Tested the three ZOOM H1 - H1n - H1essential:
File NORMALIZED 0dB, External microphone Primo MIC Em172.
LOW CUT filter OFF.
48 KHz 24 bit
Digital metronome.

ZOOM H1, H1n, H1e essential - NORMALIZED External Primo MIC Em172.WAV

Here are two calls I recorded with the Zoom H1e Essential and a DIY stereo parabola with 1+1 AOM 5024 capsules. The first is the call of a blackbird emitted in flight from left to right; the second is the call of a Great spotted woodpecker recorded while it is entering the hole where it has its nest. In both there is the originally recorded signal with a part that distorts immediately followed by the normalized part recovered in post production via Audition.
As you can see and hear, with 32-bit float there is the possibility of recovering the signal simply by normalizing it, or in this case by decreasing its amplification.

ZOOM H1e Essential Distorted Vs Normalized Blackbird Flight Call AND Great Spotted Woodpecker

I performed a field recording using the new Zoom H1e Essential by comparing it with the Zoom F3 which features XLR type inputs.
For the occasion I prepared a special stereo baffle to be inserted into a 53 cm diameter parabolic dish. I define this baffle as "Twin Stereo Baffle" as I put two pairs of capsules (four total capsules as matched as possible) in order to have two stereo outputs with two 3.5 mm jack plugs to be connected, one directly to the Zoom H1e, the other using a 3.5mm adapter with two XLR plugs equipped with resistor and capacitor suitable for powering the two AOM 5024 capsules via F3.
Both recorders with Low Cut filter at 80 Hz.
No post processing.
Listening order: first the track with H1e followed by the one with F3, for both recordings.
File downloadable.

ZOOM H1e Essential Vs. ZOOM F3 - GreatTit Blackcap Songs

ZOOM H1e Essential - Cetti's Warbler clipped and then recovered with 32-bit recording.
Recording carried out using a parabolic microphone https://www.naturesound.it/
As often happens with Cetti's Warbler, its explosive song causes the recording to clip. In this case I was able to recover the file thanks to the 32-bit float recording of the Zoom H1e Essential. The microphone capsules used are the PUI AOM 5024 inserted in a stereo separation baffle disc inside a 53cm parabolic dish (see in naturesound.it) and they perfectly held the impulsive and strong song without going into distortion.
The file can be downloaded and therefore you can see that by normalizing the first clipped part to 0dB, you obtain a perfectly usable signal, exactly like in the second part of the already normalized file.

ZOOM H1e Essential - Cetti's Warbler clipped - recovered with 32-bit float recording

I ran a simple noise test with the onboard microphones on the ZOOM H1e and ZOOM M4.
First half track with level as recorded, first H1 and then M4; second half track levels NORMALIZED up to 0.1 dB, first H1 and then M4.

New tracks tagged #ZOOM H1e Essential