[Langrath]

Is the compress technology better in Hi-MD in that way that the sound is better in same compression? For example if I record in LP2 is the sound better than LP2 in older Minidisks?

Georg

 

[Bob Ebophalus]

i'm not sure, but I think the only difference is that in HI-MD you can store 1GB on a disk, versus whatever it is on a regular MD (300MB?)

 

[vorlik]

Well, there isn't really an "LP2" in Hi-md. There's 256kbps, 64kbps, 48kbps, PCM, and Hi-SP. I think.

 

[MD1032]

In that case, the LP2 on my regular MD is 132 kbps, whereas the max bitrate on this one is 256. It probably only holds the the same amount of music in this mode as normal MD, though, because of the larger bitrate and size. However, it'll sound a heck of a lot better I'm sure! Hi-MD SP is probably better than regular SP on that unit simply because it's Sony's premier model, and if it isn't the best, no one would buy it!

 

[kurisu]

http://www.sony.net/Products/Hi-MD/capacity.html#3

Quote:

..if I record in LP2 is the sound better than LP2 in older Minidisks?

Depends on how old the unit is and what ATRAC version it's employing. It will probably sound better, regardless. ATRAC3plus bitrates [explained in the link above] will definitely sound better.

 

[some1x]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 In that case, the LP2 on my regular MD is 132 kbps, whereas the max bitrate on this one is 256. It probably only holds the the same amount of music in this mode as normal MD, though, because of the larger bitrate and size.

With LP2 on NetMD, you can store roughly 2.5 hours of music.

With Hi-SP on Hi-MD, you can store roughly 9 hours.

 

[h-man]

I have a hi-md recorder (nh600) and I can definitely say that hi-SP sounds a lot better than LP2.

 

[bangraman]

I wouldn't say Hi-SP sounds significantly better than SP. It's just that now you can rip to true SP-quality and store more of it on the disc (about 6 albums per Hi-MD disc). LP2 is still LP2 (the same, but played back on different amp obviously... and IMO it's not an advance in terms of quality) if you choose to record Net MD discs in Sonicstage/Hi-MD.

 

[Damage]

Nothing beats personal experience: I tried this with a SP disc recorded optically (I have couple) on both a pure NetMD player (MZ-NF610) and on the HiMD player (MZ-NH600D), and from my personal experience (using Shure E3) there seems to be very slight difference between the two players when it comes to SP playback. Very slight, however, may come down to not at all or doesn't make a darn bit of a difference in most cases however.

For the matter of record, I do feel that the sound on the NF610 was slightly closer to the original recording matter (well, I did recording using this unit so that may make a difference) but both sounded very nicely and nigh transparent on both units, no mistake there.

It could all be psychosomatic however.

 

[kurisu]

I am tired of waiting to sample Hi-SP through a Hi-MD unit. I wish the NH900 would arrive..transparency is transparency, though, but it'll still be fun.

Langrath, if the recording benefits of a Hi-MD unit surpass the immense playback ability of portables such as an iPod, Karma, etc then go for it. What's the budget, anyways?

 

[Langrath]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kurisu I am tired of waiting to sample Hi-SP through a Hi-MD unit. I wish the NH900 would arrive..transparency is transparency, though, but it'll still be fun. Langrath, if the recording benefits of a Hi-MD unit surpass the immense playback ability of portables such as an iPod, Karma, etc then go for it. What's the budget, anyways?

Thank you for your advice. Anyhow, what I like in minidisks is that the capacity is flexible after how big your music library is. I am also very used to minidisks. Have had it for years and have many recorded minidisks.

Georg

 

[bfwiat]

Okay, to try and help clear this up.

ATRAC 3 (ie sp, lp2 and lp4) are all supported by HiMd (same as net md).
The only difference is headphone amp in two models (mznh900 and mznh1 have Sony HD digital amps, no MD other than mze10 has had HD amp) so they will all sound pretty much the same as previous NET MD models (other than the aforementioned HD headphone amp models) in ATRAC 3 modes.
*** the HD headphone amp imo gives better focus and imaging to the sound, with better detail and pace, at a slight expense of pure bass oomph.

The atrac 3+ compression has 3 modes :

[size=x-small] 48kpbs[/size] (roughly equivalent to a phase corrected 128k mp3) ( ie: not worth serious listening, kinda okay for the gym)
[size=x-small] 64kpbs[/size] (roughly equivalent to 128kpbs vbr mp3 - not hi fi, but okay portable with small file size)
[size=x-small]256 kpbs[/size] (called HiSP) which is IMO better than any compressed format I have heard. It sounds so darn close to cd, it is splitting whiskers.
ATRAC3+ uses double the sliding bands (sliding filters) of atrac 3, hence more efficient coding and higher quality at all bit rates compare to either MP3 (at equivalent bit rates) or ATRAC3 (net MD), at the expense of greater DSP power required to encode/decode at equivalent bit rates.
Also keep in mind as a very simple explanation, ATRAC3+ analyses the music to see what it is doing and creates an enoding template accordingly, whereas MP3 has a fixed number of templates and chooses the one closest to the style of music you are encoding.
***Don't forget, HiMD also has a pure uncompressed 16bit 44.1khz PCM recording mode (ie exactly the same as conventional cd, no compression codec at all ! ! !)

[size=large][size=xx-large]HiMD has 7 different encoding options ! ! ![/size]
[size=x-small]varying from small file size crap sound,
through to uncompressed full cd quality sound[/size]
[/size]

bfwiat

 

[Langrath]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bfwiat Okay, to try and help clear this up. ATRAC 3 (ie sp, lp2 and lp4) are all supported by HiMd (same as net md). The only difference is headphone amp in two models (mznh900 and mznh1 have Sony HD digital amps, no MD other than mze10 has had HD amp) so they will all sound pretty much the same as previous NET MD models (other than the aforementioned HD headphone amp models) in ATRAC 3 modes. *** the HD headphone amp imo gives better focus and imaging to the sound, with better detail and pace, at a slight expense of pure bass oomph. The atrac 3+ compression has 3 modes : [size=x-small] 48kpbs[/size] (roughly equivalent to a phase corrected 128k mp3) ( ie: not worth serious listening, kinda okay for the gym) [size=x-small] 64kpbs[/size] (roughly equivalent to 128kpbs vbr mp3 - not hi fi, but okay portable with small file size) [size=x-small]256 kpbs[/size] (called HiSP) which is IMO better than any compressed format I have heard. It sounds so darn close to cd, it is splitting whiskers. ATRAC3+ uses double the sliding bands (sliding filters) of atrac 3, hence more efficient coding and higher quality at all bit rates compare to either MP3 (at equivalent bit rates) or ATRAC3 (net MD), at the expense of greater DSP power required to encode/decode at equivalent bit rates. Also keep in mind as a very simple explanation, ATRAC3+ analyses the music to see what it is doing and creates an enoding template accordingly, whereas MP3 has a fixed number of templates and chooses the one closest to the style of music you are encoding. ***Don't forget, HiMD also has a pure uncompressed 16bit 44.1khz PCM recording mode (ie exactly the same as conventional cd, no compression codec at all ! ! !) [size=large][size=xx-large]HiMD has 7 different encoding options ! ! ![/size] [size=x-small]varying from small file size crap sound, through to uncompressed full cd quality sound[/size] [/size] bfwiat

Thank you. You really gave a good explanation.

Georg