Product Comparison: Olympus LS-12 vs Zoom H2n

Advertiser Disclosure

This site is a free online resource that strives to offer helpful content and comparison features to its visitors. Please be advised that the operator of this site accepts advertising compensation from certain companies that appear on the site, and such compensation impacts the location and order in which the companies (and/or their products) are presented, and in some cases may also impact the scoring that is assigned to them. The scoring that appears on this site is determined by the site operator in its sole discretion, and should NOT be relied upon for accuracy purposes. In fact, Company/product listings on this page DO NOT imply endorsement by the site operator. Except as expressly set forth in our Terms of Use, all representations and warranties regarding the information presented on this page are disclaimed. The information which appears on this site is subject to change at any time. More info

Olympus LS-12 Portable Stereo PCM Recorder

Check Price

Best Pick

Zoom H2n Handy Recorder

Check Price

General Specifications

Brand

Olympus

Zoom

Model

LS-12

H2n

Origin

China

About the Product

The LS-12 makes it easier than ever for you to capture songs with professional, better-than-CD sound quality. High-quality direction microphones are perfectly complemented by an intuitive user interface, handy metronome lamps, full connectivity and more.

The H2n Handy Recorder is the only portable recording device to come with five built-in microphones and four different recording modes: X/Y, Mid-Side, 2-channel surround and 4-channel surround. Other advanced features include automatic gain control and onboard MS decoding, plus effects like compression, limiting and low cut filtering. You can even use the H2n as a multi-purpose USB microphone!

Key Specs

Maximum Recording Time

50 hours

34.56 hours

Internal Memory

2 GB

Voice-Activated Recording

Yes

Frequency Response

20Hz to 44kHz

Recording Quality

96kHz, 24bit

Number Of Recording Modes

What customers say about "Key Specs"

Olympus LS-12 Portable Stereo PCM Recorder

It's a good little recorder, and has pretty nice sound quality. Which means it's extra annoying that I can't recommend this as a pocket recorder.
But first, the recorder works very well. It records very nicely, it sounds great. The overdub feature is great. The basic recorder functions are terrific, just what you'd expect from an Olympus recorder.
Got the device to record bird songs and it seems to work okay, but it's got a bad sector and won't hold memory and we didn't realize that until months after we were using the device.
Most importantly, the recording quality of the LS-12 seems very good. The quality levels go all the way up to 24-bit 96 khz., which is impressive, and higher than I generally need.
I was very impressed with this unit for the first few weeks after receiving it. To make the story short, listening to my music recordings now is out of the question - the sound borders on being garbled, especially the low notes.

Zoom H2n Handy Recorder

First of all, the recording quality, with the built-in microphones, is nothing short of amazing. The quality is far beyond anything I have ever found in the little hand-held Olympus and Sony memo recorders.
The sound quality and clearness of the recording was amazing. It took a little practice to learn all the controls, but it was worth it.
All 5 mics on this piece record in great quality. All of the settings and options are very easy to use and maneuver.
I started capturing sound with the Zoom H2n for an outdoor concert video. The capture was amazing and I've since used it for every single video I've produced.
I even used it for recording a Lamborghini Gallardo, and it worked amazingly well. I would recommend this recorder to anyone who is looking for great sound at a good price.

Size & Weight

Height

5.46 in.

4.48 in.

Width

2.06 in.

2.66 in.

Depth

0.9 in.

1.68 in.

Weight

6 oz.

4.59 oz.

What customers say about "Size & Weight"

Olympus LS-12 Portable Stereo PCM Recorder

A little light weight compared to other older Olympus recorders I've own over the years.
The LS-12 is quite a bit larger than the LS-7, but it fits nicely in one's hand and the controls are nicely laid out.
This recorder is a bit smaller than the Roland or Zoom, they are a bit too big, but it now feels just the right size.
I looked around and alighted on the LS-12. It is an amazing bit of kit. It fits in your pocket (if you wish) and when coupled with a decent sized SD memory card, can record aeons of stuff.
However it is significantly bigger than any of my three previous Olympus recorders, and despite being greatly improved in audio quality and with much better facilities, we find that the extra bulk and weight make it less convenient for quick audio snapshots than the WS-750M or the WS-331M.

Zoom H2n Handy Recorder

Some may feel it's bulky but I really like the size and shape and that it sits upright to capture the best possible sound.
It is well made, light weight, and has so very many features.
I like the feel, the size, and the range of recording options available.
The weight feels good, but the plastic shell kinda feels cheaper. I'm paranoid that I'll drop it and it'll smash into smithereens.
The only down side I can see so far is its size makes it a wee bit too large to conceal where the minidisc fit into any pocket. Still, I like it a lot.

Features

Display Type

Full Dot Matrix Display

Pixel graphic LCD with backlight

Computer Compatibility

Yes

Cue Marker Function

Yes

1-Touch Recording

Yes

Supported File Formats

PCM (WAV), MP3

WAV, BWF, MP3

Integrated Speaker

Yes

Interfaces

Line in 3.5mm jack, Phone 3.5mm jack, MicroUSB port

Mic/line input jack, Remote jack, Line/phone output 3.5mm jack, MiniUSB, SD card slot

Extras

Smart mode, Directional stereo microphones, Metronome and tuner, Overdub recording

Five built-in microphones and four recording modes, Analog-type input gain control, Internal mixdown, Up to 99 marks per recording, Built-in effects, MS decoding, Variable playback speed, Data recovery function, Mounts directly to tripod, mic stand or DSLR

Cue Marker Function
Integrated Speaker

What customers say about "Features"

Olympus LS-12 Portable Stereo PCM Recorder

This thing is worth the money. I only wish that they could put in a bigger playback speaker. so you don't have to plug it into something else to hear the recording. Oh well.
The battery life is incredibly good and the audio quality of recordings is excellent. I was tempted to buy a more professional recorder, but I came back to Olympus because of the advertised battery life.
The mics are highly directional. I wish it had a mode to switch one mic off and record in mono using only one mic for even more directivity. I think this is the best portable recorder out there, certainly for language study.
Seems to eat batteries fairly quickly. No AC power adapter. Cuts out during recording when battery low or you have power-saver enabled. Non-intuitive on/off.
This microphone has screwed me over multiple times. On every audio file it records, within 2 minutes of the beginning of a recording a loud static starts and drowns out the recording.
The only minus with this recorder is that the screen looks a bit outdated, otherwise, it is a great recorder!

Zoom H2n Handy Recorder

The sound is so clear and the setting to adjust the microphone frequency works great when I start singing extremely high!
It captures a very large range of frequencies very clearly and evenly, and accurately captures subtle timbral differences between different instruments.
This is a fantastic recorder. I use it for voiceovers and a variety of voice recording for radio and the web. The sound quality is excellent. The variety of pickup patterns also helps with field recording.
The pickups sound great, and offer four different patterns to work from. The unit sips battery life, and is ready to record in seconds after a month or more of sitting in my gear bag.
A wonderful little handheld recorder, and to date the only one I could find that did Mid/Side stereo.

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

1 year(s)

Certifications

CE, FCC

FCC, CE

Other Information

Manufacturer

Link

Manual

Download