ΠΡΠ·ΡΠ²Ρ ΠΎ ΠΠΎΡΡΠ°ΡΠΈΠ²Π½ΡΠΉ ΡΠ΅ΠΊΠΎΡΠ΄Π΅Ρ ZOOM H4n Pro
185 ΠΎΡΠ·ΡΠ²ΠΎΠ² ΠΏΠΎΠ»ΡΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°ΡΠ΅Π»Π΅ΠΉ o ZOOM H4n Pro
ΠΠΎΠ»ΡΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°Π»ΠΈΡΡ
ZOOM H4n Pro?
ΠΠΎΠ΄Π΅Π»ΠΈΡΠ΅ΡΡ ΡΠ²ΠΎΠΈΠΌ ΠΎΠΏΡΡΠΎΠΌ ΠΈ ΠΏΠΎΠΌΠΎΠ³ΠΈΡΠ΅ Π΄ΡΡΠ³ΠΈΠΌ ΡΠ΄Π΅Π»Π°ΡΡ ΠΏΡΠ°Π²ΠΈΠ»ΡΠ½ΡΠΉ Π²ΡΠ±ΠΎΡ



The interface is a little dated and clumsy. Once you figure it out it is fine and functional and you can get on with recording.
Battery life is pretty good - still on the batteries that came with it a few days ago. It also takes an adapter. I have been using both.
For Vlogging, I connect the line out to the mic input on my Lumix G85 and it works great. In that mode you don't an onboard SD card. I prefer this over synchronization later as it just adds more editing work.
You definitely want an SD card. As I mentioned, this thing makes sound recording something you will want to experiment with. Having an SD card is necessary to use it standalone to record with.
This is something that you can slip into a large coat pocket. You are not slipping it into your skinny jeans. It is pretty portable but you definitely will know you have it with you.
By the way, the sound of a cat eating is slightly icky and disturbing. Fun and fascinating though!










In the end, I mostly use a lavalier mic plugged into the back of this and I use this as a recorder for that style of video. It works wonderfully.
One word to the wise: Don't use low grade SD cards to record on. The bit rate of this device is high enough that your card won't keep up and it'll fail.

Now onto the product review (from field recording perspective):
Onboard mics: They are overly bright and crisp sounding, having good transient response, but sadly very much noisy, making them useful only for some amateur grade loud sfx recordings. Bass response is lacking though, recordings will sound a bit 'hollow', like they are coming through a low cut filter, even when none is applied.
Wind sensitivity: Being cardioid mics, it is there as usual; a furry like Rode deadkitten is a must outdoors, but this destroys some of the crisp highs the mics offer. Much better but impractical setup is placing the recorder in a small blimp. Downside is the time to setup and diy all this, lack of portability and lack of access to recording controls while the recorder records inside the blimp. But in some short sfx recordings with known levels, recording position and time of action (e.g. train sound effects), the trouble may be worth it. (I use my broken Cinecity blimp, cut to reduce the length, then glued at one end.This was inspired by field recordist Watson Wu, who cut a Rode blimp to make a 'Mini me blimp' which is much more portable and practical for small mics.)
Stereo Separation: Even at 90 degrees XY pattern, the recorder produces a nice stereo pattern. Although 120 degrees wide XY pattern gives better stereo separation, it can sometimes result a hole in the middle.
Preamp gain and phantom power quality: I doubt if I'll ever connect external mics to it, as I already own much better quality Sound Devices mixers. When using onboard mics, I never go above level 50 due to noise issues.
Battery life: Decent in stamina mode using Eneloops, though much worse than Sony PCM-M10.
Bootup time: 20 seconds with Sandisk 8gb class 10 SDHC card with 80MB/s speed. Might be a deal breaker for some people.
Portability: Not very portable at all, heavy, clumsy, too large for one-handed operation.
Comparison with Sony PCM-M10: I bought this to complement my other portable recorder Sony PCM-M10 (now discontinued). While Sony may sound much melodic and natural for voice and music due to its generous low and midbass, when outdoors, the omni mics pick up low frequency noise like crazy from all directions, have extremely poor stereo image, cannot handle high SPLs without brickwalling distortion, and sound very dull from distance due to rolled off highs. However, Sony offers much more clean gain than Zoom, making Sony perfect choice for quiet ambient recordings and birdcalls. Sony has smooth analog gain control knob unlike Zoom, so gain riding is possible without recording any sound of button-pressing, as in case of Zoom.
True, there are some common reliability problems with this model, like broken headphone jack, dead/jammed XLR port, rattling mic - but there are plenty of online repair videos too, as this is a very popular lineup of portable recorders. Ultimately, I feel this is a very good value for money for hobbyists, as they can't afford a Nagra-SD / Sony PCM-D100 / Olympus LS-100.
Update Q4-2019: This is still working properly (but it was not used much). However, I feel that the UI is very bad, compared to Sony's M10. There are too many buttons haphazardly laid out, and I cannot exit from menu if I hit stop button. The long bootup time and lack of a dedicated silent gain knob are annoying too.

The fx is certainly useable and with a little tweaking shines through, mind you, its not a multi fx chaining fx powerhouse but for a bread and butter toolkit that does the job when used well. It certainly beats adding another hardware FX processor on the go.
Stereo mode is great for regular field recording. I use a 32GB card and it starts up well in time, some 25 seconds bootup is not at all an inconvenience, and certainly not as lagging as some folks might like to imagine. If you are used to working with a lot of hardware gear, vintage samplers, drum machines and so on, the operation is highly intuitive, just focus on the menu button, scroll wheel and press down button at the right side. Play pause and record and transport are right at the face plate. Selection of inputs or recording tracks is also right at the faceplate. All this becomes muscle memory in no time.
I use it for music production, beat track drafts, music transcription, demos, field recording, multi track recording, I can imagine using it for ASMR or podcasts and film making too..The stamina mode that is enabled by a switch inside the battery compartment which must be turned on before closing the battery compartment and rebooting your unit, works as intended.
I don't find the added plastic case goofy as some might try to say, its a very well designed hard plastic case that saves added costs on procuring one, Zoom has given a lot of thought with this and it shows.
Tip, buy the USB 5V power cable for H4n Pro and connect with phone power banks for a really long lasting performace time.
Also read the manual well, its a good booklet and all features are described step by step.
Good luck to future buyers, you will be a proud owner, and at this price its truly a step.




I have also used with external microphones and so far no issues.
The learning curve may be a bit steep for people new to this kind of devices, but the accompanying manual and lots of videos on YouTube should make it easier to use this to its full potential.
Would have been nice if there was builtin charger - the batteries run out quite fast depending on the usage and mode, and this can irritatingly hamper recording sessions. The branded external power supply (to be purchased separately) is very expensive for what it is, but I have been using (a much cheaper) other brand power cable and a power bank. No issues so far.

For the price, I think this unit can go toe to toe with anything on the market. We recently purchased 3 more of these units for various other people helping us out. The user friendliness is a great feature as everybody has been able to learn how to use this unit very easily.
You may be able to achieve a slightly higher quality with more high end mics, but for the purposes of almost everybody I'm sure this mic would be sufficient. Don't have a bad thing to say about it and would recommend it.


I make short documentary films. I like the Zoom H4n Pro because it works well and is easily trousered. As a bonus, it sort of looks like a radio so it attracts less attention from baksheesh-searching
customs officials and border police.
I have used the Tascam Dr60D mkii and while it is a good recorder the quality is not as smooth as the H4n IMHO and the form factor is far less portable. I do use it for field recording though.
I use the H4n primarily with a RODE NTG2 and a RODE lav. I also use a few Sanken and Shures for VO.
I like that you can use it as an audio input device. This is handier than you might think especially if you narrate.
I wish it came with a y-connector so you could monitor line mics. This is a worthy add-on. I have also purchased the accessory kit with wind fur etc. and of course that can be handy if using the built-in mics.
I own the H2n and briefly owned the H1n (new version). This device has a sound quality in an entirely different league.
I will be taking it to sub-Saharan Africa next so Iβll see how well it stands up to inclement conditions.
In all, I think this is a highly worthwhile recorder, especially at the low price point. If you want slightly better pre-amps and better noise floor you can go to the H6, but this is easy and cheap and (so far) it just works.


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