[ismelllikepoop]

Is buying a home higher end md deck worth it? Is there much of a difference between the ES and the lower end 4** series etc? I have the mxd-d40 right now, which seems fine, but I don't have have any place to test out the higher end decks. Everyone here has only the lower end, and nothing much else. I don't care about netmd, but mdlp would be useful. Any input would be great, thanks

 

[HiWire]

It seems like now would be a bad time to buy an MD recorder or player. HighMD is coming out soon, with 1 GB per disc and 300MB on older MDs. Unless you absolutely need one, it may be better to wait. Also, when the new format comes out, the older players will surely drop in price.

 

[ismelllikepoop]

The thing that concerns me about hi-md is with the amount of space for the old discs. A reformatted standard md disc holds 28 min of uncompressed sound, and 2 hours of 256kb "sp2" atrac3plus. 28 min is useless to me. Does anyone have any idea how the difference is between the current sp mode versus the 256kb "sp2" mode is? I just don't know if I should dump my old gear to invest in hi-md, or just buy/keep my old stuff and keep on recording sp. Seems like a big investment, but then again if i keep buying up old md stuff, i'm buying into something that is being phased out.

 

[Stoner]

The Hi-MD format is irrelevant if you dub your MD in SP format, which a lot of dedicated MD fan do. Personally, I dub my CDs 1:1 to MD, using Sony 80 Min Gold if it's an extra long album.

If you want a good high end digital source and has most if not all your MDs in SP format, I'd say go ahead and get a higher end MD deck.

SP mode is some where around 256bit and 320bit I believe. Tried to do a search over at T-Board, but I think they got shut down or something.

 

[Watchdog]

My understanding is that SP is about 292 kbps and the new HI-SP will be about 256 kbps.

No one knows if Sony will release HI-MD decks so you might be waiting quite a while if you want a HI-MD deck.

Sony will likely see how HI-MD sells. If it sells well then we might see mini-systems, car decks and home decks, but if it doesn't sell well, then they'll likely just stick to making portables.

 

[jmb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stoner The Hi-MD format is irrelevant if you dub your MD in SP format, which a lot of dedicated MD fan do.

I wouldn't say its irrelevant to dedicated SP users. The new units will allow you to record for 1:30 hours in uncompressed Linear PCM (1GB MD). I think SP users would enjoy this feature tremendously. Plus, if Hi-SP sounds as good as the current SP (MDLP) then they will be able to hold over seven hours on a single disc (1GB MD).

I will wait myself to see how the first couple generations play out, but Hi-MD is definitely an important step in MD technology, if it lives up to Sony's hype.

Obviously, if you have several hundred CD's on the standard MD's, then it would be quite a collection to ditch.

 

[Ticky]

I'm gonna sound stupid, but how does one record in SP mode using the computer?

I have a portable MD player, but the Sony software (Sonicstage) appears to only let me record in LP2 (132kbs). Is recording straight from my standalone CDP the only way to do it in SP?

 

[Trawlerman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ticky I'm gonna sound stupid, but how does one record in SP mode using the computer? I have a portable MD player, but the Sony software (Sonicstage) appears to only let me record in LP2 (132kbs). Is recording straight from my standalone CDP the only way to do it in SP?

You can't do it. Sonicstage only allows LP2 / LP4 transfers. Stupid, I know but that's Sony logic for you.

In real terms, recording direct from your CDP at 1x is probably the better way to way to do it.

I do a lot of SP recording from my Krell Transport to my JA30ES MD Deck and to be brutally honest, I find it difficult to tell the difference between the MD and the original. Perhaps the only thing I detect is a little bit of harshness in the treble and a slight loss of ambience but it's really only detectable on high end systems.

 

[qwerty870]

I owned a couple MD decks. The ES ones were worth the money. The version of ATRAC also makes a difference.

 

[jmb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qwerty870 I owned a couple MD decks. The ES ones were worth the money. The version of ATRAC also makes a difference.

You're refering to Atrac DSP Type S? Do you think it is a significant improvment over earlier Atrac 3?

 

[qwerty870]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmb You're refering to Atrac DSP Type S? Do you think it is a significant improvment over earlier Atrac 3?

I got out of MD before Type S, but the Type R deck I owned was a lot better than my previous Atrac 3 deck. I'd hope S is even better, but I dont know.

 

[D-EJ915]

Type-S is just the playback side, it records the same as Type-R.