The Zoom H1 is a popular device when it comes to beginners looking to improve their audio quality. It’s great for podcasters, YouTubers, musicians, vloggers, and journalists. It has good quality audio that you can use as a microphone or as its own portable digital audio recorder. At the end of the review we’ll do an audio quality test so you can hear what the Zoom H1 sounds like.
If you’re watching this review you’re probably looking for a cheap microphone or audio recorder, and the Zoom H1 is one of the best that you can get for the money. It’s versatile and can be used for many different situations. It’s affordable at just $99, and it’s perfect for beginners or amateurs.
First off, the build quality isn’t great. It feels cheap because it’s made out of plastic. I don’t think it’s as durable as the more expensive options, but I’ve never had a problem with mine. The good thing about that is that the plastic makes it lightweight. It can fit in your pocket. It’s small and compact, and that’s what I love about the Zoom H1. It’s portable. You can take it anywhere.
It’s also easy to use. It’s not too complicated. It doesn’t have very many features like the Zoom H4N for example. The H1 is very basic.
On the front you have the LCD display and the big record button. On the right side you have the USB port, hold and power button, delete button, play, pause, forward, back, input level buttons, and the line in so you can connect an external microphone.
On the other side there’s the line out for headphones and the volume up-and-down buttons for playing back your recordings. There’s also a microSD slot. On the bottom there’s the speaker because you can actually play back your recordings and listen to them on the device itself. On the back is the battery slot (powered by one AA battery) and three buttons: lo cut, auto level, and the recording format. It supports WAV and MP3. There’s also a tripod mount.
On the top there is the X/Y stereo microphone. Now I’ll show you how the Zoom H1 works and sounds. If you want record in WAV or MP3 you can adjust the format and bit rate. You can also adjust your input control (or gain). To start recording just press the record button on the front.
Watch the video above and towards the end I do a mic test so you can hear the audio quality on the Zoom H1. In the first half of the video I recorded the audio with my Rode VideoMic Pro shotgun mic on my DSLR. When I switch over to the Zoom H1 it’s about 2 feet away from me with the input level set to 60, and I’m recording in the 320 kbps MP3 format.
It sounds good. I’ve used this for a lot of my videos. It does work perfectly and produces some great quality audio for $99. I do recommend the Zoom H1 accessory pack. It’s another $25 and comes with an adjustable tripod stand, padded shell case, foam windscreen that works as a pop filter, mic clip adapter, AC adapter, and USB cable so you can use this as USB microphone and you can use it to transfer all the files to your computer so you can edit in post. So that’s my Zoom H1 review. A good budget microphone that’s highly recommend it.
By Andy Slye