Hi

Any of you guys know about these two field recorders?

I need four inputs and I cannot find out which of these two units are the best buy on a budget!!!

Thanks in advance.

 

Last edited: Jan 2, 2018

Hi,
I wouldn't trust Zoom any longer to produce quality product. There are always some kind of issues.
Zoom H4 - timing errors, gain switches accumulate dust
Zoom H4n - severe harmonic distortion (above 2%)
Zoom H2 - short battery life, polar pattern switch goes bad in 1 year of use
Zoom H2n - high noise floor
Zoom H1 - poor RF shielding, captures CPU noise
Zoom H5 - severe distortion (above 20%) in DAC mode for frequencies above 8kHz
Zoom H6 - suboptimal gain staging in ADC

 

Hi Andrew

Thanks for feedback ..... those are indeed serious issues and you have nearly all ZOOM units lined up

Im already a Tascam freak, but I like the input knobs on the F4 and some places they give that unit good reviews!

Thanks for feedback - appriciated

 

Don't own any of them and talking purely from SQ perspective, but from what i could hear through youtube samples and other recordings between these two brand, i definitely prefer tascam. Sound more natural and neutral in frequency.

 

Not a 4 input unit, but I have a Tascam DR-40 I use for song writing on the acoustic. I record the guitar part, and can then come back and lay the vocals on two more tracks. Works great, and sound quality of the recording is top notch. When I record our band practices, it's unbelievable what this thing sounds like.
Only thing I've noticed is everyone must set their phones to airplane mode as it will pick up GSM noise from cell phones in it's proximity.

 

Thanks for feedback kimikaze

Yes, I´ve listen myself but it´s hard to get an exact reference as long as they are compressed sounds from YT!

I guess it ends up with the Tascam .....!

 

Thanks DD

Yes, I already have the Tascam DR-100 now and Im very pleased with it but need those four inputs!!

 

DR-100 looks like an interesting piece as well. I actually was looking at it before deciding on the DR-40.
I decided against any Zoom products after owning one of their guitar pedal boards.
Are you looking to record the 4 tracks to their own individual channels? If so, the DR-680 looks like a nice field recorder for that.

 

Seems like I'm the only lucky owner of (different) Zoom products:
H1, H6, UAC-8 USB Audio/Midi, MS-100BT FX pedal.
I'm very satisfied with all of them. The "suboptimal gain staging" in the H6 is true but wouldn't stop me from purchasing again, yet I have to say that the menu system could be better on the H6. Dr-680 and F4 look sexy but are too big for my taste ... but that's off topic.

 

I contemplated DR-100 as well, but no DAC put me down. Eventually I settled with Zoom H2n. It's still Zoom, but it has the least problems out of all of them.

 

Hi fiction
Thanks for your feedback - appriciated

I have no experiences with any Zoom units at all, but I´ve owned the Tascam DR-100 for some time now and it works great and Im satisfied with the sound quality etc. Im a bit conservative when it comes to matters like this, so I´ll guess I´ll end up with the DR-680 but on the other hand: No one has exactly told me anything about the Zoom F4 yet so Im open minded

 

I know this is the old version of DR-680 .... amps might be improved in MK2.... but does this review really make any sense?

 

I did listen now a few examples of f4 through youtube and must say(for what is experience through youtube worth) for vocals i prefer f4 over dr-680, but then i prefer MixPre-3 over both

 

Sound Devices isn´t really for my budget

 

Yeah definitely premium price. I think most sensible approach would be to choose on basis on your needs(functions you will use most) and workflow. Go through setup and recording procedure(manuals, reviews, video reviews) and choose which one suit you more. Meantime you could also find some potential downfalss or software bugs of each.

 

Actually found a second hand (Practically new and still under warranty) 890 US, but....

Only three inputs

 

Don't know from where you are, but for this money in some parts of the world, you can get Pre-6, which have 4 inputs. Pre-3 should be around 650 US, which of course for 3 channel is still a premium. So this brand is obviously not a budget brand nor it offer substantial better SQ. So by all means stay with good and budget friendly options like tascam, zoom or some others if you can't easily afford more than 500$.

 

Could you please point me out where to get the Pre-3 for 650 US?

Price (new) here is about two times that price!

 

Forget it!

You must live in the US