GalinMcMahon wrote:The audio from the H4N is just not usable, with neither the internal mics nor the shotgun. I frankly don't understand how this is a popular unit at any price point. I actually ended up using my bmpcc internal mic as my backup.
Do the units you suggested require external preamps? I'm hoping to be able to return the fethead which has not helped matters at all (I'm sure it's Zoom's issue.)
The Zoom H5 and above have better preamps. Zoom markets their products on their long battery life. That's why they are a prosumer brand, not a professional one. They sell their products on how many boxes you can check, not on their audio quality.
Sound Devices products use class A circuits that provide more amperage when the level is close to clipping and does not sound as harsh when it does clip. It has greater headroom in the signal. It also eliminates the problem of intermodulation distortion, since it does not have to match the plus recording to the minus recording used in the more efficient Class AB pre-amps.
Long battery life means that when you need the amperage the most, it will fail on you and clip. The reserve (that wastes your battery most of the time) is not there. Your recording will be unusable instead of just fair.
My Broadcast audio professor warned me about Zoom and recommended that I buy a Sound Devices product. He has over a decade of experience recording for Skywalker Sound so I took his advice. He let me borrow one of the school's Zoom F8s (same preamps as the smaller F6) to do this comparison.
Re: Sound Devices MixPre-6 II (second generation)viewtopic.php?f=2&t=97842&p=557437&hilit=Thunderball#p557437You can even run a noise reduction plug-in on a MixPre.
Killing it's owner is not typical behavior for a hand held audio appliance. You will be missed.