My review of the new Zoom H2 Portable digital recorder
My new Zoom H2 Portable 2-Track SD Recorder
arrived today, and I’m totally psyched. I ordered this thing based on tech specs like three months ago, before the units actually existed. It shipped Monday, arrived today, and I love it.
The Samson H2 lists for 200 bucks. Comes with a 512 meg SD card, which I immediately swapped out for a 4-gig card, which worked fine. I was a little worried it wouldn’t, as the tech info only said “supports up to 2 gig SD card”, and I’d e-mailed the company asking about support for 4-gig cards, and they never wrote back. (I’m using it with a 4 gb Kingston HC SD card. It works fine, even though it’s not on the compatible card list.)
FUN WITH AUDIO
The Zoom H2 is about the size of a pack of smokes and looks like an electric razor. It runs on two AA batteries, and includes some good built-in microphones. It can record in stereo or surround. I’ve only tried the stereo mode so far, and have only tried the on-board mics, haven’t yet tried it with my external Giant Squid mic.
(Later note….the on-board mics are great. Don’t need an external mic.)
I tried all the different compression settings, limiters, higher bit rates, etc, and basically settled for loving the way it worked with none of that on, set at 44.1 hz 16 bit stereo WAV file recording. CD quality in my hand. Fine for portable recording and podcasting. (I do two podcasts and have pretty discerning ears. I have a decent home studio with decent mics and get a good sound. The H2 sounds almost as good as the studio stuff I do in the studio.)
I do like that there are four mics, two front, two back, and you can use either pair, or all four, and use all four to record stereo, or quad (which can be converted into 5.1 later.) The front pair of mics record 90 degrees, the back pair record 180 degrees. And there’s a little LED to show you which mics are on.
The H2 was easy to use out of the box. I tossed the directions in a closet and jumped in (as I do with most devices…I take the directions out later when I wanna go deeper into the sub menus). It took me a few tries to figure out that you have to press TWICE on the record button to start recording (the first press is to arm it, so you can set levels), but I got it. I had to look at the manual to figure out how to transfer data from the item to the computer, but that was no problem either.
The H2 comes with a screw-on stick that makes a cool handle. With the handle on the bottom, and the included pop filter on the top, the H2 kinda looks like an ice cream bar or a big lolly pop. (photos of Debra Jean Dean by Michael W. Dean.)
It also has a little screw-on table stand, so you can set it on a table. It looks like RsDs when you do. In that mode, we call it “H2D2″.
The controls are easy to navigate, the design is brilliant and I LOVE THE AUDIO QUALITY. This thing records CD-quality stereo WAV files, and sounds great. I took it on a 15-minute walking tour of my house, yard and to the post office. Edited the WAV, ran it through the Levelator, encoded to a 192 k MP3. Results are here for you to hear:
Clone The Homeless, episode 0049.
http://www.clonethehomeless.com/
direct 20-meg MP3 link:
http://www.askdollie.com/cth/Episode-0049-CloneTheHomeless.mp3
MEW!
You can also set it to record directly to 16-bit 44.1 hz MP3.
CONCLUSION: I’ve wanted something like this my whole life, and this thing delivers. I give it a ten out of ten for performance and price.
The H2 is my little friend. I’ll whisper my secrets to him and he’ll paint my thoughts on the ether. IT SOUNDS GREAT!
All in all the H2 is a great podcasting tool. And remember, server space is cheaper than a therapist. Yay! Compulsively disclose! Dig it!
–Michael W. Dean 
August 31st, 2007 at 5:35 pm
[...] (Updated 8/31/07 530pm : A review of the H2, along with audio examples, can be found at Michael W. Dean’s site, StinkFight.com) [...]
September 1st, 2007 at 3:46 am
DJ looks pretty holding it too!
September 1st, 2007 at 3:51 am
Yup! And a little bit insane in the top photo.
MWD
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:16 am
I would buy one of these, but I’m way to focused on buying slutty-looking heavy metal guitars and trying to find a place where I can get hair extensions.
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Hey, I really liked your clonethehomeless.mp3 H2 sample. Very funny. I also loved your enthusiasm. Thank you
September 5th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
I think it was you who suggested I wait to buy one till you got a chance to review it.
So, does this mean I get to buy one now? Huh? Huh? Can I? Can I?
September 6th, 2007 at 3:06 am
Yes. I would. I did.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Hey Michael,
I am a complete tech idiot - I am looking to record some nature sounds to be included on a CD - I am working with someone who has a sound studio, but he doesn’t have any portable recording equipment. He recommended a mini disc recorder - but this looks easier . . . What would you recommend?
September 6th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I think this would be preferable to a mini-disc recorder. I’ve used them, they have moving parts that break. I think the H2 will render the MDR obsolete.
The only advantage the MDR would have is that the data is cheaper, but not by much. I paid 40 bucks for a 4-gig SD card. That holds 6 hours of CD-quality stereo WAV audio. actually about the same as Mini Discs, which I believe are about ten bucks each and hold an hour (or they were when I last used one.)
I’d go for the H2.
MWD
“Clone The Homeless”
Michael W. Dean’s podcast that remembers when sex was safe and music was dangerous. (Free, and no iPod is needed to listen.)
http://www.clonethehomeless.com
September 6th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Thanks Michael,
I was once tagging along with a friend who was using a mini disc recorder to interview a celeb for her radio show. She was wrestling with the wires going every where and they kept disconnecting. She had to interrupt the interview a couple of times to fuss with her equipment - and then when she tried to play it back later - the disc had failed. In fact all the discs in that particular package where bad . . .
That’s where I got the idea that the H2 would be easier. And from what I have read the sound quality is better too. Thanks for the recommendation - I will be ordering one soon . . .
Harvest
September 7th, 2007 at 12:59 am
just got my h2, learning it, way cool. i never did pod casting, i like yours. im using it to record various musical situations were involved with. would like to network with others on this product. gonna try it fri night on our gig. peace/out
October 18th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
I bought an H2 this past week and really like it. However, I noticed something odd when I uploaded a 90-degree recorded file to my computer, then loaded into my editing program, Cool Edit Pro.
This was a recording two of us made with two voices and two acoustic guitars, the recorder set to 90-degree 44.1/16 bit Stereo, with the front mics. What’s unusual is that the Cool Edit “analysis” of the two channel waveform is exactly the same for both channels — _and_ for each selection recorded. The same figure (minus 6.24 dB) for each selection. This implies a mono read but it’s recorded in stereo (the file folder also says stereo). There are some very minor visual differences in the waveform. Per below, the computer will upload stereo files — done it thousands of times.
When using 120 or 360 the waveforms appear in Cool Edit as they should: different dBs, because of the stereo recording.
I was thinking perhaps one of the two front mics is not working, but I did check for differences on the H2 meter by sweeping back and forth and it shows rise and fall of the individual channels.
Do you have an explanation for this Cool Edit situation? I sent Zoom tech support this question 4-5 days ago without response. Thanks.
November 25th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Hello Michael,
Has anyone tested the H2s auto record level in a music situation? I found with my minidisc that it had sudden drops in volume level during music that had a wide dynamic range. So had to use manual record level. Does the H2 do a better job with it’s auto record level? Would like to hear a sample of some lively music with lots of loud and quiet passages. Seriously considering buying an H2 to replace the minidisc.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I just recorded a classical piano recital with the H2. You can’t set levels
during the playing so I correctly guessed that the low mic gain setting would be correct. For one piece I used the mid gain setting and loud notes were distorted. My only criticism of the H2 is that I can’t find a stereo microphone which produces adeqate volume and I have tried several.
Fortunately, the internal mics are of good quality. I sold my H4 early this year (2007) because its mics seemed to have no treble. In addition
it was more complicated than it had to be and wouldn’t accept 1/8″ microphone plugs. Previously, I used a minidisc recorder that kept dying
during live concerts. Having no moving parts is a great advantage.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
[...] quality. But then I read reviews that found the quality to be quite good. I also started talking to other folks who adopted early and sang its [...]
July 31st, 2008 at 8:07 am
Can it record brainwaves?