Zoom H1 XLR : I attached $5,000AU Stereo mic rig direct to the $199 recorder and this is what I got!

This is not sponsored - I bought the recorder with my own money - and this channel isn't monetized. This video includes a demo of the results I got from connecting a Sennheiser MKH 30 /40 mic rig direct to the Zoom H1 XLR - no cables even! The demo includes music* from the hifi, room 'silence', and street noise at the open window. All the audio is included at the same level so you can judge dynamic range, but the non-music part is repeated with gain adjusted in the DAW so that the quiet bits are greatly amplified. I can't hear any system noise but my ears are old - can you? What I do hear is a kind of rumbly noise at low level which I suspect is generated by my hands holding the highly sensitive mics - it's the sound of my blood and muscles! But I will test that further as soon as I can. Other features I like -The low cut cutoff frequency can be set to OFF, 80 Hz, 160 Hz or 240 Hz. Output level to another device, eg camera, can be set as a fixed value which disables the volume control. It can be set from −40 to +40. It can be set using a built in tone generator. The test tone is a 1kHz sine wave at -20 dBFS. The recorder can output a sync tone at the start of each recording to assist in syncing to a video camera. Poor man's timecode... If you are recording your own performance you can set a delayed start. The following times can be selected. Off, 3 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec Just make sure it's set to "off" for live performance recording! Alternatively the recorder can be set to start up to an hour after the record button is pressed, in one minute increments. This could be handy if you want to use the recorder at the foot of a mic stand unattended in a concert situation. Set the timer before the audience comes in. "Files are automatically saved at regular intervals during recording. If the power is interrupted or another problem occurs during recording, an affected file can be restored to normal by turning on the power again." The device uses a trash folder for deleted files, in case you delete something you actually needed... Normalising - If a recording continued for a long time and was split into multiple files, the volume will be adjusted based on the maximum level of all files in the series. Handy. You can feed a suitable USB device with a 32 bit stream to back up the recording in real time entirely in the digital domain. The music is a song I wrote and recorded about 30 years ago...