H5 4-Track Portable Recorder for Audio for Video, Music, and Podcasting, Stereo Microphones, 2 XLR/TRS Inputs, USB Audio Interface, Battery Powered

Ok so I used to be a 'Tascam man'. I loved their recorders and didn't want to switch to another brand. Stupid I know but you know what it's like when you like a certain brand. Anyway I decided on the H5 and man what a recorder this is! The main thing that pulled me in was the interchangeable microphones coupled with the portability. Owning one of these meant I could sell my microphones and other recorders, both hand held and studio, and just use this instead. Just as long as the quality was good enough. Oh and it was too! OK so it's not a small recorder. If you're looking for a dictaphone then, although this works well, it's not pocket sized. It does come with a hard case included though, but it would require a bag or carry case to put it into if travelling or on the move. So although it is large it fits in one hand comfortably. I has all the usual connections; headphones, line out, USB, and a remote connecter. It also has two XLR's at the bottom. The mic capsule at the top of the device also has a Line In 3.5mm jack. The device requires 2 AA batteries (included) or you can power via USB using a power bank if you wish! The design of the unit is sort of retro with buttons and knobs rather than just having a large screen with stylish, modern looking interface. It is simple and effective and functional which is all you want and need. You have a large GAIN dial for each XLR input as well as GAIN dial for the mic capsule at the top. You have limiters and compression settings in the menu systems that you can set for all mic inputs or just the ones you want separately. On the back of the unit is the battery compartment and a standard tripod screw hole so you can attach this to a tripod, boom pole or a cold shoe adapter. What I have done is bought the MOVO suspension mount and connected that to a handle grip. This way there is little to none handling noise transferred to the recordings. If you hold this device in your bare hands while recording you will almost certainly have unwanted noises recorded whenever you move a finger on the body of the unit. This is true for all handheld recorders so be sure to order a shock mount too! So testing it out I found the quality is awesome. When processing the audio (using Audacity mainly) I found by adding a low noise filter (which was hardly needed for most recordings but I always do this anyway) and amplifying the recording it produced extremely professional results. The best I've ever been able to achieve from a portable recorder in any case! I have done a lot of vocal speech testing and man does this sound good! You won't be disappointed I'm sure! I also did some sound effects samples and ambient recording samples. It handled everything with ease and was able to reproduce the sound just as I heard it. I am very happy with it. It is also very good with batteries. The same ones I put in when I opened it are still in there now! And I've used this for a good few hours! Just WOW. That's where Tascam could learn a few things as their recorders are known for bad battery life. But no problem with the Zoom H5! Recommended - YES Sir-Re Bob!

There are plenty of others around here far better qualified than me to talk about the audio qualities of the H5 (it's perfect for me as a jobbing journalist/reporter and broadcaster - 'nuff said). So instead I will look at the build quality and offer some tips for other new purchasers: Build quality: absolutely superb. Seriously, if you've only been exposed to the likes of the Zoom H1 or Tascam DR-05 then prepare to be taken aback by the step-up in quality here. Everything from the analogue dials with their metal guard bars, to the rubberized finish (great to grip) and the solidity of buttons and sockets speaks to the effort that has gone into making this a device that isn't going to fall apart any time soon. The speaker is a decent size and perfectly adequate for hearing initial playback. Even the battery compartment is well made, with a firm click to the cover (no rattling) and a ribbon to ease battery removal - small points, but often seemingly overlooked by some manufacturers. By way of contrast, I purchased a Tascam DR-22 (not a cheap item in itself) and the build quality was awful - line out socket faulty, generally flimsy feel and loose buttons. The speaker is so small as to be pointless, making the headphone problem more of one. I sent that straight back to Amazon for a refund, looked at the Zoom H5 of a work colleague and ordered that immediately. In the box: as well as 2GB SD card (upgrade to a 32GB at once, and that's the maximum so don't be tempted to use a 64GB or 128GB as you'll lose recordings if you do) and USB cable (great to power the device from a portable power slab by the way) you get a windscreen, a couple of batteries and a hard case. The windscreen is a really cheap foam thing and worth throwing away to be honest, buy a decent 'furry; one instead and you won't regret it. The hard case is adequate, but investing in a bigger case with custom/diced foam is a good idea so you can carry other mic capsules, power supply, xlr cables and external mics etc. Here's a good tip: don't throw away the little bit of foam inside that hard case, keep it and use it to protect the delicate mic capsule (see photo) if you are storing this in the supplied case. You also get a copy of Cubase LE and Wavelab software, not on disc so don't panic when you cannot find them, there are download codes in the box. My final tip would be, unless you are looking to invest in additional mic capsules anyway, not to get the Zoom H6 if you aren't going to be using those six channels. The H5 is every bit as good, in my never humble opinion, as well as being smaller, lighter, better shaped in the hand and newer of course. Save your money and by this, you will not be disappointed...

Great device, an all rounder for every task.

On the whole a great quality unit, versatility of swapping the xy stereo mics for a shotgun mic, 4-tracks, and 2 XLR inputs with quiet pre-amps, + it looks serious! Comparing this with my Edirol R-09 from 5+ years ago, the Zoom captures a more detailed range of frequencies for sounds directly in front of the recorder, though is less detailed for sounds entering from the sides. In this respect it might be slightly more forward focused than you may expect. Recording a band, instruments to the side are weaker compared to the Edirol, something to bear in mind. The noise/hiss level of the Edirol is much louder and of a higher pitch, the Zoom's noise level is quieter and of a lower frequency - which blends into the sound of instruments so much so that it disappears (the noise of the Edirol however is always audible above instruments, and cannot be successfully filtered out without affecting the higher frequencies of instruments). Using the exchangeable internal xy mics, noise floor is noticeable, around -61dB; using a Rode NT3 into one of the XLR inputs you really hear the pre-amp quality, noise-floor drops to around -72db, very clean! These measurements will depend on gain, the internal xy mics were set on 8/10 gain, the Rode 5.5/10, in both cases the output of recorded instruments was equal (the the Rode requiring less gain, it's a fairly 'hot' mic which helps). The NT3 can either use a 9v battery or phantom power. When I'm using a music-interface via mains power, I choose to use the Rode phantom powered, but with the Zoom I use the Rode's 9v battery option (the Rode battery will last around 400hrs). Phantom power from any unit with just 2xAA's isn't going to last long, just more than an hour in fact! - hence I'd advise using an XLR mic that has a battery option. If you just use the Zooms xy mics, the AA batteries last for 12-14hrs. I was kind of expecting very low noise level from the internal mics, they are good at this price point (-I doubt you would get much better, the Tascam DR-44WL mics I believe have lower noise - though it is of a higher frequency), in anycase if you want the next step up in quality just use the XLR inputs - then you really hear the quality of the H5 pre-amps, they are very good indeed! To get even lower noise from XLR you'd need to enter a different level (and size) of recorder - Sound Devices. If you want quality you'll already know that with any recorder you'll be using XLR mics (not internal mics), so between the Zoom and the Tascam which would I choose? - without doubt the Zoom H5. With a quality XLR mic and quality cable, the 96kHz sample rate then becomes worthwhile (96 is overkill for internal mics). The internal Zoom mics are really ok, just as good as the Tascam (though have a different angle of sensitivity, and a deeper tighter sound), in fact they can withstand 140db before they distort! ...and if you haven't already seen the mic unit is different to that supplied with H6. The H6 unit is more focused and in many ways less sensitive - and can sound muddled with loud volumes. The supplied H5 mic capsules do produce more noise/hiss but are also more sensitive, so when the gain of the supplied H5 and H6 units are matched I'd say the H5 units are better/more sensitive, in anycase it's your choice, they are swappable ....though as I say to get the next level in clean quality use an XLR mic!! - preferably self-powered. The Zoom's gain dials are great, step-less, smooth, quick to adjust, no clicking! The record LED, and selected mics LEDs, are the size of a pin head, so not distracting to other people/musicians (the Tascam are not so discrete). The LEDs flicker when clipping. Well thought out. The Tascam DR-44WL at this price is probably it's competition - it's mics from what I have heard pick up more sounds from the side than the Zoom, though are not a strong, tight or detailed in the centre. In this respect the Zoom can help reduce unwanted peripheral sounds, but the mics do need to be pointed at the source for best results (not with the unit standing upright! - as I have seen with some tests). One word of warning, I was picking very very deep sub-sonic booms on the Zoom, which I'd never recorded before, at first I thought these were vibrations through the floor, but it turned out the mics are very very very sensitive to wind - I mean if someone walks past the mics 4 feet away the mic will produce a rumbly boom that clips the levels - it's that loud! Using the lo-cut filter in the Zoom doesn't help, the wind effect on the mics just too strong. The low-cut does reduce extraneous noises, table / floor thumping, but I wish the low-cut started lower! - at 80hz it's already eating into frequencies you want to keep; the Tascam DR-70D starts at 48Hz. Basically a low-cut at very low freqs is useful to remove almost inaudible but strong frequencies that our ears don't normally hear. ZOOM if you are listening can you implement a lower low-cut filter than 80hz - in the next firmware update? - start the low-cut filter at 48Hz, or at least at 70Hz. Handling noise (when using the xy mics) is fairly high, much louder than the Edirol. This is despite the Zoom's rubberised casing, and shock absorbing mics. The supplied massive foam mic cover solves this problem, but it's massive (and ugly) - no way can it fit in the hard case. The Zoom produce great results with care, centrally placed subjects and in totally still (no wind) environments, plus of course it offers input of pro XLR mics ...plug a Rode in and you'll be recording pro-level results from a very small unit. I'm going to order a Rycote windjammer for those xy mics though!

Great recording quality, very low noise and easy to use. The manual could be better, but the menu system is easy to navigate. Works well as both a stand alone recorder and as an audio interface. Separate control of phantom power for each XLR, a plug-in power option which is handy for Lavaliers and similar. Has a useful mono-mix option when used as an audio interface and only using a single external microphone.

I wanted to share in this review my experience of the microphones on this device when recording quieter material. The built in mics sound good but if you are interested in recording lower volume instruments, such as some soft piano, where the mics can't be too close, then you'll find them too noisy. To my surprise, the XLR input pre-amps have far less noise when used with the internal phantom power and high gain phantom powered mics. I used them with some cheap Gear4music SZ90S phantom powered condensers (£20 each) and the noise floor was low enough that even the softest piano could be recorded without significant noise issues. In fact, this Zoom's noise level is much lower than my Behringer UM2 USB audio interface when used with phantom powered mics. However, the Gear4music SZ90S don't sound nearly as nice as the built in mics on the Zoom, so if you are going to use the XLR inputs, it's worth getting something decent. I also tried the XLR inputs with some AKG dynamic microphones recording the same piano to see how it performed without phantom power. With the dynamic mics which are lower gain the noise was a little worse than the Zoom's built in mics, but that wasn't too surprising. For vocals the dynamic mics would still work well (vocals being much closer to the mics and so much louder than soft piano). I suspect the XLR pre-amps aren't any better than the built in mic pre-amps, only that a phantom powered mic will give more gain into the pre-amps, so the resulting noise will be much less. The trade off is that the Zoom's battery won't last nearly as long when providing phantom power. Overall I'm very pleased with the Zoom. I love the simplicity of the controls, I love that I can use it as an audio interface on my Mac, and the built in mics sound good when recording as long as the source is loud enough so that mic noise isn't an issue.

A genuinely great product. As a rookie You Tube videographer, I've finally reached that penny dropping realisation point in the learning curve ... no matter how much I consider spending on a camera, its on-board mic is never going be en-par with that of a dedicated external device. After much research and gratefully received advice, I arrived at the Zoom H5. To say I'm impressed is an understatement, This has been like like replacing a Nokia 1100 with an iPhone 6 Plus. I am staggered at not only the difference in quality, but the myriad of on-board options for connecting different kit. My shooting is transformed. And likewise how I now perceive camera choices. Regards build, the unit oozes quality. Metal and industrial grade rubber with every port you'll need in just about every scenario. Interchangeable mic's, well supported firmware and a comprehensive controls. The best £200 I've spent in a long time.

Firstly I should say the item works fine & is a very good recording device. However, it had clearly been used already and so should never have been sent by the seller advertised as ‘new’. These are the reasons:- - screen was dirty, greasy & smudged despite being in a protective case - casing of recorder had marks & scuffs - SD card slot had damage around opening as someone had clearly forced it open before - despite being advertised as ‘no SD card included’ there was a branded, used SD card already in the slot from the seller that had music on it I think it’s pretty shocking that an amazon seller thinks it’s ok to sell used items as new without saying so. That said, amazon were very helpful in providing a refund after I returned the item. Have ordered from another retailer instead.