**A Comparative Review: Zoom F6 and Mix Pre 3**

As an audio enthusiast and YouTuber, I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best audio equipment on the market. In this review, I will be comparing two high-end audio interfaces that are popular among professionals and enthusiasts alike: the Zoom F6 and the Mix Pre 3.

**Recording Experience**

One of the most significant differences between these two devices is their recording experience. The Zoom F6 has a relatively simple and straightforward design, which makes it easy to use for both beginners and experienced users. However, one thing that stands out about this device is its ability to record for extended periods of time without having to recharge the battery. I've had hours straight of continuous recording without any issues, which is incredibly convenient.

In contrast, the Mix Pre 3 has a slightly more complex design, but it's still relatively easy to use. One feature that sets it apart from the Zoom F6 is its ability to record in both 24-bit and 32-bit modes. This means that I can get absurdly high-quality audio, which is perfect for recording vocals or other instruments where clarity is key.

**Audio Quality**

When it comes to audio quality, both devices deliver exceptional results. The Mix Pre 3 has a slightly warmer sound than the Zoom F6, but this difference may not be noticeable to everyone. According to Curtis Judge, who reviewed the Zoom F6, there is a slight difference in the warmth of the preamps on these two devices, with the Mix Pre 3 having a more warm tone.

**Stereo Mixing and Track Routing**

One feature that I particularly like about both devices is their ability to mix multiple audio tracks together. The Zoom F6 has an auto-mixing capability for podcasters, which allows them to record all of their tracks and have the device automatically balance the levels to prevent talkback or echo. This is a huge convenience for podcasters who want to focus on recording their content without worrying about technical issues.

The Mix Pre 3 also has this feature, but it's slightly more customizable than the Zoom F6. I like that both devices offer a high degree of flexibility when it comes to track routing and mixing. Whether you're recording multiple instruments or vocals, these devices give you complete control over how your tracks are mixed together.

**Convenience Features**

Another feature that sets the Mix Pre 3 apart from the Zoom F6 is its ability to record in stereo mode. While the Zoom F6 can also do this, it's not as seamless as the Mix Pre 3. The Mix Pre 3 allows me to easily switch between recording mono and stereo tracks without having to restart the device.

**Conclusion**

Overall, both the Zoom F6 and the Mix Pre 3 are excellent devices that offer exceptional audio quality and a range of convenience features. While the Mix Pre 3 may have some advantages over the Zoom F6, especially in terms of its ability to record in stereo mode, it's not without its quirks.

If you're a YouTuber or podcaster who wants high-quality audio and a lot of flexibility when it comes to mixing and routing tracks, both devices are worth considering. However, if you're on a budget and don't need some of the more advanced features that these devices offer, there may be previous generations of both devices that can provide similar results at a lower price point.

**Product Links**

As always, I've included affiliate links to B&H in the description below for those who want to learn more about the Zoom F6 and Mix Pre 3. Be sure to check them out!

**Support the Channel**

If you enjoyed this review, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe for more tech education content. Support the channel by becoming a patron or purchasing gear from my affiliate links.

I'll see you next time!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enearlier in the year when I reviewed the sound devices mix pre three audio recorder which features timecode out as well as 32-bit float recording which can be really awesome for some you know making sure that you don't clip your microphone had a bunch of comments asking well what about the zoom f6 doesn't it do the same thing yeah it kind of does naturally I wanted to check it out and they had actually reached out to loan me a unit for me to review that's what we're gonna be doing here today quick summary though basically the same thing as the mix pretty three but you get more inputs and outputs for your money which is advantageous to some people there's a little bit of a pro and con between the two with regards to the physical controls and some of the options available but overall it is a great solution especially if you're going in a sound bag just due to the form factor but if you're trying to use it kind of run and gun style or for you know a youtuber setup style some of the control issues may give you trouble full disclosures as always the zoom f6 here was sent on loan for review by zoom audio whatever their full name is as always but they have no input into the video they're not seeing it before it's imposed before it's been posted they're not sponsoring the video anything like that so full disclosures as always I'm April's Fox Theater make tech easier and more fun welcome back to gearhead my gear review show where I focus on audio and video gear for content creators this is the zoom f6 audio recorder it costs about 650 bucks retail and has six XLR mic or line level inputs as well as a six end for out audio interface over USB which is pretty cool it has a wide gamut of features many of which I would never use but are you know very useful to a lot of people you've got you can record in up to 32 bit float up to 192 kilohertz so you can get the highest quality audio possible pretty much in that 32 bit float mode which if you don't remember or didn't see my review of the mix pre 3 this is a new audio bit mode which is basically seen kind of as raw audio wherein you have I believe 132 decibels of dynamic range on your audio so that you can pretty much never clip or you know if you can it's an absurd sound that would always clip you know your microphone before it even makes it to the recorder that way you can record you know the loudest sounds and these quietest sounds together and either lower them or bring them up and have no real added hiss or noise floor or anything like that from the recorder itself so of course with that each of these XLR inputs have some really high quality preamps that can provide up to 75 DB of gain and have a ridiculously low noise floor they've also if you're recording in the normal 24-bit mode or outputting to a camera or something they have these new advanced hybrid look-ahead limiters which basically kind of put a delay on the recording so that the limiters can look ahead to your audio and if it thinks it's going to clip automatically adjust for that to prevent you from clipping so while you can record the full range without clipping in 32-bit mode you can actually just kind of shout into your microphone in 24-bit mode and still potentially not have the same kind of clip distortion that you normally have I mentioned a more i/o for your money they mix pre three of course has three inputs for the same price and this one has the six so that's double if you'd actually ever use double I personally am fine with the inputs on the mix / three however you do have additional setup here there is no 3.5 millimeter line in like on the mix / 3 which alternates with that third XLR jack but you do have a dedicated 3.5 millimeter line out you have a dedicated headphone out and then a dedicated timecode out or in depending on how you want to use it so that way you're not trading off the line out for the timecode out as you might be on the mix pre 3 which is really cool to see they have an expansion port here for hooking up your they do have the zoom F control series or you could connect by a bluetooth for controlling this basically like a mixer from your iPad or iPhone or iOS device I don't use Apple products pretty much so I can't test this but I hear it's really cool go check out Curtis Judds review I believe he has some videos covering the full f control setup on top of the analog inputs and outputs you also have a USB type-c port which can act as dedicated power it can act as a file backup to backup whatever is being recorded to the SD card inside to an external drive it can also act as an audio interface as I mentioned before so you can actually record via an audio interface to a full da software in your computer and still record to the SD card as it back up if you'd like if you are recording as an audio interface it will only record up to 96 kilohertz and then if you're recording as an audio interface and to the SD card simultaneously it will only do up to 48 kilohertz if that matters to you now I kind of glossed over this but this does also have timecode and an out which means it can actually send out a timecode sync signal to your camera so that your camera and your audio recorder always stay in sync instead of having to rely on clappers I originally picked up the mix pre 3 for that purpose to pair with my Ursa mini Pro and have a timecode signal go in there because I've had some issues with syncing in the past and so this includes it as well and that is always great to see that these devices are now including it for a cheaper setup on the back you do have the SDXC card slot which can go up to 512 gigs I am really annoyed physically by the slot it has this very obnoxious you know takes up a lot of space open door and then the card is right up against if I grab one here it is right up against the top of that sled which is just really awkward to get in there in the first place and then when you do get it loose you just really have to like squeeze your fingers around it to try to get a grip on it and pull the card out which is not ideal and as a pain in the butt as someone who is constantly you know recording a session for 30 minutes to an hour pulling the card out putting it in you know that I'm not leaving it in at all times it gets really annoying dealing with that I do like however that the Sony NPF or l series battery sled is built-in I had a lot of issues with the one for the mix pre three I got was bending my fingernails back and stuff whenever I was trying to loosen it off the device it was just a big pain in the butt and the default one the style of sticking the two batteries off the top and bottom meant fitting it in certain places was really awkward this is just a nice slim profile fit on the back which works a lot better for audio bags one just makes it easier to use overall so I really like a lot about the physical form factor about this but also don't like a lot of it some of the dials feel pretty wobbly and they're super tight and close together again for an audio bag that is perfect because you've set your levels real quick they lock into place and then you slide it in your bag and they're not gonna accidentally get turned or moved or anything like that and I do like that they click off which actually digitally tells the recorder not to record your you know that track really cool they're just really hard to fiddle with as a individual creator not using the sound bag the menu system even though the buttons are really hard to press the menu system is actually fantastic as well but again the physical ergonomics of it are just really annoying on the bottom you do have a battery slide you have a few different battery options and it does come with a four double-a battery tray inside which is nice to see and then it even comes with the mounting plate so you can actually put this between your tripod and your camera which is really cool as well so they have a lot of options built into here and it's a nice compact size just some of it's a little awkward to work with and the headphone dial is kind of you know hard to get at sometimes whereas they put that Lego wheel on the one on the mixed 33 yeah being able to power this off of USB though has been super clutch I love that these things have this option now which means I can just put a super big USB battery bank slap it on top and power this for days and I've actually I've just been using this with npf batteries and even the I believe 500 ish size of the MPF batteries granted I'm not recording for hours and hours straight but just you know recording 30 minutes to an hour here or there across you know a two-week period I'm not having to charge the battery very often at all which is really really nice the headphone out on this is a little weak compared to the sound devices mixed pre 3 nothing super important probably on set but if you're doing some serious mixing or want like a good audio experience if this is to be your dedicated audio interface as well it's not as good as the expert III is but that is fine I guess in terms of recording specs again you get absurdly high quality audio again go check out Curtis judge review he did found a little find a little bit of a difference between like the warmth of the preamps on this compared to the mixed pre 3 with the mix pretty 3 being a little bit more warm which would play to my vocals a little bit better I can't say that I've really noticed anything significant either way like I see what he's getting at but it's not you know if you just picked this up and ran with it you would never know that was a problem and it would not be like an active problem for you so totally fine you can account for that in EQ if you need to totally fine but you do I mean it just means that I get to slap on 32-bit mode or you can actually record 32-bit and 24 a bit or 32-bit and send it out to your camera and just have 32-bit as a backup so you're sending it to your camera to record and then you only need to activate right you know access whatever's on the SD card if it clips out in your camera and but you can't record 192 kilohertz if you're worried about that without turning off the new limiters the stereo mix and the because you do have I'll talk about that in a second you do have a bunch of track routing options and the auto makes capability which is pretty cool otherwise you're limited to 96 kilohertz which is fine now those two features I talked about are actually really cool about this device in that it has an auto mix capability for podcasters to basically just record all of your tracks and it will automatically lower never grant it it's not by a significant amount it's not cutting them off but it will try to lower and raise the levels of certain speakers when they're not talking to try to you know prevent multiple Mike reverb or echo or talkback or anything like that and keep a decent balance for podcasts or talk shows or something like that it's a pretty cool feature and just the pure number of audio tracks you can record in this is a really cool feature as well because you get all six audio tracks from mic one through six recorded individually and you can get a stereo mix and you could do that in 24-bit and 32-bit modes which is a lot of tracks being recorded at once and what I really like especially for my YouTube creation purposes which bugs me about the mix pre 3 is on this one if I turn off all of the other audio inputs and I'm just recording my main microphone my shotgun microphone to my camera recording then it just records a mono track the way I have it set up because I turned off the stereo mix so I can just record a single mono track and then immediately start working with that without having two separate tracks or anything like that for my youtube workflow that's really freaking handy and the fact that you get so much fine can fine-tune control over what audio tracks your recording is really sick so conclusion time overall mix pre 3 versus zoom f6 for 650 bucks they are both fantastic devices and frankly unless you need 32-bit mode or the timecode there's previous generations of both of these products that you could go get cheaper now that would also do you a lot of justice you don't always need these super high-end audio recorders they get great audio but jumping to my original mix three three and the mark two and now this over some of my cheaper audio recorders I started my youtube career with workflow wise there are a lot of benefits even if you may argue that the quality difference is never really noticeable on YouTube 32-bit preventing me from clipping if I mess up a mic recording or if I just get too close all of a sudden or if I start shouting is very helpful and a lot of the features in here can be very handy especially if you do podcasts or shows with multiple hosts product links as always affiliate links on B&H for this product and the mix pre 3 along with the link to my review of the mix pre 3 mark 2 will be in the description below go check them out support the channel hit the like button if you enjoyed the video subscribe for more tech education I'm Evil's Vox I'll see you next timeearlier in the year when I reviewed the sound devices mix pre three audio recorder which features timecode out as well as 32-bit float recording which can be really awesome for some you know making sure that you don't clip your microphone had a bunch of comments asking well what about the zoom f6 doesn't it do the same thing yeah it kind of does naturally I wanted to check it out and they had actually reached out to loan me a unit for me to review that's what we're gonna be doing here today quick summary though basically the same thing as the mix pretty three but you get more inputs and outputs for your money which is advantageous to some people there's a little bit of a pro and con between the two with regards to the physical controls and some of the options available but overall it is a great solution especially if you're going in a sound bag just due to the form factor but if you're trying to use it kind of run and gun style or for you know a youtuber setup style some of the control issues may give you trouble full disclosures as always the zoom f6 here was sent on loan for review by zoom audio whatever their full name is as always but they have no input into the video they're not seeing it before it's imposed before it's been posted they're not sponsoring the video anything like that so full disclosures as always I'm April's Fox Theater make tech easier and more fun welcome back to gearhead my gear review show where I focus on audio and video gear for content creators this is the zoom f6 audio recorder it costs about 650 bucks retail and has six XLR mic or line level inputs as well as a six end for out audio interface over USB which is pretty cool it has a wide gamut of features many of which I would never use but are you know very useful to a lot of people you've got you can record in up to 32 bit float up to 192 kilohertz so you can get the highest quality audio possible pretty much in that 32 bit float mode which if you don't remember or didn't see my review of the mix pre 3 this is a new audio bit mode which is basically seen kind of as raw audio wherein you have I believe 132 decibels of dynamic range on your audio so that you can pretty much never clip or you know if you can it's an absurd sound that would always clip you know your microphone before it even makes it to the recorder that way you can record you know the loudest sounds and these quietest sounds together and either lower them or bring them up and have no real added hiss or noise floor or anything like that from the recorder itself so of course with that each of these XLR inputs have some really high quality preamps that can provide up to 75 DB of gain and have a ridiculously low noise floor they've also if you're recording in the normal 24-bit mode or outputting to a camera or something they have these new advanced hybrid look-ahead limiters which basically kind of put a delay on the recording so that the limiters can look ahead to your audio and if it thinks it's going to clip automatically adjust for that to prevent you from clipping so while you can record the full range without clipping in 32-bit mode you can actually just kind of shout into your microphone in 24-bit mode and still potentially not have the same kind of clip distortion that you normally have I mentioned a more i/o for your money they mix pre three of course has three inputs for the same price and this one has the six so that's double if you'd actually ever use double I personally am fine with the inputs on the mix / three however you do have additional setup here there is no 3.5 millimeter line in like on the mix / 3 which alternates with that third XLR jack but you do have a dedicated 3.5 millimeter line out you have a dedicated headphone out and then a dedicated timecode out or in depending on how you want to use it so that way you're not trading off the line out for the timecode out as you might be on the mix pre 3 which is really cool to see they have an expansion port here for hooking up your they do have the zoom F control series or you could connect by a bluetooth for controlling this basically like a mixer from your iPad or iPhone or iOS device I don't use Apple products pretty much so I can't test this but I hear it's really cool go check out Curtis Judds review I believe he has some videos covering the full f control setup on top of the analog inputs and outputs you also have a USB type-c port which can act as dedicated power it can act as a file backup to backup whatever is being recorded to the SD card inside to an external drive it can also act as an audio interface as I mentioned before so you can actually record via an audio interface to a full da software in your computer and still record to the SD card as it back up if you'd like if you are recording as an audio interface it will only record up to 96 kilohertz and then if you're recording as an audio interface and to the SD card simultaneously it will only do up to 48 kilohertz if that matters to you now I kind of glossed over this but this does also have timecode and an out which means it can actually send out a timecode sync signal to your camera so that your camera and your audio recorder always stay in sync instead of having to rely on clappers I originally picked up the mix pre 3 for that purpose to pair with my Ursa mini Pro and have a timecode signal go in there because I've had some issues with syncing in the past and so this includes it as well and that is always great to see that these devices are now including it for a cheaper setup on the back you do have the SDXC card slot which can go up to 512 gigs I am really annoyed physically by the slot it has this very obnoxious you know takes up a lot of space open door and then the card is right up against if I grab one here it is right up against the top of that sled which is just really awkward to get in there in the first place and then when you do get it loose you just really have to like squeeze your fingers around it to try to get a grip on it and pull the card out which is not ideal and as a pain in the butt as someone who is constantly you know recording a session for 30 minutes to an hour pulling the card out putting it in you know that I'm not leaving it in at all times it gets really annoying dealing with that I do like however that the Sony NPF or l series battery sled is built-in I had a lot of issues with the one for the mix pre three I got was bending my fingernails back and stuff whenever I was trying to loosen it off the device it was just a big pain in the butt and the default one the style of sticking the two batteries off the top and bottom meant fitting it in certain places was really awkward this is just a nice slim profile fit on the back which works a lot better for audio bags one just makes it easier to use overall so I really like a lot about the physical form factor about this but also don't like a lot of it some of the dials feel pretty wobbly and they're super tight and close together again for an audio bag that is perfect because you've set your levels real quick they lock into place and then you slide it in your bag and they're not gonna accidentally get turned or moved or anything like that and I do like that they click off which actually digitally tells the recorder not to record your you know that track really cool they're just really hard to fiddle with as a individual creator not using the sound bag the menu system even though the buttons are really hard to press the menu system is actually fantastic as well but again the physical ergonomics of it are just really annoying on the bottom you do have a battery slide you have a few different battery options and it does come with a four double-a battery tray inside which is nice to see and then it even comes with the mounting plate so you can actually put this between your tripod and your camera which is really cool as well so they have a lot of options built into here and it's a nice compact size just some of it's a little awkward to work with and the headphone dial is kind of you know hard to get at sometimes whereas they put that Lego wheel on the one on the mixed 33 yeah being able to power this off of USB though has been super clutch I love that these things have this option now which means I can just put a super big USB battery bank slap it on top and power this for days and I've actually I've just been using this with npf batteries and even the I believe 500 ish size of the MPF batteries granted I'm not recording for hours and hours straight but just you know recording 30 minutes to an hour here or there across you know a two-week period I'm not having to charge the battery very often at all which is really really nice the headphone out on this is a little weak compared to the sound devices mixed pre 3 nothing super important probably on set but if you're doing some serious mixing or want like a good audio experience if this is to be your dedicated audio interface as well it's not as good as the expert III is but that is fine I guess in terms of recording specs again you get absurdly high quality audio again go check out Curtis judge review he did found a little find a little bit of a difference between like the warmth of the preamps on this compared to the mixed pre 3 with the mix pretty 3 being a little bit more warm which would play to my vocals a little bit better I can't say that I've really noticed anything significant either way like I see what he's getting at but it's not you know if you just picked this up and ran with it you would never know that was a problem and it would not be like an active problem for you so totally fine you can account for that in EQ if you need to totally fine but you do I mean it just means that I get to slap on 32-bit mode or you can actually record 32-bit and 24 a bit or 32-bit and send it out to your camera and just have 32-bit as a backup so you're sending it to your camera to record and then you only need to activate right you know access whatever's on the SD card if it clips out in your camera and but you can't record 192 kilohertz if you're worried about that without turning off the new limiters the stereo mix and the because you do have I'll talk about that in a second you do have a bunch of track routing options and the auto makes capability which is pretty cool otherwise you're limited to 96 kilohertz which is fine now those two features I talked about are actually really cool about this device in that it has an auto mix capability for podcasters to basically just record all of your tracks and it will automatically lower never grant it it's not by a significant amount it's not cutting them off but it will try to lower and raise the levels of certain speakers when they're not talking to try to you know prevent multiple Mike reverb or echo or talkback or anything like that and keep a decent balance for podcasts or talk shows or something like that it's a pretty cool feature and just the pure number of audio tracks you can record in this is a really cool feature as well because you get all six audio tracks from mic one through six recorded individually and you can get a stereo mix and you could do that in 24-bit and 32-bit modes which is a lot of tracks being recorded at once and what I really like especially for my YouTube creation purposes which bugs me about the mix pre 3 is on this one if I turn off all of the other audio inputs and I'm just recording my main microphone my shotgun microphone to my camera recording then it just records a mono track the way I have it set up because I turned off the stereo mix so I can just record a single mono track and then immediately start working with that without having two separate tracks or anything like that for my youtube workflow that's really freaking handy and the fact that you get so much fine can fine-tune control over what audio tracks your recording is really sick so conclusion time overall mix pre 3 versus zoom f6 for 650 bucks they are both fantastic devices and frankly unless you need 32-bit mode or the timecode there's previous generations of both of these products that you could go get cheaper now that would also do you a lot of justice you don't always need these super high-end audio recorders they get great audio but jumping to my original mix three three and the mark two and now this over some of my cheaper audio recorders I started my youtube career with workflow wise there are a lot of benefits even if you may argue that the quality difference is never really noticeable on YouTube 32-bit preventing me from clipping if I mess up a mic recording or if I just get too close all of a sudden or if I start shouting is very helpful and a lot of the features in here can be very handy especially if you do podcasts or shows with multiple hosts product links as always affiliate links on B&H for this product and the mix pre 3 along with the link to my review of the mix pre 3 mark 2 will be in the description below go check them out support the channel hit the like button if you enjoyed the video subscribe for more tech education I'm Evil's Vox I'll see you next time\n"