I own the X8, which I know use the 14mm Primo EM200 series cardioid capsules. The X6 has smaller 10mm capsules, but assuming they are Primos they will still have quite good noise performance. The preamps for both the XLR and 3.5mm inputs on my X8 are excellent, and I have no reason to think the same circuits aren’t used in the X6. The X6 sound samples I’ve heard on-line are, to my ears, far superior to the Zoom H series recorders, from both a noise and general quality perspective. The X6 will have a lot of features our OP’s dad won’t have the need to use, but these machines are great for holding the previous settings through a power cycle, so it should always be ready to go once initially set up.