal," so you can count my guess.

I wasn't trying to guess the equipment, but just what I liked better. Listening through some Bose headphones. I liked A best, then B, then C. Apparently I liked the cheaper stuff?

Maybe C was a little tighter, and I was drawn to the slightly looser sound as sounding more acoustic?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Earwitness

Apparently I liked the cheaper stuff?

Many years ago, I got the AB Pre CD, which demos an acoustic guitar player using a big batch of preamps, from cheap to pretty high end. At least that that time, I thought the differences were pretty subtle, but I was eventually able to zero in on a slightly annoying pick click on the 4th string. On many, it was really prevalent, while others seemed to smooth it out. So I naturally preferred the smooth sounding ones. In retrospect, it's not too surprising that the ones I found "smoother" were the cheapies. The "better" preamps were apparently more accurately conveying the pick click that was there, better transient response and so on. It's been a long time, and maybe my impressions would be different if I listened to the samples again, and I might have well been imagining things, but I try to remember from this experience that "better" in specs, dollars, whatever, doesn't always translate to "preferred" when it comes to sound.

[trion12]

Thanks for doing that Doug.

The Zoom on its own does sound a bit thinner and less airy or spacious to my ears but there's not a whole lot in it to me.

In terms of doing a 2 channel stereo recording with built-in mics do you have any thoughts on any quality differences between the H6, H5, H4 or H2?
Thanks,

Aaron

[Doug Young]

I only have experience with the H6 and H4n, and they seem similar to me, sound-wise. I haven't compared them in any detail, maybe there's some difference in self-noise or something like that. From a usability perspective, the H6 totally trumps the H4, other than it being bigger. Faster, better meters, more useful controls, faster to format disks, etc. I prefer to use them with external mics, if only because of the extra flexibility in mic placement. Ty did a review of the H5 that he posted here. No idea bout the H2 or H1, I've never used them.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by trion12

Thanks for doing that Doug.

The Zoom on its own does sound a bit thinner and less airy or spacious to my ears but there's not a whole lot in it to me.

In terms of doing a 2 channel stereo recording with built-in mics do you have any thoughts on any quality differences between the H6, H5, H4 or H2?
Thanks,

Aaron

I started with an H2 and noticed the self-noise in quiet sections of my fingerpicked solo acoustic guitar. http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2008/...er-comparison/

I never had an H4 but I got an H4n hoping it would be sufficiently better than the H2 for my use. It did not meet my needs so I sent it back. http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2009/...-the-zoom-h4n/

I got an H2n when they came out, once again hoping for self-noise close to that of a mid-level audio interface. Once again I was disappointed, but the great battery life and good user interface led me to keep the H2n. http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2011/...-the-zoom-h2n/

The best recorder I've used that includes built-in mics is the Sony PCM-D50, now discontinued and replaced with the PCM-D100. This recorder lacks XLR/P48 inputs, however. http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2011/...-d50-zoom-h2n/

Zoom finally delivered performance close to that of a pro-sumer audio interface with the H6 (the H5 seems to be very similar if not the same). Even compared to the mighty Sony PCM-D50 it holds its own: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2013/...itar-shootout/

With external mics it seems to me to be very close in performance to the RME UFX interface: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2013/...h6-vs-rme-ufx/

Fran

[trion12]

Thank you both Doug and Fran.

Aaron