Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
The Zoom H4 is a very unreliable product. I bought one, which just rebooted for ever, it never recovered from switching the power on. OK I got a replacement unit, which most of the time displays the message 'no card'. It occasionally does work, but very often it either is not recognized by my computer or it claims that there is 'no card'. A piece of garbage, I tried every trick, nothing cures the problem, so DON'T BUY A ZOOM!!!!

Price Paid:  $299.00 from Mill Music

Summary:
A very well rounded unit that can easily stand up against the Digidesign M-Box. This Handy little gadget is great for feild recording, or an entry level hand held home studio.

The HR4 is sold with Cubase LE.

If you can use an MP3 player, you can use this.

Strengths:
•Two Phantom Powererd Microphone Inputs (Joint XLR/TRS)
• Built in XY Pattern microphone, which is very similar to the Rode NT. Has a nice warm tone, and if you use the HR4's built in mixer, is able to stand up to some pretty high SPL before distortion.
• Easy on the hands. Unlike some other tiny handheld recorders, this classy device is easy to hold. My fingers are feeling pretty good after holding it for an hour.
• Near zero latency. Very quick I/O time via USB.
• Lots of I/O - 2 XLR/TRS inputs, 1 Stereo microphone, USB (for streaming audio).
• Provides phantom power, something I never thought possible in a handheld recording device powered off of 2 AA batteries.
• I can stream sound from my computer to it. This is amazing as it provides both a line output, and a headphone output (both via 1/8" jack). This is great for a studio application, or for field use.
• Emulation. . . The Microphone on it has the option to emulate the Shure SM57 and the Neuuman U87 - THATS REALLY COOL.. You can also add effects to the balanced inputs on the device to emulate different guitar effects (if you are recording guitar)
• Built in SD storage for recording
• Really Sturdy Box
• Overall Ease of Use

Weaknesses:
• Only 1/8" outputs. It gets annoying if you are trying to plug studio monitors into it.
• The power plug is right between the mic inputs
• The headphone volume is difficult to change due to location
• It only takes SD Cards for internal storage.

Similar Products Used:
• Sony Minidisc Recorder
• Digidesign M-Box