Tascam DR-100 or Samson Zoom H4n?

[papabear075]

I am trying to decide which one to buy.  I really like the dual batteries in the Tascam and the fact that the Tascam has a Li-Ion as battery.  I also like the built in mic condensers on the Tascam however have been told by some that the Zoom mics are better.  I really like the Zoom's ability to record in 4 channel mode.  Sooooooo  Vote friends.... =-)

[papabear075]

LOL - lots of people looking but no one voting!  :-)

[MaxJames]

I am trying to decide which one to buy. ...

I have the Tascam DR100, and a Zoom H2 but not the Zoom H4n. Can not speak about the H4n but the H2 is really low in audio quality regardless whether using internal mics or external mics. On the other hand the DR100 has outstanding audio quality IMHO, and it has separate left/right volume controls which are very handy. Just up loaded a sample recording from a piano recital yesterday using the DR100 (please ignore the poor video quality as the venue was way too dim): 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43-QxZQIO14

I defenitely vote for the DR100.

PS: not sure why everyone on this forum complains about the DR100's "poor" battery life. WinfieldAudio tested it to be 5.7hrs Li battery, and 1.3 hrs AAA, for a total of 7 hours - not too "poor" IMHO. I tested the battery life myself, while the Li battery had similar hours, my AA batteries (Sanyo Eneloop) lasted a bit longer. 
http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-battery-life.html

[illconditioned]

I am trying to decide which one to buy. ...

I have the Tascam DR100, and a Zoom H2 but not the Zoom H4n. Can not speak about the H4n but the H2 is really low in audio quality regardless whether using internal mics or external mics. On the other hand the DR100 has outstanding audio quality IMHO, and it has separate left/right volume controls which are very handy. Just up loaded a sample recording from a piano recital yesterday using the DR100 (please ignore the poor video quality as the venue was way too dim): 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43-QxZQIO14

I defenitely vote for the DR100.

PS: not sure why everyone on this forum complains about the DR100's "poor" battery life. WinfieldAudio tested it to be 5.7hrs Li battery, and 1.3 hrs AAA, for a total of 7 hours - not too "poor" IMHO. I tested the battery life myself, while the Li battery had similar hours, my AA batteries (Sanyo Eneloop) lasted a bit longer. 
http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-battery-life.html

The report of low battery life is with external mics, phantom power.

It should be possible to run this off an external "walmart" battery.  What is the input voltage (for the AC adaptor)?

I was interested in the Zoom H4n, mainly because it can record four tracks at once (useful for "matrix" recordings, ie., Sbd + mics).  I heard quite a bit of self noise in it though.

  Richard

[MaxJames]

Here are the results of my battery life tests on the DR100:
 
NiMH AA (eneloop):   Phantom off - 4 Hrs, 20 minutes
NiMH AA (eneloop):   Phantom on drawing 10 mA - 31 min. 14 sec
Lithium:   Phantom off – 6 hrs, 3 minutes
Lithium:   Phantom on drawing 10 mA – 2 Hrs. 48 minutes

The chargers I use to recharge the lithium battery came with my Pocket PCs (have 7 of them: 2 Casio, 2 Toshiba, and 3 Dell). They range from 5.4 to 5.7 volts, current rating ranges from 1A - 2.5A

[dallman]

Here are the results of my battery life tests on the DR100:
 
NiMH AA (eneloop):   Phantom off - 4 Hrs, 20 minutes
NiMH AA (eneloop):   Phantom on drawing 10 mA - 31 min. 14 sec
Lithium:   Phantom off – 6 hrs, 3 minutes
Lithium:   Phantom on drawing 10 mA – 2 Hrs. 48 minutes

The chargers I use to recharge the lithium battery came with my Pocket PCs (have 7 of them: 2 Casio, 2 Toshiba, and 3 Dell). They range from 5.4 to 5.7 volts, current rating ranges from 1A - 2.5A

It would seem to me that this (batter setup) would work fine. In low pro situations, usually the mics are plug in power, so there would be pretty good battery life and when a full rig is used and Phantom powered mics are used, an external battery would be sufficient and easy to use and therefore not an issue.

I think it is hard to vote as not many people have used both machines. I saw the Zoom H4n in use in March and was very impressed. I have not seen the DR 100, but it looks great from what I read and from the pictures. I am a Tascam user with an HD-P2 and recently I added a DR-07. So I am biased toward Tascam based on a good history, but I do not really feel qualified to vote, because the Zoom looks pretty good too.

[daspyknows]

I have the DR-100 and I have had no issue with battery life. I use an external pre-amp and Schoeps MK4s.  I have not usee the Zoom so not fair to vote although I am happy with the DR-100

[fmaderjr]

I have the DR-100 and I have had no issue with battery life. I use an external pre-amp and Schoeps MK4s.  I have not usee the Zoom so not fair to vote although I am happy with the DR-100

Schoeps & Zoom don't belong in the same sentence. The H4n may be better than the previous Zooms (I have an H4 and it is very poor choice for serious recording) but I wouldn't buy a Zoom recorder again. Be happy you chose the Tascam.

[papabear075]

Well I had already made the purchase before anyone posted. I bought the Zoom H4n based on some input from a couple of tapers, the reviews, some professional sound guys, and Danny Barnes. The recordings I have heard made with the Zoom H4n were pretty good. I really like that I can record 4 channels and mix them together. My first show to record will be Nershi-Law Duo in Chicago so will post it on etree for all. I will be using the internal mics which had great reviews.

I know Samson has made a ton of crappy products so we shall see if they finally got one right.

Cheers,
Dave

[soundpro]

Hello:

I thought I would put in my 2 cents here on a few points:

As far as battery life with external mics (sorry for stating the obvious), it will depend greatly on the specific mics you are using (some draw far more current than others) and the current capacity of the AA you are using. For example, with AT4050 side address studio mics, I got about 3 hours run time using the internal Lithium battery only. I had the 2700mAh batteries on board just in case, but didn't need them.

As far as sound quality, I prefer the Tascam overall, especially when you consider the built in mics. This page has some samples we made comparing the built in mics with some external mics. Yes, the external mics sounded better, but I think it shows that the built in mics are pretty decent:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/TAS-DR-100

Hope this helps!

Best Regards,

Chris Carfagno
sales@soundprofessionals.com
www.soundprofessionals.com
The Sound Professionals, Inc.
3444 Sylon Blvd
Hainesport NJ, 08036
800-213-3021
609-267-4400
609-267-0054 fax