Zoom Am7 Stereo Microphone for Android, Mid-Side Stereo, Rotatable Capsule for Alignment with Camera, for Recording Audio for Music, Videos, Interviews, and More

What did I test: Played rock music (Soft rock) on my music system with reasonable volume and recorded via phone.Main difference: Smartphone recordings, although clear, sound heavily compressed, and thus slightly muddy.Zoom AM7 sounds just like a condenser mic. Recordings are not muddy, and instruments are much more clearer as compared to smartphone's internal mics. I recorded with gain set at 1, 2, and 3, and 10. 1, 2 3 were good without any issues. And of course the audio was clipping a lot with gain set at 10. I mainly plan to record live bands using this and I plan to keep the gain at 3 or 2.It does reduce the bass and treble a bit and mids are more pronounced. But this is good IMHO, because cutting the lows and highs initially help in capturing the clip without distortion and clipping and you can equalize it later to get more fuller sound. I have tried the equalization and it works fine, I was able to enhance the lows and highs back to the original levels of the audio.

This is a great mic to turn a usb-c phone (pixel 6 in my case) into a portable field recorder, or to use as a video microphone. The mic can be oriented to point in the direction of the video camera, or straight out the USB jack, much like you'd use any other zoom/tascam portable recorder (H2n, H4, etc).Really fairly decent audio, with m/s, 90deg and 120 deg options, and analog gain control. Good enough noise response, given the size and function, great for exploring and capturing in the field.

These have easily become my favorite way to record field audio off my phone, I highly recommend this product! However, there are two caveats worth knowing about.1. There are strong recommendations from the manufacturer to turn Airplane Mode on when utilizing this microphone module for recording. This warning is valid, as any LTE transmission off my phone is loudly picked up. Luckily this only affects LTE signals and not Wi-Fi. Sometimes during casual use I don't worry about switching over if I'm not making heavy utilization of LTE. If I'm livestreaming music through LTE, I've been able to get away with using a short USB-C extension cable to at least make the noise less prominent.2. When using the phone for handheld recording, there may be some handling noise picked up by the microphone module, if I'm careful with camera technique, this can be a minimal or non-existent problem.As a Zoom H2 owner, I've already had a good idea of what to expect with this product. The sound quality is excellent, I think the stereo imaging in 120-degree mode might be even stronger than my H2, although again it doesn't seem to be suited for close-range ASMR. I've used this in several loud outdoor movie venues, where I've been able to capture completely clean audio with leftover headroom (gain knob approximately at 30% or 20%) I'd reach my true loudness limit (at 0% gain) if I hold the microphone a couple of inches away from one of the venue's subwoofers.I initially worried that it would be incompatible with my phone case, however included is a case adjuster and it immediately made it fit in my phone perfectly. I primarily use this for video recording with Open Camera or mcpro24fps, which works with no issue.When connected, all of my Android audio is routed into this device's headphone jack. The microphone module also works in every other Android app that supports USB microphones. However, this microphone doesn't get recognized by Windows if I connect it to my laptop's USB-C jack (the microphone stays in "idle" state).Eventually, I nearly lost my AM7 in a dark parking lot but I did find it again. It was probably run over by a car, as the side-microphones were crushed (and no longer usable), and the head is now detached and held by the microphone's internal wires. At this state, it functions as a mono microphone as I only get a signal from the "mid" microphone now, everything else still functions. Due to this accidental damage, I plan to buy another AM7.

I bought this to record live performances. So far I've used it a couple times with my pixel 5 and I've been very happy with the results. I wanted more settings to tweak so I went with the Pfitzinger Field Recorder app instead of Zoom's, and I'm happy with that choice as a more technically savvy person. YMMV. You should probably use Zoom's app at least once to make sure the mic's firmware is up to date. I use the 90 degree pattern to keep crowd noise under control.The good:Very respectable audio quality. Not up there with some mics I've heard used to make audience recordings, but good frequency response and dynamics. This is a sub-$100 mic, and it's impressive in that space.Used in airplane mode, this mic sips at the battery and your phone will last for a long time.I used airplane mode and I had no problems with weird noises or interference the way some do.The stuff to be aware of:The aforementioned airplane mode is a must.The levels are HOT. For a rock concert, you'll probably want the gain knob on zero and to dial back whatever in-app settings you can.Handling noise is an issue with this mic. Mount it on a tripod or use some kind of shock mount, because if you hold it in your hand and change your grip, you'll hear it.The build quality is okay, but it's plastic for the most part. I keep mine in a small case and I feel like if I didn't it would be broken by now.I suspect it's device-dependant, but with my device it can only record 16 bit 48 kHz wave files. 24 bit would be nice, but at least it's not 16/44.1For the money? Totally worth it.

Stuttering, clicking, glitch sounds even in airplane mode. Sometimes the sound records normal, sometimes the recording doesn't work at all and I get a short glitchy clip instead. Phone overheating. Just Unreliable.Firmware update won't work on Pixel4a. Contacted customer service, solution provided was to plug the AM7 through a usbc to usba adapter, then into a usb hub, then connect that hub to the phone to have a successful firmware update. I don't own a usb hub and don't want to buy one just to fix Zoom's faulty device, especially given there is no guarantee a firmware update will solve the issues.Very frustrated and disappointed. Standalone zoom hardware is normally great. This device needs work. Will be returning this.