[Braver]

I'm curious, are they any good? I've seen a HX55 (IIRC) MDP go for about $200 locally. it's the blue one with the wave-ey lid design, pretty cool. the model ain't new, no MDLP support and less-than-stellar battery-life, but hell who needs that. got cool remote and incredibly small size tho.

anybody familiar with this one or other Aiwa models?

 

[leon]

Don't know, but I thought you might want to know that some Aiwa players only have 20 steps on the volume control. I've only used Panasonic's 25-step (which I think they distributed pretty badly), and 20-step sounds like potential disaster

But let us know if you get the HX55... since (IIRC) the amp is fairly juicy.

 

[Mystyler]

I have the newest Aiwa MD, the HX400. It is great sound wise, and also a sturdy unit.

My Panasonic's volume control ain't to bad, but the Aiwa seems better, except for a large jump between 12/20 and 13/20.

The HX55 has a HP amp of 8mW x2 at 32 ohms me thinks. That's all I know about the HX55.

 

[Braver]

it's actually 8+8 at 16ohms. I'm going to have a closer look, cause it is a sweet price for such a cool unit (only Sony's E300 would be cheaper around here).

 

[Braver]

well, I checked it out...it felt very lightweight. the trade-off is that it doesn't feel all that sturdy. not sure what it's made of, but it could be some cheap kind of plastic from the feel of it. they were out of stock tho, only the display unit left. which will go on sale soon, I'll see what it'll be going for then. if it's cheap I'm going for it, but otherwise, I have my doubts. otherwise it's only Sony players here, Sharp only does recorders.

 

[Cyanide]

hey Braver
genneraly i think that Awia simply re-badge some of Sharps models as well as one sony model (mzr-90) so i belive that this unit would be very similar to a sharp unit of that era. The amp output sounds very much like sharps erliest units.
Im not too sure if it is a clone or not but here are some links that may be of use to you.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~rmorrien/minid...x55_review.htm
http://www.minidisc.org/part_Aiwa_AM-HX55.html

hope this helps and if you do buy it , welcome to the wonderful world of MD

 

[Braver]

well, I've been a MD-world citizen for two years already, but thanks for the welcome anyway

Aiwa is internally usually similar to Sonys. they come with Sony batteries and even the bags are identical to Sony's (diff logo ofcourse).

shame the build feels so flimsy tho. the reviews (all two I can find ) are fairly positive (sharing my feelings on the build-quality side tho), but also written not long after the purchase of the unit. and the Sony R909 is only $90 more expensive if you can find a deal... I'll see if the price drops at the sale.

 

[mbriant]

Sony owns Aiwa.

 

[Tina]

Quote:

Originally posted by mbriant Sony owns Aiwa.

that's right. i heard 51% of the company. but i think not until late year 2000. the hx-55 was released august 1999 so it has the true aiwa engineering. the first aiwa (and the only one so far) clone is the Aiwa f-90 recorder (after the Sony MZ-R900) released September 2000. but even mystyler's am-hx400 (the latest player) is not a clone but an aiwa original, released November 2001. Sony makes weak output powers chasing more battery life for their portable units and the aiwa sound quality (despite sony's eq settings in the newer units), except for the sony clone, is very very different and much better, louder and more defined. and to my ears, they sound better than the sharp models. i'm not putting the sony units down, i own an mz-n1.
braver, get the hx55. they are classic portable units that aren't much available these days. dang, and they have GOOD quality control. aiwa seems to be getting slower with their md production these days because of market response. even sharp is feeling the blow in the u.s., but sony is gaining more momentum with their netmd. anyway, hope aiwa will make a good comeback and not with another sony clone.

 

[Mystyler]

Sony does own Aiwa, but they still use their own MD technology, exception being the F90.

 

[mbriant]

The then vice-president of Shriro Canada, the distributor of Aiwa products in Canada, told me in 1981 that Sony owned Aiwa and used it as a Research and Development brand, test marketing (for durability and consumer acceptance) some of their new technologies before bringing them into the Sony lineup. I don't know what percentage Sony owned then or now, but it would have been a controlling percentage.

It appears that in recent months, much like the auto manufacturers, for efficiency sake, Sony has decided to consolidate these two brands and will likely introduce near-identical products (internally at least....cosmetics may differ) under both brand names.

 

[Tina]

Quote:

Originally posted by mbriant It appears that in recent months, much like the auto manufacturers, for efficiency sake, Sony has decided to consolidate these two brands and will likely introduce near-identical products (internally at least....cosmetics may differ) under both brand names.

 

[leon]

Yep, Aiwa is going to be completely assimilated into Sony because they have lost a lot of $$ since 1998/99, plus one mishap on the stock market.

In the past although Sony owned Aiwa, Aiwa still had considerable freedom to choose not to use Sony components (e.g. Philips? DAC on the F80). Their R&D divisions will be shrunk now, so they'll probably no longer have that kind of freedom.

The main consumer protection organization in Japan (sorry, the name escapes me) did a MDP test back in 1999 on six MD players (HX55, ST531, E90, MJ75, L5, P5?), which included durability tests. 2 units of each model were used for testing, and the HX55 always suffered the most damage

What I really have trouble with the Panasonic volume control is the big jump between 3/25 and 4/25 - impossible to get comfortable in a quiet room.

 

[Mystyler]

I'm glad I bought my HX400 when I did.

leon, what Panasonic are you using?

 

[leon]

Mystyler,

I'm not using any Panasonic MD portables now, but what I did have (MJ5, MJ30, MJ75, MJ88, MR200) all had the 25-step volume control, and the same perceived "jump" between 3/25 and 4/25. It's definitely an issue if you're using earbuds (not including the Etys). The only piece of panasonic I've got now is the CT780, and it also has the same volume control characteristic