H6essential Handy Recorder Review – BEST Handheld Recorder?

It's time for my review of zoom's H6 Essential handy recorder here's what's Included when you purchase the H6 Essential handy recorder obviously you Get the device you get the XY removable Mic capsule you get the cap that you put On the device when you don't have the Removable capsules on and of course you Get some paperwork price-wise the zoom H6 essential handy recorder retails for $2.99 999 build wise the H6 handy recorder has A plastic body and is really nothing to Write home about specs Wise It's a Sixt Trck 32-bit float recorder you have clip Free recording with no need to set gain Although they do have a way for you to Kind of manage the input it records up To 96 khz sample rate you have the Interchangeable mic capsule system 3.0 the included XY mic capsule captures Up to 135 DB SPL it has four XLR TRS Combo inputs with locking connector you Get a color LCD screen you get a Built-in speaker for quick reference Playback a 3.5 mm headphone output and a 3.5 mm line output it also comes Equipped with voice guidance Accessibility for the visually impaired You can use it as a 32-bit float audio Interface for PC Mac IOS and Android Devices via USBC when in interface mode You can still record to the SD card Simultaneously if you buy their

Bta-1 Bluetooth adapter you can use that To sync with wireless time code devices Via Bluetooth you can also use the Bta-1 Bluetooth adapter to pair with the H6 essential control app for iOS the H6 Essential handy recorder accepts micro SD cards up to 1 tbte and has a reported Battery life of 10 hours the USBC Interface mode functioned as you would Expect it was merely plug and play on The devices I tested it with and also The line out functioned as you would Expect also in testing I didn't have any Issue driving the sure sm7b but it's 32-bit float so you just merely can Raise the gain however the preamps will Get to that in the pros and cons when it Comes to Pros I love the versatility of The H6 essential handy recorder being Able to use it as an audio interface and Take it on my film sets or remote shoots Is quite beneficial another Pro it has a Wide range of compatibility so Mac PC IOS and Android you got to love that one Thing on this device that I really Appreciate that I've taken for granted Over the years is the push to release For the XLR cable especially on remote Shoots when you have cables run or Somebody trips over something and stuff Like that uh there's instances where you Just don't want something to come Unplugged another Pro for me is I prefer The physical rubber buttons I much

Rather have that than a touchcreen That's just my opinion I know that'll be A a hot take that some people don't like But on a film set and such I like the Physical buttons over the touchscreen Another thing I thought was quite Interesting is the built-in speaker Sometimes I have to share headphones on A film set with the DP or with the sound Person depending on if we're doing Multiple jobs which we usually are and That can get inconvenient going back and Forth or plugging in my headsets and Then them plugging in their headset and Going back and forth and stuff so just Having a speaker where you're not Listening critically but you just want To make sure you captured something I Found that to be very beneficial to have The speaker right on board sticking with The physical buttons I like the scroll Wheel to access the menu guide it is a Little clunky at first but I'm getting Much more proficient at it and I like The scroll wheel and enter button Combination another Pro is the line out So I can record into the device and send That signal out to another device for Another backup on the cons front the Elephant in the room would be the build Quality just that plastic casing brings It down several notches it's what I Typically expect from Zoom but at some Point I would love to see them really

Upgrade this H6 series another Con in my Opinion are the preamps I found them to Be quite noisy Especially they've had a lot of time to Try to perfect this device and I just Don't understand why they're not making Bigger strides forward with their Preamps but for the use cases remote Recording that I have to have it for I'll come back to this it's not that big A deal because when I'm doing remote Recording I'm going to be post Production heavy another head scratcher The lack of compatibility with the prior Mic capsules I really dislike that They're going to go through this process Again with the 3.0 system it just seems like next money Grab another con at this point Bluetooth Should be built in honestly I think Road And other companies have proven that you Can make premium gear and charge a Premium price and people will pay for it So at this point not having the Bluetooth built right in is a little Ridiculous or at least put that little Bta-1 adapter inside the packaging even If you have to jack up the price just my Opinion but it gets a little Annoying That this continues to be a thing and Probably my biggest con is the switch to Micro SD I despise micro SD and I just Don't understand why so many companies Have turned to it fumbling around for

Those little cards trying to get them in And out trying to keep track of them is Much harder than just a stock standard SD card overall there's a lot to like About the H6 essential but there's also A lot that are just plain head Scratchers I'd recommend the device to People who have a use case like I do so If you're making film out of budget Shooting budget commercials doing stuff Out and about And you don't want to break the bank There are a lot of remote use cases for It and the fact that it doubles as an Audio interface are huge especially if You're going to do a lot of post- Production like I'm going to do Post-production on Films commercials Stuff like that now if you're looking to Capture like sensitive sounds and preamp Noise has to be absolutely clean I would Definitely not recommend this device at All but if you happen to be looking for Something really high quality I'd either Check their f-s series products out or I Would go to a high dollar brand but let Me know what you think about zoom's H6 Handy recorder is it something you're Looking into do you have some Alternatives that you prefer to have I Like to see your clear away from some of Those touchscreen devices so a lot of Those just aren't for me for what I'm Using it for but I'd love to hear your

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