Too much time researching things can be a problem.

For example Julian Krause, a well respected, very technical reviewer of all things audio has been one of my go-to sources for real information, the stuff that can be otherwise hard to track down. Thanks Julian for all your hard work.

Noise floor of various items in particular can be hard to get a real world handle on, so he has supplied lots of comparisons, examples and thoughts. Noise in recordings can be a lot like noise in an image though, often over stated, sometimes obsessed over, often irrelevant and always trumped by good content. There is always the software fix to consider as well.

My H5 it turns out (in Julians critical opinion) has too much noise for dynamic mic recordings. He qualifies that with situations where it would be ok (used properly), but generally speaking it’s not ideal. Condensers are fine as they are more sensitive, which reduces the need to turn up the gain (and noise). Even his most stringent tests* rate the H5 as fine with condensers. He has me worried though with dynamics.

I will have 5 in total, going for a good spread of voice and instrument applications. Has this been pointless? Adding to that, is the limit of two condensers into the H5 and you have an arsenal of options, with possibly a limited work flow.

I have just done a couple of quick recordings with the TT1 and sE V7 (both just arrived). They and the sE V3 all seem fine for my use. The Prodipe has clearly stronger pickup and I did find out something that may fix the problem outlined above**.

Looking at real needs (see previous post), noise is unlikely to be a deal breaker (usually youtube output through a camera), but if I needed to up my game, it is limited in options and potential quality.

It all depends on where I position myself I guess so I have to come back again to my likely best uses.

If I want to be able to supply genuinely good detailed recordings of instrumental solos using condenser mics, then I am probably ok, into a camera anyway. If on the other hand my ambitions extend to good-ish band and robust panel recordings in quiet locations, maybe externally edited, then more and better employment of mics will be a thing, I just have to make sure this is easily achieved and relevant so it will be used.

Noisy school environments, band practice, kids mucking around, some post processing. Lots of mitigating circumstances are at play before the studio grade scrutiny Julian puts them under becomes a thing. Even the experts usually have to deal with some feedback, noise or gain issues on the day. A little noise may be the least of my issues.

I am hardly going to shoulder aside the professionals on the day, but if I am it on the day, I need to be it within realistic limits.

Options.

Cutting my losses is an option or at least being happy with where I am (maybe $500 wasted?).

Let’s assume he is right and the H5 falls short of good enough quality and noise reduction with dynamic mics by studio standards**. My sE V’s and TT1 would be used for spoken word vocals in uncontrolled environments and other “messy” sources and the two 440’s would play low end gatherers, used on drums, amps or vocals with my condenser 040’s or 240 handling the high end.

*

The F6 ($900au), the king of the pile.

A respected field and cinema tool, it offers three enticing features. Better overall sound, very quiet amps and 32 bit float recording. The down side is a limit of 6 line-ins and no real cross compatibility with the rest of my Zoom kit. Being the dearest option by a fair amount, I would effectively be committing to pro level field recording and processing or squander its potential, which just seems at odds with my straight-to-camera needs. It would however add a peace of mind that cannot be over stated.

I do like how it is user facing, mostly metal and can be bolted under a camera, but would all that quality be wasted going into a 1/4” TRS Cable to the H5 or worse a 3.5 into a camera?

So potential quality and output control A+ but the probable reality is A-.

System balance and compatibility B-. Better than another brand entirely, but only just.

*

The Zoom H8, maybe more my type of creature ($500au).

“The Spider” has all the inputs I need (8 with the EXH-6), 6 of them phantom powered. It is highly (over?) featured. The pre-amps for the XLR inputs are clearly better than the previous H series, offering better gain and lower noise (took some chasing, but Chris Judd and Free To Use Sounds podcasts both agree on that, maybe a couple of db worse than the F series, but audibly better than the other H’s). It is not a master of anything much, but a true jack-of-most-trades. It can handle the Shure SM7, a mic notorious for its low sensitivity and the benchmark for most.

The known shortcomings are of little concern, generally only specific uses. The H8 and I are both flexible generalists. Most importantly, it is not poor sound quality, only the usual Zoom feature and handling quirks.

It also fits my existing Zoom kit. The extra XYH-6 capsule, worth over $100 on its own is a slight upgrade, so would go to the H5, then the EXH to the H8 making it the XLR king. The shock resistant XYH-5 would then go to the portable/on camera F1 with the SSH-6 shared by all (The H5 with this and 2 XLR mics make a clean backup kit). The AC adapter fits and it does open the door to gen 2 capsules.

The H5 would still be a good choice sometimes when the H8 is not taken, so nothing is redundant.

Quality and output control A-. A step up from the H5, especially with dynamics.

System balance and compatibility A. Nothing wasted apart from possibly the H5 being used less, no mess, more depth, more options.

*

The Zoom AMS-44 interface (under $250), just because it works like the rest of my Zooms.

By far the cheapest, this adds four phantom powered XLR inputs with 1/4” TS, or USB-C outs (to a comp or the H5 via EXH-6 input) or straight to camera via the headphone-out port. A bit messy, but suddenly I have 6 XLR inputs all with power. The big question here is whether this hand to mouth setup would degrade the sound badly enough to make an F6 or H8 clearly the better option, or would I really know the difference.

AMS44 > EXH-6 (H5/F1) or H5 direct > line out to camera (2x 3.5 cables)

vs

F6 or H8 pure (still to camera)

The big question and one I have struggled to get an answer for except from Julian Krause again, who rated the noise floor from the AMS-24 (so I assume the 44?) as workable and AMS-22 as poor*, is whether the noise to signal ratio is probably H5 level with the AMS-24 rated at -121db and the flow on effect of stacking units. Considering it would be going through the H5 to a camera or just straight to camera via the phones jack (also rated as “ok”), may be to much. The H5 would still sit top of the tree, but is the tree tall enough?

It is an easy fix, allowing me to basically bypass the H5 for 4 dynamic mic only jobs, run all my condensers at once (even one more than now), or act as a separate remote-recoding outpost to sync later with the 4 mic H5. It also has a few neat features like no fuss live streaming and is easy to operate with basically everything on the outside of the box (so good for occasional users).

Is it all too messy or cleverly adaptable?

Potential quality and output control B+. Really just an H5 done another way so possibly no real help with dynamics.

System balance and compatibility A-. Cheap answer or messy compromise?

*

Muto 4 Interface (under $500au) or something similar. A better interface than the AMS, closer to the F6, but lacking almost all of the system support compatibility of the H8 and it is a portable studio interface, not a field recorder, so not the best for run and gun use.

For the same price as the H8, it is not a compelling choice unless I was going home studio or the F6 for multiple inputs.

Potential quality and output control A+. Not really a thing but I had to go and google “best budget interfaces”.

System balance and compatibility C. (B for feed quality).

So, where to? Wait and pick up an H8 on sale I think. $450-475 in Australia looks to be the low tide mark and after the capsule is accounted for only slightly dearer than the AMS. Annoyingly if the EXH-6 gave phantom power I would have probably gone all condensers (2x LCT 240) and fixed the issue anyway.

*Maybe his test are similar to lens and camera tests that compare items on micro levels, where most of us do not need to go and would know the difference if we did. When others give simple examples of noise, it seems to be acceptable to my ear.

**The EXH-6 on the H5 is about 2 dial notches less sensitive, but seems to have less noise! The TT1 on the H5 main at gain 5 was sensitive, but I could hear some noise, worse if I turned up the headphone volume (known to be lower grade than the output line). In the capsule at gain 7, I heard the same volume but absolutely no noise even with the phones turned up. No idea!