I was in the same boat as you- using the h4n pro's internals for a bunch of shows. I got some Church Audio mics (CA-14) + the CA-Ugly battery box to power them and it was an immediate sizable upgrade for ~$150.
Here's an example- my first capture with the CA-14s. Was pretty ideal circumstances- I was in a great spot balcony DFC in a sitdown venue with great acoustics (so, almost-silent crowd compared to standing shows where you get more singing and chatter). I simply clipped them to my shoulders beside my head.
I also picked up the CA-11 cards,
example here. Not as ideal circumstances- venue didn't sound as good, but this pull is better than what I would have been able to get with just the internals. I was pretty far back with the mics clipped to my glasses pointing forward, and looked up DFC between the stacks. In my experimenting, I generally prefer the CA14 omnis.
I've had no trouble stealthing w/ this rig. If you wanted to get schoeps + actives I imagine that would would be more ideal, but then you're talking at least $1000 I think, if not $2000. I'm not even sure exactly how it would work with the h4n pro.. I only recently began researching actives. Question for others- wouldn't you need some other device besides just the H4n pro + actives + schoeps caps? I didn't think you could just go schoeps caps > actives > h4n pro. Would you need to run
this through
these? I'm trying to figure out what the "miniature binder plug" on the KCY 250/5 IG output is- what I linked looks like the wrong size. I'm not finding anything that specifies "miniature binder to dual XLR", and isn't that what you'd need for an h4n?
e: nvm, pretty sure I misunderstood actives- reading
this thread now. I see that you'd need bodies (such as VST 62 IUg) and the actives merely allow them to be more remote so as to lower the gear footprint where you place the mics.