I have the Zoom H2 (liked the name too) and use it for field sampling and a few other tasks....

H2 user. Very easy to use. Also use it as a stereo mic with my laptop. Recorded my mum's choir secretly (the leader doesn't like being recorded). Great results - apart from someone sneezing nearby! Highly recommend.

the best thing to do would be to go to a shop and try them out for yourself. That site is convenient, but I'm not convinced that the tests are necessarily equivalent. E.g., were all recording parameters exactly (or close to) the same across devices? Does one or the other devices have a default EQ that provides a little boost that makes it sound "better" than the other? These devices are also loadd with all sort of effects as well -- does one engage a compressor by default while others do not? It could also be that the differences you're hearing really are the differences between mic pres and the onboard mics themselves. Hard to say without doing your own test, which may or may not be practical. Good luck!

I was never impressed with the sound of the Zoom recorders. They give you a lot of "bang for the buck," but then again you get what you pay for. I was much more impressed with the sound of the Edirol and Tascam portables. The internal mics were not dull or muffled like the Zooms (or like any of Samson's other microphones). M-Audio's is very popular, but the supplied mic is junk, you would have to get a good external electret.

If I had enough cash to throw away on a small portable recorder, I would go for one of the Sony's (I always liked the sound of my old Sony DAT), but I settled on the Tascam DR-1, and I am rather happy with it. I usually just use it as a backup recorder for live sessions using the mini line-in jack from the output of a mixer.

In my case, I'd seldom use a device like this for recording musicians indoors (I have much better gear available for that). I'd be interested in some samples of field and ambience recordings in order to compare wind and handling noise as well as recording fidelity.

I will give Zoom credit for that. From what I have heard the H4 seem to have the lowest handling noise (and wind noise using the wind screen) of the smaller recorders. Still, I would prefer to use a separate mic like the Sony ECM957PRO or the AT822 for field work or sound design. These have unbalanced mini connectors for the majority of the flash recorders' stereo mic inputs.

I have the Sony PCM-D50, and so far (one month) it sounds pretty dang good. I have tried it with both its internal mics, and an external binaural set.

Here is another site that offers a good set of sound samples for comparison:

http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-sound-samples.html

I thought the Zoom and Edirol sounded good, but the voice sample for the Sony sold me. Also, it does 96/24 :)

Hey! The Kiss, after I read every thing on this subject, I whent to a music store to get some drum parts i needed to fix my kit and I could't resist to look on the electronic's department if they had one of those small recorders. And yes, they had the Edirol, the Tascam, the M-Audio and the Yamaha...Tha saleman wasn't to much experimented on this business because I wanted to be sure to have a machine that will record on 24 bit and he said yes for the yamaha but, after he look and the user book, he never found a place where it was written...but he still day yes it recvord at 24...

So, I believed him and I arrived home after one hour drive and I get the PDF include and I found my answer, it record at 16 bit....but, it already like the machine, it's small like a cell and I pluged that on my computer and listen to couple test I made outside and I believe that it gonna make what I need even if I don't have my 24 bit that I wanted at the beginning. After all, I thought I need a good machine that get sound effects that I found every where so it's not for recording a singer or a symphony orchestra...but, still, I'm not happy wirh the saleman...

So, the machine is call the POCKETRAK and if you whant more information about it, I'll watch here some times.
TY
BYE
G.

Yes I will, if I know how to do it...
TY
G.

Wow what an ancient thread....

I recently bought a Zoom H4n and I am very happy with it. It's like a audio Swiss army knife.

Well designed, with a smart software implementation.

I got Zounds to match the price of Amazon's $309 H4n package. When I asked Zounds to match it, they gave me the package that they normally sell for 369, which includes the remote (which, yes, you DO want and need to have.) And a number of other accessories that I'm finding very useful. All for $10 above the typical selling price of $299.

I first checked out a Zoom H1, which sells for $99. It's nice, and if you don't need any of the deeper functions of the H4n, may be sufficient. But its form factor leaves a LOT to be desired, and doesn't lend itself well to fast operation... stiff, closely spaced, clunky buttons, and a very limited display being the main culprit. Way too easy to inadvertently change critical settings (eg sample and bit rate.)

If you're looking for a REALLY simple but well designed digital recorder for note taking (dictation, basically), I highly recommend the Sony ICD-DX-### series. of Digital Voice Recorders.

HTH

I own the H4N and use it to capture sound for film on location. Wicked powerful tool to have in the toolbox, and for gosh sake, there's a GUITAR tuner in there! LOL - Seriously, great tool.

Corey

Post #46 ??? MD recorder??? Like as in Mini Disk??????
anyhow interesting read . It would be cool to have an update on these gizmos. I spent an hour looking at the different models the other day as I would like one just to use for idea capture. But then It seems for a little more $$ you could actually use one for serious live recordings.
I've always steered away from Zoom products thinking them to contain more content than quality. The Edrol is way over priced, The Tascams look promising and there is still the Camera company's offerings.
I would personally prefer one that just has a big red button on it and nothing else.

Hi Marah!!!

I got the Microtrack when it first came out. The one thing that bummed me out about it was the battery. You have to send the damn thing in when it dies and pay $75 for M-Audio to replace it. That never sat well with me. I'm wondering if that's still the case with Microtrack II?

Don't know for sure but probably since the Microtrack ii is sealed up. I love mine, particularly with the spdif input. I use it as a backup recorder when I do live recordings to laptop and go in using the spdif  input.  Or I could use an external pre/converter and run it digitally into the MTII.  As far as battery life, I haven't had a problem since it will run while powered from the USB port. I have a bunch of various USB battery packs so I could run the thing for days even while recording 24/96 and using phantom powered mics.  Lessee, I've got a 32 gig card in it so that's about 15 hours I could record at 24/96?

SCorey

I got the Microtrack when it first came out. The one thing that bummed me out about it was the battery. You have to send the damn thing in when it dies and pay $75 for M-Audio to replace it. That never sat well with me. I'm wondering if that's still the case with Microtrack II?

Don't know for sure but probably since the Microtrack ii is sealed up. I love mine, particularly with the spdif input. I use it as a backup recorder when I do live recordings to laptop and go in using the spdif  input.  Or I could use an external pre/converter and run it digitally into the MTII.  As far as battery life, I haven't had a problem since it will run while powered from the USB port. I have a bunch of various USB battery packs so I could run the thing for days even while recording 24/96 and using phantom powered mics.  Lessee, I've got a 32 gig card in it so that's about 15 hours I could record at 24/96?

Well, I was using an external battery pack too but then it stopped powering up altogether. I assumed that meant the battery was dead and external power or not the battery needed replacing... could be the unit itself died. I may crack the case for the hell of it and have a look inside.

I bought a ZOOM H4 when they first came out and I am pretty sure they (all of them) have likely improved since then and... I have had good results with the H4. I don't see how you could lose with any of them as long as you read the reviews and compare the specs. I also have a Kodak Zi-8 HD video recorder that makes incredible HD videos and has a USB connector to post straight online.
 
Personally, I'd stay with the ZOOM, they make good stuff, have new 64bit drivers for the original H4 and the R16 and they are easy to work... and work well. The H4 is either stereo for field recording or 4-track with effects and modelling if you want to go that Rt... but youhave to choose one or the the other before you start a project, you cant record stereo then decide to add two more tracks. Being the older model (replaced by the H4N) should be a god deal on ebay.
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1901&brandID=4
links to the others are on the page.. it also has a windscreen and an adapter for putting it on a micstand.
 
Good luck,
 
Julien