Barely had the digital ink dried on my blog from Monday’s unveiling of the RØDE iXY before my good friend Tim Keenan (owner of Creative Media Recording) chimed in with some welcome news.
Most portable mics designed to work with iPhones, iPads, iPods, etc. come with the 19-pin connector common on the iPhone 3 and 4, and early models of the iPad and iPod. But as I mentioned in the iXY blog, Apple is fond of designing away from 3rd-party vendors, just to keep ’em hopping, I think.
But look at what our friends over at Zoom Electronics did! They’ve already come up with a pretty snazzy mic
Zoom H4n
that fits Apple’s new Lightning Connector now installed on the iOS 6.0 or later (iPhone 5, iPod touch [5th generation], iPad mini, etc.). Bingo!
As you know, Zoom is the innovator behind a number of pro-quality hand-held audio recorders…chief among them, the Zoom H4n…and now the new H2n as well.
The new unit is called the iQ5. It has a unique ball-type design that they call “stereo mid-size microphone” that has both horizontal and vertical positioning.
From the SamsonTech website: “…the iQ5 features a 3-position Mid-Side stereo field switch (90°, 120°, RAW) for selecting the width of your stereo field and creating incredible flexibility over your recordings. The iQ5’s 3-position gain control switch (Auto, Limit, Off) lets you quickly choose your volume settings, while its analog mic gain wheel allows you to fine tune your levels while recording.”
I don’t see a price anywhere for this unit. It’s not even listed on the offiicial Zoom site.
The site I’m linking to here claims the Zoom iQ5 is available at Guitar Center, but Guitar Center’s online site doesn’t return any results on a site search.
Again, this disclaimer — so well elucidated by tech officianado and LA voice talent Bo Weaver: “No mobile mic-with-tablet-and-app configuration will match the fidelity of your home studio.” (paraphrased)
Innovation marches on!
CourVO
