All user reviews for the Zoom H4

It has now been a year since I bought this and I use it quite intensively. 
I had the opportunity to use a Boss BR600, which is not really the same hardware as it is more a "mobile studio," with 2 stereo microphones.

The pros:
- The 2 inputs have phantom power, while the preamps are accurate and capable of handling almost any level of input, as the gain selector has 3 positions.
- You have the ability to connect the sound card using ASIO drivers, with all the benefits that that entails: power only over USB, use of built-in effects, and instantaneous monitoring of the track that plays ...
- The complete autonomy to record whatever the situation is, regardless of the volume: on battery, mains, and you can register and get a decent result ...
- Simple file transfer
- The ability to change the SD card...
- The possibility of using a click...

The 'bof':
- The XY microphones are pretty accurate, but nothing more. Their main problem is they are very sensitive to vibrations of the chassis. If you can properly isolate the H4, one can obtain accurate recordings, even very good results on acoustic instruments like piano, guitar or violin, but it's very difficult to obtain.
- Built-in effects ... It does the job but it's not pretty. I sometimes use the effects to record an electric guitar, using an amp modeler, and it is not a better result than getting the sound naturally. The quality of the effects are difficult to compare with that of multi-effects for guitar (the G9), from the same brand though. It works well for what I use it for...

The cons:
- Only a 2 GB maximum memory card, which hard to remove by the way, it fills up quickly.
- The interface is rather inconvenient and not always very intuitive to record in stereo.
- No real audio output, apart from the line-out and headphone output, which is a mini-jack. It's impractical to have a monitor other than headphones with this, which is a shame.
- It's absolutely not a mobile studio. It is better to forget the idea of ​​using this 4-track to create a semblance of production independently, as it can be done better with the Boss BR600. You can not really fail to track better with this, and apply effects in post production.
In the end, it's still a convenient, versatile and well designed overall. I carry around with me. But it has its limits ...

I have been using the Zoom H-4 for a year now.
Its excellent as a handy recorder to capture gigs, jams , song ideas and very basic demos.
I like the convenience of its MP3 recording mode , to simply drag and drop lengthly recordings into the PC already compressed. The WAV mode makes higher quality recordings which are obviously much bigger files and use up the memory card quickly.
The two built in condenser mics do give very good results just by pointing at the sound source.
What I don't like is its lack of user friendliness , the functions seem un-logical and frustrating.I found it difficult and time consuming to use in multi track mode, for one thing the screen being very small and navigation around the features is slow, though I must admit that I'm just a musician and limited in the technical aspect.
The solution is just to use it as a mic and interface for the PC using Cubase which is bundled.
The feel of it overall is quite cheap and there are some obvious design flaws like the screen being upside when you are recording yourself.
The 200 GB pound price tag makes it good value as it boasts more feaures than its rivals,which is why I bought it, but I would prefer less features with better quality and easier to use functions.
The H4 is limited to being a useful amateur tool rather than the pocket multi track studio
it claims to be.
If I needed to replace it I would pay more for another brand.

Whoh- this thing is pretty amazing.

If you're looking for an affordable field recorder- this sucker is where its at. It records directly to .wav or mp3 so you can dump the files directly onto your computer and tinker with them. It features two great condenser mics for left and right stereo recordings and does very well just dropped in a room.

I've recorded many, many live shows with the H4, both for myself and for others and have very rarely been disappointed with the results. There are adjustable gain levels for the built in mics as well as a built in EQ function.

If you're an amateur home studio type then you're in luck- the H4 also has two combo XLR / 0.25 inch mic inputs for you to hook up your own mics. Run this via the enclosed USB chord to your computer with the cubase that comes bundled with it and you've got your own portable home studio (especially if you've got a laptop!).

One very important thing to note however, is that its difficult to surpass the 'extremely good field recording' and reach the actual 'studio quality' recordings because of one fatal flaw of the H4. Its marketed as a 'four track mixer' but in fact only has two inputs (each that can take EITHER an XLR cable or ¼ inch input, but not both at the same time). This makes close micing fairly impossible if not merely improbable. More so- each mic records only to the Left or the Right channel, respectively, so that what ever is going in one mic is going in the right headphone and whatever is going in second mic is going in the Left. If you know your way around some digital editing software (like cubase, or audacity) than this can be overcome by splitting stereo tracks into two independent mono tracks- but that still means that at most you've only got two tracks you can record to at any one time.

For the money however, there is no better tool than the H4 for field recording and amateur portable home studio use.