F6 Field Recorder – Professional 6-Channel 14-Track Audio Recorder with 32-Bit Float, Dual A/D Converters, Timecode – For Podcasts, Film Sound, Live Recording – UK Version – Anthracite

A bit of a learning curve as this has a lot to offer. I’ve managed to get some excellent DJ set recordings from this. I also use it to control relative volumes of up to six microphones when livestreaming. Last for so long with a Sony NPF battery!

Great product with good price.

Zoom have fit an awful lot of technology into a small package. And the pre-amps sound better than any of the other Zoom recorders I have. The main selling point for me though is the 32-bit float recording. There is so much dynamic range in your recordings you can make quiet audio heard with no extra noise and you can now unclip and recover distorted audio. It's like witchcraft. It would have been nice to have multi function XLR sockets that would take a jack to the centre but I'd rather have a compact rugged 6 chan/14 track field recorder with these features than anything more cumbersome. I've only used 4xAA batteries so far but there are a variety of power options. Some of the options will bulk out the device but if you have a bunch of Sony L-series batteries you will have all the power you need. Also the screen is clear and the interface simple, but I'm yet to try controlling the device via an external app. This is the most featured recorder that I can easily carry everywhere and I can see it getting a lot of use.

A field recorder should be able to connect to any modern camera natively. All the other Zoom field recorders can. Quick resolution to use headphone out, but that's not the best answer for many reasons. I noted on forums this problem was not isolated to my unit and indeed a design failure. I asked the market place seller if they or Zoom had a solution, for example I might have accepted an attenuator cable, but with no reply simply returned the unit and bought an alternative brand. The menu's all there, but using it and managing the settings has to be learned owning to a clunky UX that belongs to a decade or two back. I didn't investigate the add on Bluetooth dongle fully but believe that only manages levels, rather than all the settings. <- this could change and drastically improve the product. Despite my gripes, if you don't intend to use the line out. I liked the non-traditional size format. The screen is great, and if your application and microphone/inputs used will remain the same, (so set up once and little menu fiddling later) an excellent bit of kit.

Not on a par with SD recorders of course but then you wouldn't expect it to be but it is still a very good sound recorder particularly for hobbyists and Youtube videographers. It is slowly coming down in price and puts it at the top of Zoom audio recorders.

Three years have gone by and it’s worked pretty well for many independent productions, however the headphone input only works at a certain angle, the glass screen has a crack in it and my input 1 no longer functions properly and has a unusable high noise floor. So three years on it still works, but not well enough for me to ever sell or let someone else use. There is no repair offered in the UK

Good but preamp quality still not on par with Sound Devices MixPre or 7 series. Lot of flexibility though.