List Price: Price Unavailable
Sale Price: $319.99
Today's Bonus:
In the end, the Zoom H4n portable recorder, and kit of accessories, is everything I hoped for in a high quality handheld recorder except for the Transcend 16 GB Class 6 SDHC card included in the kit. My first 8-10 recordings sounded muffled, a bit distorted, and there seemed to be occasional and intermittent drop-outs. These were all done using both the built-in microphones and external mics, with the recorder set at the highest sample rate for recording. I had read great reviews about the H4n before buying it, and so I was perplexed. I tried different sample rates, but the playback was about the same regardless. So I considered what might cause such poor results. No matter what settings I used, or what I tried, results were always the same. So I considered for awhile what else, short of some internal problem with the recorder, might cause this.
The recorder comes from the factory with a 1 GB Class 6 memory card, and the kit of accessories included a Transcend 16 GB class 6 card. I began to wonder whether the poor sound quality of the recordings might be due to a problem with memory. So I began looking at SDHC specs and decided to try a Class 10 SDHC. I shopped around and found a SanDisk Extreme 16GB Class 10 (30mb/sec) card. I ordered it and installed it as soon as it arrived. The first recording after installing the SanDisk card was perfect. The sound wasn't muffled, there were no dropouts or artifacts, just crystal clear vocals, guitar, bass, etc.
Does the H4n need Class 10 memory? I don't know. Are all memory manufacturers equal? I don't know that either. All I know is that the Transcend 16 GB Class 6 card included by Nextweb Sales in the kit did not produce quality recordings, and when replaced with the SanDisk card the recorder produced great sounding results. What I think there is to gain from my experience is that if you purchase an H4n, and it doesn't produce the sound quality you expect, consider upgrading the memory to a better class. It worked for me.
Click Here to Read More Reviews >>
The H4n:Pros-simple to learn, well thought-out design, fairly rugged-feeling, very good sound quality, lots of nice-to-have features.
Cons-lots of handling noise, takes forever to start up, typical Japanese "stereo instructions" manual (written by someone with not quite a full grasp of Engrish), eats batteries. I have no idea how anybody could get 6 hours use out of a set of batteries.
This kit:
Pros-the hard shell case is awesome. It's worth the up-charge by itself. Headphones are pretty good backups.
Cons-this spindly little cheapo tripod is totally unusable. You can buy one just like it at the dollar store. Why anybody would spend $300 on the recorder and then trust this tripod to hold it has all the elements of a joke.Horrible Experience as of right now. I ordered this bundle in hopes to use it for a project i have coming up. It was delivered on time and in fine packaging (box inside a box with a few pieces of shipping paper surrounding interior box). Items looked great but upon inspection they were not what i ordered. Instead of the Samson CH700 headphones i received their low end model the samson hp10. Instead of the transcend 16gb memory card i reveived a generic amazon memory card. the tripod was also not the same as pictured. They sent a really flimsy tripod that im sure could tip over with the slightest breeze while holding your $300 purchase. These items came different than the description of the bundle. I feel cheated. To make matters worst, there is no direct contact to the buisness so all i can do is return it to amazon and order a new one in hopes of getting the right order... Amazon im pretty disappointed you guys dont have contact information for your vendors. This could easily be fixed through them but instead i have to mail everything back, get a refund and then reorder the product. This may have just been an unfortunate mistake so I will give this company one more chance to get it right because this is a good bundle. I hope im not making a mistake. I wont be able to use it for my project coming up which is the most unfortunate part of all this.If you are going to use this recorder out in the field, I highly recommend this kit. Having the case that is made to carry most everything all in one safe convenient place is great. The padding and everything in the case is fit perfectly. Gets a little tight when you try to put everything the recorder comes with plus everything in the kit but it works. All except for the headphones.
This recorder does way more than I thought it did and way more than I'll probably ever know how to do. Although, it still have less features as come of the competitors, I don't think that is a bad thing. I have been out on a job with other crews that are using the Sony recorder that is more expensive and has more options, but they can't figure out how to get it up and running on the spot easily. This thing is very easy to use and sounds amazing!
I do a lot of commercial video work and for most of it audio is not needed, but a few more jobs have been coming up that it is needed. I ran lav mics into this just to record audio separate from video with my Canon 5D setup. I can mount it right on my redrock rig and it works great. The remote control comes with an extension cable and I thought I would never use the remote. Boy was I wrong. When I use the condenser mics built into the front of the recorder, I want it as close to the subject as possible and being able to stay back behind my camera and control the start/stop recording, monitor volume, and recording level is great! You will probably use this remote.
If you do anything outdoors I highly recommend a better wind sock. The one that comes with it cuts down moderately on the wind but I highly recommend an upgrade to something like a dead kitten.
I bought this for work but I am a musician and have loved the fact that I can sit down with an acoustic guitar and have my own little recording studio!I am radio talk show host who covers the State House and spot journalism. This recorder is the best I have used yet. I don't see too many of them in my business, but everyone I work with is impressed with it.
Before purchasing this product, I did extensive research on it, even listening to audio samples comparing it with other recorders. The microphones on the unit are as good, if not better than most microphones that are used in the field. In fact, in learning how to use this product, I confused the microphone with my Electrovoice mic in my sound tests. When I used the setting in the field, the people were off mic, but because there is no hiss or other background noise on the built in mics, nobody could tell.
Before I purchased this, often times, I had to rush back from the State House to the studio to dub in audio through the board into the computer to edit it. Because the Zoom H4N acts as the card reader, I plug into the USB port on my production computer and load the audio in seconds. This allows me more time to stay on scene and work more efficiently back in the studio.
There is a huge learning curve on this unit. The instruction manual is very detailed and can make your head spin. There is some learning by trial and error. But it offers amazing flexibility.wav or .mp3 recording, multitrack recording, mutliple sound sources, ability to monitor audio recording, you can adjust record input levels, mark tracks, edit on the fly and so much more. This unit has more features than I will need I'm sure. But it allows me greater flexibility in the field, the sound quality is much better and I know that recording committee hearings with multiple microphones will be easy with the Zoom H4N.
This unit may not be ideal for beginners or someone who has no technical experience.
This package was a great value. If you price everything individually, you will spend a lot more. With this package, you get everything you need and the case is really awesome. The mini tripod has come in handy, haven't used the remote control, the windscreen is good and the extra memory card is a necessity. You'll receive many compliments for having such a great recorder, case and the like. You will be able to project that more professional image among your peers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment