As you pointed out, this post is a few years old and I don't have a Zoom H4n in front of me. But it sounds to me like this might not be the best recorder for your needs. If I remember correctly I got much louder volumes and lower hiss  using the mini jack instead of the the XLR input. 

There's only one mini jack, so you're pretty much stuck with a single-mic setup if you use this method.

For a podcast you might be best off picking up a cheap audio mixer like this one:

http://www.bswusa.com/proditem.asp?item=XENYX-1002

This would allow you to plug two mics into the mixer and run the output into the Zoom H4n or any other recorder of your choice. 

I know this post is a couple of years old, but I just wondered if you could help me?

We've recently invested in a Zoom H4n at work to record our podcasts. For the past year, we've been recording our podcasts with an old Sony MZ-RH1 MiniDisc recorder and a Beyerdynamic M58 N(c) dynamic microphone. This set-up – though rudimentary (and making use of whatever equipment we could lay our hands on!) – has actually produced perfectly good results for us, but we wanted to upgrade for various reasons.
One of those reasons is that we wanted a recording set-up in which our interviewer and interviewee both had their own microphone (until now, there's just been one between them). The Zoom H4n seemed to offer this function, so it seemed like the best option.
I used the Zoom for the first time last week and was looking forward to hearing the results, but unfortunately our latest podcast hasn't recorded very well (undoubtedly my fault – not the equipment!). I'm not sure where I'm going wrong?I had two Beyerdynamic M58 N(c) dynamic microphones attached to the Zoom H4n via two male to female balanced XLR leads (inserted into the two inputs at the bottom of the recorder) . I was recording the podcast in Stereo mode (with mono-mix selected), but the recording levels (set at the default 80) were REALLY low. The levels were barely registering. In a panic, I stupidly increased the recording level to about 100, but it's left me with a really quiet recording and really noticeable hiss.

Our podcasts are a simple format: a ten minute sit-down interview (with one interviewer and one interviewee), so we don't need to record anything fancy. All we need to do is make sure the recording is clear so that we can hear the voices!
Have I set the recorder on the wrong setting for this kind of recording? Used the wrong leads to connect the mics? As you've probably guessed, I'm very much an audio amateur, so I do apologise for these stupid questions and probably even stupider mistakes!I just want to make sure I know what the optimum settings are for recording our podcasts with the Zoom H4n (using two dynamic mics). Can you possibly advise on where I might be going wrong? I'd like to get it right before I record the next podcast!Thanks.

I get the feeling I will be better off with the sony recorder but I am not sure. The price for the H4n attacks me in this economy!

Thanks for the tests!

Ed

And pin them to your lapel? What about people who need mics that are physically separated from the recorder?

Well, that defeats much of the advantage of this recorder by rendering the XLR inputs irrelevant. The XLR inputs are what make this product way more interesting than the competition, along with the standard AA batteries.

If the preamps suck, then we have a real failure. If you're willing to use some external workaround and pipe it into the 1/8" jack, this product suffers from the dumb jack placement (an again you're squandering the XLR inputs).

The internal mics on both the H2 and H4 are very good.

Just avoid using external mics!