MartyNeilan wrote:My biggest concern would be the quality of the built-in mics - how well do they perform in the lower range??
Being that all these recorders are pure digital, I am sure it is the mic and it's preamp that are typically the weakest links.
I have a Zoom H2 that I just got a month or so ago and have been using in my studio and to record concerts and recitals here on campus.
It's GREAT! The sound recorded with the built-in mics is very true to life when recording tuba in either a small room with a suspended ceiling or a large hall. I have used it to record everything from marching band to a voice recital and have used it in practice rooms, rehearsal halls, concert halls, churches and outdoors and it hasn't disappointed me yet.
The flexibility of the 90-degree and 120-degree built-in setups is a great bonus if you'll use it in different environs for different groups.
You can record from super high quality down to super-economy quality in either .wav or .mp3 format. With the supplied memory card you can get about 7 hours of stereo 160 .mp3, and it will accept far larger cards should you need them.
The display is easy to navigate, even if you're not terribly technically skilled, and you can do several simple editing tasks right on the device, including (my favorite) splitting recorded tracks, so you can record a concert/practice/etc. in one take and break it up later without even putting the files onto your computer, if you so desire.
The biggest drawback, in my opinion, is the inability to use standard mic connections, but if you have a good mic with a 1/8" jack, you can use that.
I think the sound from the built-ins is very nice, even recording tuba, ESPECIALLY for a $200 digital device that is just a bit bigger than a deck of cards and weighs about as much without the two AA batteries on board.
Somewhere there is a site with sound samples from the H2 and several other digital devices, and I think it was posted in another thread here a little while back...
