[oghoter]

George - daily use - no problem for me. I record from my main vinyl rig, then playback at other locations (like my office). Also, for travelling, though small players like Cowon are better for jogging etc. Ideal for holidays.
Haven't done much AB testing, lost my belief in that, instead I go for what I like in the long run. Korg DSD is more enjoyable to my ears than PCM (or analog tape, using my old Revox). As I said I cannot put my finger on the harshness and it doesn't irritate me much. I do know that I like my vinyl even better played directly. The Korg comes close, though. A great undisclosed secret for vinyl enthusiasts, if you ask me.
The h-phone / speaker out is active also when paused. Haven't tried it as hearing device, but it makes good nature recordings. I use IEMs too (Shure E3), but for music, it deserves better (Akg450 is a good match, HD600 even better but not as portable). I get the best sound with these, and the Jade tube amp. No fatigue problem here. Starting to sound very good with the SX1 speakers too, for desktop use.
Hope this is of use.

 

[gsawdy]

Thank you oghoter, I hope some more folks jump in here.

I think I can understand if you are comparing vinyl straight analog to digitalized vinyl why you are hearing a difference----must be some high freq distortion.

Do you have any sense as to the quality control of these units? Are they reliable and does everyones seem to be the same?

George

 

[Reima]

I have ordered one of these, should get it by the end of the week. The waiting is terrible. Now to start collecting Hi-Rez music.
RC

 

[oghoter]

I want to pursue the "great undiscovered secret for vinyl lovers" issue. Getting into shape, out of our golden listening chairs. Have mailed Michael Fremer on Musicangle, but perhaps he doesn't see the point, or he will come up with a better mobile listening device. For now, to my ears, the Korg rules.

Gsadwy - high freq distortion, haven't tested yet, let me come back to that. Quality control seems to be good, no problems whatsoever with the Mr1 unit despite fingering around on the mainboard trying to fit the new hd.

Note, I have no commercial connection whatever in this field, just reporting from my ears using a high quality vinyl source. I have not tried new PCM devices, perhaps they are better, but so far, the DSD message that these mean "downloading" comparatively speaking degrading the sound, seems to be true.

Reima, your experience will be interesting. The more hi-rez your source the better to compare.

My recipie is Korg Mr1 + Otl or other good tube amp + single driver desktop speakers (and good headphones) for semi-mobile listening, headphones direct from the Korg as second best.

Listening to Supersession right now, and Michael Blloomfield's guitar sounds glorious, - wish he was here.

 

[Reima]

Got my Korg MR-1 yesterday afternoon. OMG this thing is huge compared to my Sony NW-HD5. I guess that is the price I have to pay to get great portable sound quality. Didn't realised that stereo to mono adapters are needed to be able record from my SACD player so I have not been ablr to load any Hi-Rez music as yet.
RC

 

[Podtweaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reima /img/forum/go_quote.gif Got my Korg MR-1 yesterday afternoon. OMG this thing is huge compared to my Sony NW-HD5. I guess that is the price I have to pay to get great portable sound quality. Didn't realised that stereo to mono adapters are needed to be able record from my SACD player so I have not been ablr to load any Hi-Rez music as yet. RC

Reima, an inelegant but absolutely functional stereo to mono adapters can be found at Radio Shack . I think they label it as an "Airplane adapter"(or something similar to that!). It's fairly inexpensive & does the job! I originally went from my headphone out jack on my Sony SCD-333es to the Korg as this was very convienent, but then decided to try the analog out jacks on the SACD player instead. The rca jack hookup was accomplished by using a mini stereo to left/right rca connectors to the player then the stereo pin to the "airplane adapter"into the Korg. I like to set the REC level anywhere from -11 to -13db on the Korg as the line level signal from the SACD player is strong enough to cause more clipping then you would like on most recordings. Give it a try, I am more than pleased w/ my "analog DSD recordings". I might like these recordings better than anything other than 24/192khz files on this player. The only dowside to these recordings is that recordings are being made in "real time" so you can't just walk away untill you're all done recording.

 

[Faye]

Oooh, I've been considering replacing the HD with something more sensible like an SSD or CF adapter. I already use it as a player combined with my Ansmann external PSP battery (same jack as Korg): Ansmann PSP Portable Power Pack by Ansmann
Sony PSP Batteries - Everyday Rechargeable Batteries & Chargers - Everyday Rechargeable Batteries - Battery Charged

I get hours of playback but it gets mighty warm.

Considering replacing the HD with a 64gb kingspec SSD: 64GB KingSpec 1.8" ZIF 40-pin SSD Solid State Disk (MLC)

Anyone done similar? Hoping it runs cooler, can use all the space and maybe runs a little faster/less power consuming?

Anyone know any better SSD to use?

 

[oghoter]

Gsawdy, these are only my impressions, no time for much comparation, only an average consumer, etc:

My Cowon D2 is better adapted for the format, than the Korg. It is more cost effective. Remarkable, what it does (and in fact, a good test listening station, for Korg samples - although the Cowon only operates in the inferior CD format.

"Comparing vinyl straight analog to digitalized vinyl why you are hearing a difference----must be some high freq distortion. "

Dont know, perhaps, I am hearing SOME harshness (testing now with Cream: Disrealli gears - but, whoever heard this music WITHOUT some harshness and recording problems??). To my ears, the whole DSD is better than I've heard with PCM, better spacing and spaciousness, a more multidimensional sound. I guess that with the best components (that the Cowon has, at the much cheaper CD level), plus perhaps a double dsd rate, the recorder would be hard to beat.

"Do you have any sense as to the quality control of these units? Are they reliable and does everyones seem to be the same?"

No idea. My Korg works well, no problems, also after installing a bigger disk.

 

[Reima]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Podtweaker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Reima, an inelegant but absolutely functional stereo to mono adapters can be found at Radio Shack . I think they label it as an "Airplane adapter"(or something similar to that!).

I picked up one from Radio Shack, now I just have to find time to do some recording.
RC

 

[Faye]

I load my MR-1 with my DVD-A, Blu-ray Audio from 2L and downloads from Linn. I haven't recorded anything with it myself yet, rather transferring across using AudioGate. I tend to convert 192/24 to DSDIFF but leave 96/24 or below as WAV or convert to DSD DISC for PS3 playback (of DVD-A content). I keep wishing that someone will figure out how to rip SACD using PS3 Linux on the original version.

I need to redo my HD to SSD upgrade at least partially, I'm having problems with seeking and power down.. also somewhere along the way, the Device info page which was working and showing 64gb, 48 free now won't 'exec'. At least I'm sure that the zif ribbon is secure at both ends now.

 

[Faye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tedyun /img/forum/go_quote.gif After my failed attempt at putting in a RunCore SSD, I tried out the Mtron 16 GB SSD, as this fellow used in his post: The main difference that I could see is that the R/W speeds for the Mtron are on par with the MR-1's Hitachi HDD (100 MB/s), whereas the RunCore is slower, at 60 MB/s. I didn't think it would make a difference because the PATA interface caps the bandwidth, but I was completely out of ideas. I just installed it, formatted it in the MR-1 and it is absolutely seamless. I can record, playback, etc... Edit: The SSD doesn't improve battery life at all, at least when recording. Perhaps most of the juice is used during processing of the DSD?

I'm having the same problem as your RunCore with a KingSpec drive, I suspect it is not responding as expected to requests to abort transfers or park heads. I've sent them an email asking for help/firmware before I put the drive on e-bay.

I suspect that playback wise you didn't try skipping tracks in the playlist? That causes a "Working..." hang for me. Going track to track via the front buttons works fine.

Most old-school SSDs don't save any power whatsoever over HD. They don't have to spin up a drive, but they use a similar amount of power to read/write the memory. Unfortunately most modern SSDs which are more efficient are SATA.

 

[Podtweaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faye /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm having the same problem as your RunCore with a KingSpec drive, I suspect it is not responding as expected to requests to abort transfers or park heads. I've sent them an email asking for help/firmware before I put the drive on e-bay. I suspect that playback wise you didn't try skipping tracks in the playlist? That causes a "Working..." hang for me. Going track to track via the front buttons works fine. Most old-school SSDs don't save any power whatsoever over HD. They don't have to spin up a drive, but they use a similar amount of power to read/write the memory. Unfortunately most modern SSDs which are more efficient are SATA.

Not being a software designer, I'm going to take a stab at the operational quirkiness & say this might be attributable to the fat32 OS that this player uses. As I said I'm just guessing, but it would be nice if someone could write a better OS to replace the one that came with the player(hint!!)

That aside I found an interesting way to upsample some CDs I thought would benefit from it. I first rip the CD to my PC using EAC(a free download program that is one of the best rippers available for accurate ripping). I then open up my Cirlinca DVDa Solo Plus(which is not free,but was very reasonably priced) & drop the CD files I've just ripped into the "Project Window" & mark in the sidebar output settings that I want to change the resolution from 16/44 to 24/176. Yup, I'm making a DVD-A. I then put this disc in my player(an Integra DPS 6.7 I bought to play back Hi Res downloads) & record this disc to my Korg MR1 set to DSF or DDF. The results are very nice . Enjoy!

 

[Reima]

Is the Toshiba MK8025 80 GB the largest hard drive that can be used with the MR-1?
RC

 

[Reima]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tedyun /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have this one, and it works fine: Macally | External Li-ion Battery for iPod | IP-A481 | B&H Photo -- Ted

How long does it power the Korg?
RC

 

[oghoter]

Some listening impressions my angle:
- best sound from the korg mr1 comes with volume set to 58-60 or so. The unit does not have true line out. - ?
- With Audiotailor Jade or similar: turn to full, or best performance. with Jade, this is ca full, little distortion.
- adjiust speakers volume.
- speaker placement, to my experience, best ca midway up 16 cm or so (for a mid.level screen) , 8 cm away, 1 cm perhaps in front of screen.