Get the Zoom F6 from Amazon at https://amzn.to/3dUKT5G (US) or https://amzn.to/3dX83bK (UK).

When I sold my H4n back in 2013 I swore I’d never get another Zoom device. Fast forward to 2019 and I bought the Zoom F6 recorder, hoping it would be a different experience. Did it disappoint? Read on to find out more.

Zoom have upped their game ever since they introduced the F8 sometime in 2015-2016. F-series recorders are geared towards field recordists, whereas H series ones are mostly for amateur musicians and videographers. You can get decent results with an H5 or H6, but they’re noisier than other handhelds, they’re power hungry and most importantly, they can prove very unreliable.

Build

Given all this, I had very low expectations for the F6. As soon as I opened the box I realised it was smaller than expected. The form factor is perfect though, preferable to the Mixpre one in my opinion. It’s mostly made of metal and it feels very sturdy, although the knobs on the front panel aren’t as solid as the ones on the Mixpres.

Since the unit is so small, Zoom have had to make some compromises. The screen is pretty small too, the 4 navigation buttons on the front are not brilliant for menu diving, and the SD card slot is hidden behind the NP-F battery (if you choose to use one). Another thing that reminds me of Mixpre ergonomics is the headphone encoder, which isn’t very easy to use when the device is in a recording bag. These aren’t deal breakers though. Given the price and size of the unit, I was expecting more downsides to be honest.

Power

Speaking of battery, the Zoom F6 can be powered with AA batteries (which is never a good idea if you do serious field recording), NP-F batteries for which it has a very useful slot on the back (unlike Sound Devices Mixpre which requires an extra adapter and even so, it looks odd and unwieldy) and it can also take power via USB-C. This last one is excellent though. I was able to record for 24 hours straight without depleting a 26800 mAh powerbank with 4 phantom-powered mics plugged in.

One odd thing I found while recording in Borneo was that the F6 has a weird power priority system. I had not read the manual (who does that?!) so I had no idea this was a thing. I was expecting the unit to automatically switch from one power source to the next when the first one was depleted. I plugged a powerbank in via USB-C and also had an NP-F battery attached. Sadly once the NP-F battery ran out of power, the F6 switched off with a full powerbank still plugged in. I missed two dawn choruses because of this, which was a bit frustrating to say the least.

When I got in touch with Zoom about this they never seemed interested in hearing about my problem. They never replied when I sent them a few suggestions, which seems odd when you compare this to how open and responsive Sound Devices are. I’m told that they fixed the power source priority in a subsequent update although I haven’t checked it for myself yet. It would have been nice of them if they got in touch and told me about it.

32 Bit recording

Zoom F6 and Lom MikroUsi Pro on location

I think Zoom beat Sound Devices to the market with a machine capable of 32 Bit recording. I’m not going to explain this concept here but in a nutshell, 32 Bit recording allows you to forget about setting levels and to get levels “right” regardless of what you’re recording. This may sound like a crutch but it can come in handy when you have to leave your recorder somewhere without knowing exactly what you can expect in terms of loudness. Rainforest thunderstorms are a good example for this, as you’ll be able to record soft nature sounds and loud thunder without having to go back to change levels.

While this will work in 90% of the time, there still are some situations in which it can go wrong. Sometimes a sound source can be too loud for the preamps, and at the opposite end some quiet sources may end up buried in noise regardless (although this is probably mic noise at this point). You’ll also need more disk space to store your recordings, but I think that’s worth the extra peace of mind when needed. I myself keep recording at 24 bit for now and only use 32 bit in select situations like the aforementioned rainforest thunderstorm.

Sound quality

The preamps on the Zoom F6 are surprisingly good. They’re comparable to (although not as quiet as) the Kashmir preamps on the Mixpre devices. They’re perfectly usable for most field recording purposes, including medium quiet ambience such as temperate forests in autumn. Listening back to my recordings from Borneo, I can’t tell the difference between the recordings I made with the F6 or the Mixpre 6 II (FYI I used Lom MikroUsi Pro and Sennheiser MKH series microphones with both units).

As expected, the Zoom F6 has highpass filters and limiters. The much-lauded lookahead limiters are OK but not as good as the ones on the Sound Devices 633. It’s also a bit annoying that you need to go into each channel and enable them separately instead of having a global limiter option. Same goes for the highpass filter.

Other features

The Zoom F6 can record dual format (both 24 and 32 bit at the same time) and it can also be used as an audio interface for your computer. It does not have a minijack input for PIP mics like the Lom mikroUsi, but I never felt the need to use any of those with the F6. It can be controlled via Bluetooth with an app, but some features are weirdly not accessible this way. The headphone amp is not great either, but I find that is the case with many other recorders, some much more expensive.

As mentioned previously, the 4-button navigation system is not great and is pretty clunky when compared to the sleek touch screen on the Mixpre devices. There’s a lot of back and forth needed, and things like the Stop button don’t do anything when you’re in the menu so you have to press the back (menu) button several times to go back to the main screen. Zoom should hire a UX/UI specialist and take some cues from Sound Devices on this. Most of these drawbacks can be overlooked when you realise that this tiny unit offers 6 preamps though.

Zoom customer service (yes this is a feature - gone are the days when a product was released and the company didn’t need to maintain or improve it afterwards) is a big letdown, especially when compared to companies like Sound Devices, Sennheiser or Rycote. I was expecting them to listen to my suggestions and to at least be more responsive.

Price

I think a lot of the drawbacks I mentioned are explained by the low price point that Zoom aimed for with the F6. This recorder is cheaper than the Sound Devices Mixpre 3 II, which offers only half the number of preamps. Zoom have historically undercut everyone else by a large margin so this was not a surprise, but it’s good to see that they’ve upped their game and they’re now innovating instead of just following trends.

The F6’s biggest advantage is price, in the end. In my book that isn’t a compliment, but plenty of potential buyers cannot afford to pay more. It’s great to see a much lower bar to entry than 10 or 15 years ago, no question about it. If you cannot afford anything more expensive, the F6 is a great recorder that you can build a solid rig with.

Speaking in objective, non-relative terms, the F6 is a very affordable piece of gear. It offers a lot of capabilities in a small form factor for not very much money. Back when I first got into field recording, you would have had to spend several times its price for something that did all this.

Comparison with similar devices

The F6 will inevitably be compared with Sound Devices Mixpre 2nd generation units, because of 32 bit recording capabilities and also price point. While both Zoom and Sound Devices recorders have their advantages and drawbacks, the F6 wins at price per preamp.

The Mixpre devices (both 1st and 2nd gen) perform slightly better in terms of preamp quality, but not by much. For most applications the differences will be unnoticeable.

When it comes to ergonomics, both Zoom F6 and Sound Devices Mixpres are a bit of a mixed bag. They’ve had to cut corners to achieve the low price point and it shows. It’s not a deal-breaker but it’s worth keeping in mind, and I think this is where none of the devices mentioned are winners.

One thing I’ve had to personally deal with is customer support. As mentioned previously, I missed a couple of dawn choruses in Borneo because I wasn’t aware of the power source priority system (which might have been fixed, but firmware notes do not include a mention of it). The reply I got from Zoom was lacklustre and opaque. On the other hand, when I was unhappy with how my Mixpre 6 performed, Sound Devices replied immediately on both email and social media and spent months fixing the issues that they could fix. Paul Isaacs called me personally and we had a long chat about it. This is rooted in company philosophy, SD being an upmarket manufacturer of high quality recorders while Zoom sells to masses and focuses on less expensive products. This gives me much more confidence in Sound Devices gear than in Zoom equipment.

Should you get one?

Good question. If your budget is very limited, stop thinking about it, get the F6 and go out to record stuff. If you can afford to pay more (this is getting into diminishing returns territory), Mixpres would be a better choice because of slightly less noisy preamps, slightly better UI and ergonomics, and decidedly better customer service. Mixpres do come with their own drawbacks though, as detailed in my review.

At this point I have 3 Mixpres and one Zoom F6 and I’m not considering getting rid of any of them. However, I recently needed a small recorder for my DMS rig and opted to get a third Mixpre instead of a second Zoom F series. Regardless of which way you go though, you will own a solid piece of gear that will serve you well.

Get the Zoom F6 from Amazon at https://amzn.to/3dUKT5G (US) or https://amzn.to/3dX83bK (UK).

Have you found this review useful? Here’s how you can support and encourage me to keep making such content: