r/audio•
sokol07

Zoom H1N vs H2N?

Hi everyone!

I am a photographer and I would like to get a recorder to make short sets of photos accompanied with sound: field recordings, ambient sounds, possible some short talks with people, etc. Most of the recordings will be most likely rather quiet surroundings (nature, night city suburbs, calm interiors like church echoes).

I AM AWARE that Zoom H series is far from perfect as a field recorder, especially using the built-in mics but for now I don't want to invest more money that a price of a used H1N or H2N and I don't want to carry more equipment than the recorder on itself. I like to "travel light" when taking photos and it is likely that I won't get into recording as much as I'm expecting to.

I have some experience with recording on Zoom recorders - I made a few recording with a borrowed H6 but it's out of my reach for now. However, I believe I know what I'm working with and how to work with this gear. Audio editing also isn't something unfamiliar for me.

The only information I was able to find is this link, which points out that H1N has a 2dBu higher EIN. However, I am not sure if this is enough difference to decide to H2N as this seems like a really slight difference (especially not knowing if the tests were performed correctly and can be compared really).

Posted Oct 6, 2025, 7:20 PM UTC

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