Aren't the Zooms more "pro-sumer" oriented? I agree with you that there should be a switchable +4
or -10 line level, but my bet is that most of Zoom's customer base don't use or even know about +4
line level. But your point is well taken, since it's only a matter of a few resistors on the board
and a parameter switch in the firmware. For what it's worth, the M-Audio recorder doesn't handle
full-on +4 line level either. If you turn the levels all the way down and attenuate the line level
output, it will work with balanced line sources. I just feed it from an aux buss and turn the buss
level down about -20 from nominal unity gain. Then I get peaks in the -8 area, which is fine with
24-bit recording.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Sohn" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2010 5:06 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] recorders
>> This brings home the point about the XLR inputs being a big factor in our decision.
>>
>> Tom Fine asked:
>> "How can you reliable tell when you're peaking below -6? That's my main beef about the Zoom, the
>> damn display is unreadably small, particularly the level meter. I wish they had an "indicator"
>> for peak levels above -6, so you could bring down the input gain until the "indicator" barely
>> ever blinks."
>>
>
> My main beef with the H4n is when trying to run a line input into the XLR/1/4" combo jack input.
> The H4n does not deal well with line level inputs.
> After some research on the web, I took Richard's advice and got an in-line attenuator, which
> helps, but it seems to be a major flaw to not accept a +4 input without clipping.
>
> -Matt Sohn
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