Would like opinions please!

I'm considering getting either the Zoom H2 or the H4 to record acoustic piano. I'm not getting decent results recording onto my MP3 player. I've read the info here from mahlzeit on this.

As far as I can see, the H2 will be perfectly adequate, but the H4 is the one everyone here raves about. So, what is the difference? Has anyone bought an H2, found it not good enough, then gone and bought an H4? If so, why?

Just want to do my research on this one.

I think that the H4 is raved about rather than the H2 only because the H4 was marketed first and was well-established by the time the H2 was introduced. So many of us took the plunge during the period when the H4 was the only model available that the H2 was irrelevant; I've never heard anything negative about it, but admit that I haven't heard much at all.

Personally, I'm envious of the newest model: the H4n. It makes the styling of the older H4 seem positively antiquated. I just hope that's not true for the functionality as well.

Steven

I recently bought the H2. I thought the sound quality was great for a handy recorder. I have fancier equipment and microphones if I want to record real studio-quality sound but it is a bother to set all that up just for doing quick recordings during practice or making mp3s to share with others.

I selected the H2 because the cute little screw-on tripod base and mic orientation makes it so easy to just put it on my grand's music stand whenever I want to take a quick snapshot of something. With 4 microphones arranged front and back I have also used it to capture quick recordings of a guitarist and vocalist sitting on either side of the device (it has an adapter that makes it easy to mount on a standard mic stand).

And it's so cheap it was hard to resist. I will admit that I didn't look hard at the H4n since I just didn't want to spend that much.

Paul,
I am comsidering the H2 over the H4 because of price. I plan to recond acoustic grand. You said you used 4 microphones front and back. Do you need additional mics when recording an acoustic piano. I have never made any digital music recordings, so I need something simple. Any suggestions, H4 over H2?
Dot

That's really helpful, thanks.

Sorry, I don't think I was clear. The H2 has 4 microphones built in and you can select a number of different recording modes using only two or all four of them. When I recorded my family playing guitar and singing, I put the H2 between two performers who were facing each other and selected all 4 microphones so that I got two images from the front and back mixed together (that is one way of configuring the mics). The mics have cardioid pickup patterns so that works fine.

For my piano, I only use the 2 front mics as a stereo pair, attach the desktop tripod base and set the unit upright on the little platform to the right of my music stand with the lid raised and the mics pointing into the piano. Works fine for my purposes. I haven't experimented much yet with other placements of the H2 for piano recording since I mainly use the H2 for practice snapshots and use other equipment when I want to make more serious recordings.

I bought the H2 this past winter. It is mostly used to record my kids for auditions, etc. So, I just needed something which was simple to use and would do decent recordings. It does this well enough. The little tripod is nice.

Originally I ordered the H4. It seemed that the main advantage of the H4 was that you could buy a better microphone later and plug it in if you wanted higher quality recordings. Also, they said something about a preamp, so that you could plug a guitar into it and record straight in. These were features I didn't need. The H4 also came with some sound editing software.

Thanks Paul,
Dot

Is there a necessity for portability? If not, perhaps invest in a good couple of mics and a USB interface. I use this for recording students' lessons and the quality is quite nice. I've even used it for making demo CDs. The one I'm using is the Edirol UA-1EX.

http://www.amazon.com/Edirol-UA-1EX-USB-Audio-Interface/dp/B000BD1AF0