SoundAdvice

So I actually ended up getting a Zoom F4. I didn't even know that there was a Mixpre-3M/6M coming out either! Question though for those of you that have an F4, how do I plug in a 3.5mm lav to it? I used a 1/4 (TRS) adapter and plugged it to one of the 4 XLR/TRS ports and it's not working. I made sure plug-in power was on as well. Is the TRS just for line-inputs too? So if I plug in a 1/4 / TRS cable does it automatically go into the line-input (lower dB) levels?

Would you actually be able to explain to me what all the numbers mean (sorry I'm still kind of new to audio equipment)? One of the reasons I got the Fostex FR2LE was actually because of that Avisoft site showing the numbers being a close second to the Sound Devices 722. EIN is how noisy the recorder is right? And what is A-weighted vs unweighted?

I currently have a Fostex FR2LE and was planning on upgrading/changing my recorder out for either a MixPre3 or a Zoom F4. I wanted to have the convenience of using my recorder as an audio interface to my computer as well as a field recorder. What's the consensus on the MixPre3 vs Zoom F4? I've always been fine with the 2 inputs so far on my FR2LE, but having more is always nice. Are the Zoom F4/Mixpre3 both cleaner/better than the FR2LE as well, as I know the FR2LE was always known to have really great preamps.