By Andrew Liszewski
Unlike most portable recorders the Zoom H2 Handy Recorder from Samson actually uses 3 onboard directional microphones located in the center and positioned on the left and right sides. This setup apparently allows for “unparalleled stereo imaging” and can even be used to make surround sound recordings of your garage band.
For maximum flexibility, you can record from the front or rear of the H2 and at 90° or 120° in up to 96 kHz/24-bit WAV format, as MP3 up to 320 kbps. Additionally, you can record 360° in 48kHz/24-bit format which will allow you convert your recordings to Surround 5.1.
The device includes all the options needed to capture great sounding audio including manual gain control buttons on the front panel for riding levels on the fly and an auto-gain function as well. SD cards are the storage medium of choice and with a 4GB card the Zoom H2 can capture 2 hours at 96kHz, 6 hours at 44.1kHz or up to 138 hours in the MP3 format. Unfortunately though the unit only includes a 512MB card so you’re going to want to upgrade right away. It also includes a USB connection for transferring files to your PC and the unit will run for about 4 hours on 2 AA batteries.
The Zoom H2 should be available sometime in June for about $200.
[ Samson Zoom H2 ] VIA [ Popular Science ]
There’s a video item over at sonicstate.com from this years NAMM show:
http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=4218