[buster]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mike Scarpitti Yao! I agree! Another Columbus-Ohio based MZ-R50 owner.

Wow, small world. I actually caved into upgrade-itis and sold one of my three R50s to Reynman just the other day, but fear not, my R50 dedication remains undiminished!

 

[DLP]

I personally don't trust Sharp lineout. It's supposedly activated automatically via load-sensing, but I've tried it with my Sharp MT770, and I honestly don't think lineout mode kicks in when the volume controls still effect the volume. I thought the point of lineout was a specified volume. For real lineout, yes, the R50 is your best bet.
Just keep in mind that because most people are fairly satisfied with the headphone outs of MDs, I don't consider the need to use the lineout on any of my units, thus I have not gone through any steps to really test it out.

 

[sbelonoz]

Ok, guys,

As you cannot answer my question, I decided to answer it myself Yesterday, I bought MZ-R50 on e-bay and today I got it here.

I listened to it for just a few minutes, but the difference is easily noticable. MZ-R50 line out is much better, than MZ-R909 headphone out in line-out mode. The bass is richer, the sound is more detailed and the soundstage is wider. My MZ-R909 is in repair centre now, but I am not sure if I am going to use it after it comes back.

Now, I want to listen to those digital amps, which have so much attention nowadays, just to compare, but I have a feeling, that even those new digital amps without line outs will loose to my few years old MZ-R50 real line out. However they must sound better then MZ-R909 from headphone out in headphone mode.

 

[Sugo]

So how does R50 compare with your R909 with headphone out?

 

[sbelonoz]

That's a good question. I don't have my MZ-R909 to make a direct comparison and I haven't listen to headphone out of MZ-R909 for ages. But I will try to listen to MZ-R50 headphone out with my Etys 4P and tell you how good think it is. Anyway, it is better to wait for a week or so, before my MZ-R909 comes back.

 

[skagen]

Actually, I just got a DR-7 and I have to say that ss far as earbuds ar concerned, the DR-7 sounds less powerful with other earbuds than its own. I don't know if this means that Daniel's commnets on the actual power output are correct, but for sure my ears percieve a difference in the volume and richness of the sound. I'm soeaking only about earbuds, becuase that's all I've tested with so far. This are my comments from another board:

First I received a unit that has defective stock headphones (one channel is out) so I haven't really heard them in full stero surround effect yet. However, I did notice even with the one channel, that the stock headphones have phenomenal sound and other headphones seem to have significantly less power and depth.

I tested the DR-7 with Sennheiser MX-500, Koss "The Plug", Etymotic ER-6 and the stock earphones - all at flat sound with no bass boost.

1) On the stock earphones, I could hear quite loud and clear at say 20/30 voume level - great phenomenal, clear sound.
2)With the Etymotics maybe 21 or 22/30 was fine but significantly less bass output. Some of that can be rectified with bass boost on the DR-7. But at flat EQ, it was just fine but not great.
3) The Sennheiser MX-500 had to be jacked up to 29/30 to acheive the same volume and didn't sound as good as the stock earphones (which are supposedly modified MX-400's)
4) The Koss Plug acheived the same volume at about 23/30 but sounded very muffled.

Someone had suggested that if you use regular earphones and not the supplied 4-pole, the DR-7's ACTUAL power output may be only a quarter of the started 8mW into 32 ohms. I don't know the mechanics/electronics side of this stuff, but to my ear's it made me wonder if that is true.

Either way, this unit is well matched with the stock earbuds. If you're not using an Er-4 or something closed/in-ear, the stock earbuds might actually be the best bet. That's tough, because while they sound good ( a first for stock earbuds) they are an asymetrical Y-shape (short on one side) and the whole thing is probbaly only a foot and and a half. So, if like me, you sometimes use it without remote, its a problem.

 

[myself, aka me]

Quote:

Originally posted by sbelonoz Guys, help! 1) MZ-R50 real line out 2) MZ-R909 virtual line out 3) Sony E10 and Sharp DR7(8) headphone outs We only consider using those three with a headphone amp. I might go with Sony E10 later, but if it looses in sound quality to MZ-R50 or MZ-R909 line outs, why would I bother?

Blah! The DR7 DOES have a line out! vol 30. It sounds better than that sony menu line out

.

I would rate it this way:
1. MD deck
2. MZ-R50 generation, MT831 generation.
3. DR7.
4. Everything else

 

[erikzen]

Quote:

Originally posted by buster It's been said before, but I'll say it again: if you're able to take advantage of line outs by using a portable amp, then don't overlook the classic, legendary Sony MZ-R50. Sure it doesn't have all the latest bells and whistles, but it will play back the most recent SP ATRAC recordings, and the line out is incredible.

Another vote for the MZ-R50. I just got one and I've been using it with my portable META42. I can't stick the whole thing in my pocket but the sound is sweet!

It records great from the digital out of my DVD player.

 

[Bird Brain]

This looks like a good thread to join if I want confirmation about my current rig. Wanting a little confirmation that what I'm currently jamming on is at least in the middle of the pack if not higher.

I record from a Rotel RCD991AE via optical toslink to my Yamaha MDX793. Seems to make awesome recordings when played back on my Sharp S301 MDP through a pair of Senn PX100's.

I have been reading several threads about how good the Sharp DR7's output amp is. Anyone familier with the Sharp S301 and it's output stage? I have been mulling over getting an Airhead amp but by what I'm reading plus what I'm hearing on my PX100's I'm not sure if an amp is what I need unless someone here thinks it will make that much of a sound improvement over what I already have.

Anyplace I might learn more about my S301 for the Sharp website does not offer any previous model literature as far as I can tell. Tanks-A-Bunch

 

[D-EJ915]

If you want a MZ-R50, talk to SuperBaldGuy on the MinidiscT board, he might still have some

 

[sbelonoz]

Quote:

Originally posted by myself, aka me Blah! The DR7 DOES have a line out! vol 30. It sounds better than that sony menu line out . I would rate it this way: 1. MD deck 2. MZ-R50 generation, MT831 generation. 3. DR7. 4. Everything else

Do not try to convince me, that Sharp has a line out. I was talking about a dedicated line out, not headphone output. I have a Sharp MD player and I know about this stupid trick, the manual says about: "put your volume to the max, turn your bass off and you get a line out". Do you belive this yourself? How come it can sound better than a dedicated line out? You are amplifing the signal twice, means as somebody told here, you are making bad amplification of built-in amp louder. Well, I agree that DR7 internal amp is a very good one, but I would still prefer to have a real line out. And I would probably belive, that DR7 headphone out will sound better, than MZ-R909 headphone out in line out mode (because MZ-R909 line out mode still lacks in comparison to MZ-R50), but don't tell me that Sharp has a line out. It does not have one!

 

[asdfeproiu9]

To all those R50 supporters, here's a few questions: What about the actual MD recording? Would a DR7-recorded MD (in SP, with the newer ATRAC codec) sound worse than a R50-recorded MD? I certainly think not. I feel that the R50 is a good unit, but is too dated for modern use. An R50-recorded MD will definitely not sound as good as newer DR7-recorded MDs ...

That's why I think if you want a portable recorder, get the DR7. That way, when new MDPs come out, you can get those without getting another recorder, since you already have one of the best portable recorders in existence.

 

[fiddler]

Quote:

Originally posted by asdfeproiu9 To all those R50 supporters, here's a few questions: What about the actual MD recording? Would a DR7-recorded MD (in SP, with the newer ATRAC codec) sound worse than a R50-recorded MD? I certainly think not. I feel that the R50 is a good unit, but is too dated for modern use. An R50-recorded MD will definitely not sound as good as newer DR7-recorded MDs ... That's why I think if you want a portable recorder, get the DR7. That way, when new MDPs come out, you can get those without getting another recorder, since you already have one of the best portable recorders in existence.

You're right. The newer recorders have newer versions of ATRAC, and that should result in higher quality recordings. These recordings are backward compatible however; you can play back a Type-R ATRAC recorded disc on a old MD player and the sound will still benefit from the higher quality ATRAC.

 

[sbelonoz]

I think DR7 will make better recordings, than MZ-R50, because MZ-R50 uses Atrac 4.5, which is pretty old now. So, I am going to use MZ-R909 for recording anyway, because it has Atrac Type R, which is better, than any other Atrac on the market. I am really suspicious to Sharp Atrac, since the previous versions of it were far behind Sony's ones (even Atrac 4.5 was much better than Sharp 6), but I believe they made a good progress since then. I didn't have a change to compare DR7 and 909, but I would still prefer Sony's Atrac, since Atrac R work perfectly for me and I don't think it can be any better. As for Sharp, don't know if they managed to get the same quality, I will doubt it.

But anyway, my advice would be to use a home recorder for making recordings and a portable player (either DR8 or E10) to listen on a go, if you are connecting your headphones directly to a player. The headphones, which you can use directly out of portable are Etys 4P (my favorite), Beyer 250-80, Ultrasone HFI-650 or Sony V6. However, if you have a portable amp, then I would go with MZ-R50 for a portable player + amp + same headphones or some other ones with higher load, like Beyer 750-250 or 250-250 or Etys 4s. All the headphones I am talking about are closed, because we talk about use on a go. Many would recommend Sony Eggos, but they are out of the league, I mentioned earlier, however are really portable and comfortable.

The reason of using a home recorder is that it has a better transport, much better DAC converters, less vibration and less power fluctuations dependant. Of course DAC depends on the model you use, but any middle-end Sony recorder will blow any portable player away in the recording quality. Use best of the two worlds! And yes, even MZ-R50 is backward compatible with Atrac R (it only matters, when you encode, for decoding you are using standard Atrac), thus will give you much better quality with good Atrac R recording.

So, record in Atrac R on Sony high-end MD recorder connected to high-end CD player through coax digital using perfectly mastered CD, listen to it on MZ-R50 connected to a portable Meta42 + Etys 4s, Ultrasone HFI-650 or Beyer 770-250 or 250-250 (depends on the music you listen to) and you will be in nirvana on a go. Just be careful or you might be hit by a car accidentally

 

[erikzen]

Quote:

Originally posted by sbelonoz So, record in Atrac R on Sony high-end MD recorder connected to high-end CD player through coax digital using perfectly mastered CD, listen to it on MZ-R50 connected to a portable Meta42 + Etys 4s, Ultrasone HFI-650 or Beyer 770-250 or 250-250 (depends on the music you listen to) and you will be in nirvana on a go. Just be careful or you might be hit by a car accidentally

So I still need to buy more equipment? I thought I was done!

I guess I need to buy a MD deck now.

But one question: if I'm listening back on the same R50 that I'm recording with, am I really going to notice an improvement in sound quality? Because right now the recordings I'm making with the R50 are awesome!