[Morse]

Hi everyone and thanks in advance for your help and suggestions!

I'm looking for a MD recorder/player that's under $150 for use while travelling. It needs to be able to drive a pair of Philips HP550's without the use of an outboard amp (I've built several but I'm not about to bring a DIY amp onto an airplane these days!). Obviously it has to be small, rugged, and reliable. For source material, I plan to transcribe compilations from my existing 700+ disc CD library and have no interest in MP3 or i-whatever.

Suggestions? Sony? Sharp? Something else?

Thanks again for any help or advice you can give!
All the best,
Morse

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

MDs on SP mode sound very nice on portables..but the problem might start from the hardware itself...most portable MD these days has very low output.. 5wm @32 for sonys and 8wm for sharp DR7. with those numbers might have a little troble driving Philips HP550, i kno they'r very easy to drive, they might sound find to you...but when u plug them into something more powerful, you will be like

i dont own a DR7, so other md users can give you more info on that

 

[Morse]

Hi ProFingerSk8er;

Hmmmm, 5mw out on the Sony's? My Panasonic SLS320's got 9mw out and it's okay for the Philips HP550's (it drops dead on my Sennheisers, but that's another story) so maybe I should focus in on the Sharps.

>>>...but when u plug them into something more powerful, you will be like

...<<<

Yep, I know what you mean there! 'Can't remember how many mw output I'm getting off an OPA 134, but the Philips has got more guts to it using an outboard amp - that's for sure!

After posting it did occur to me that I could maybe build a Chu Moy amp using an OPA2134 in a clear plastic case (hopefully if the airline security types can see all the 'innards' of a chipamp they won't get too crazy), but time is the big factor.

Thanks for the input!
All the best,
Morse

 

[KJ_Palmer]

Yes, I think you should concentrate on a Sharp, there are still a few models out there with 2 x 10mW @32 which should drive your headphones fairly well.
Only the budget models would realistically be in your price range.
The MD-MT270 might be of interest - I have the MT290 (the mic-jack equipped version), and the older MT170. They're both a bit ugly and plasticky, but solid enough, and sound great even unamped through large headphones.
I'd particularly recommend the MT270/290 as they have separate bass and treble settings.

 

[Helloween]

Check out www.t-station.net for reviews on MD units, i'm sure you'll find a model that's worthwhile. Plus, the headphone outs on recent units have been getting wimpy, even on Sharp's, so beware!

I own a DR7, which i love for the sound...but in the four monthes i've owned it, a few small annoying things have popped up. Namely, the volume buttons switching tasks, meaning the - volume button would raise the volume and the + volume button would lower the volume...all thanks to dust getting trapped inside apparently. To be honest, i would recommend the Sony MZR50 for its ruggedness, but it records in Atrac 4.0.

 

[terrymx]

Quote:

Originally posted by Helloween I own a DR7, which i love for the sound...but in the four monthes i've owned it, a few small annoying things have popped up. Namely, the volume buttons switching tasks, meaning the - volume button would raise the volume and the + volume button would lower the volume...all thanks to dust getting trapped inside apparently. To be honest, i would recommend the Sony MZR50 for its ruggedness, but it records in Atrac 4.0. [/B]

thats not such a big problem you would be accustom to it by that time. i dont think i'll ever get accustom to the 1x recording speed of my r70 though.

 

[Morse]

Thanks guys!

Any suggestions on a reputable retailer who stocks Sharp MD players? I just got s*****d by a retailer and don't want to repeat that experience.....

I've found plenty of Sony's for sale though. Is Sharp pulling out of the MD field?

Thanks for the link, Helloween. It's going to take a while to absorb all the material there!

Anyone have opinions on the newer Sonys? If I would have to go Sony, is that $150 sports model of theirs worth the extra $$ over their $100 entry level model?

All the best,
Morse

 

[D-EJ915]

Sony is the only company in the US that sells MD units, you can get JDM MD units at audiocubes.com; Sharp, Sony, Kenwood, Panasonic, etc.

 

[Morse]

Hi guys and thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!

It's been a while since I started looking at MD players - and I'm still looking. There have been some changes in the search criteria and other developments.

Okay, the headphone output does NOT need to be all that powerful. A small DIY chipamp can fix any problems there.

HELP on selecting a good brand. I went to Nihombashi over the holidays and was amazed at the number of makes and models there - it was pure sensory overload. Even the "Best" depato in Hiroshima stocked more models than I could keep track of. And now it turns out that I'm leaving for Tokyo in March - thus a side-trip to Akihabara is indicated - only THIS time I want to have a better idea of what to look for - and any suggestions on where to find it (i.e. good prices?).

So, Panasonic vs Sony vs Sharp vs Kenwood vs God knows how many others. What's the best buy for under about 20,000 yen? ($200USD) Any reliability issues? I'm still looking for a recorder/player portable for the recording of CD's in my collection.

Suggestions?
Thanks again!
Ja mata,
Morse

 

[D-EJ915]

The Sony MZ-N510 seems to be a pretty solid model for a "beginner", it's cheap, has enough features (sans mic-in), and is pretty durable (my friend has one).

 

[Morse]

Thanks D-EJ915;

Okay, the Sonys have a good rep? When I'm there, I'll hunt around a bit. IIRC, I saw an N910 for about the right price in Hiroshima. Hopefully I'll be able to find some good prices on Sonys in Akihabara....

Doumo arigatou gozaimasu.

Ja mata,
Morse

 

[tmesis]

Have you found about the newly introduced Hi-MD format yet? 1Gb per $7 disk and some other cool features. The budget model is slated to be priced at $200. If you can wait until April, that is.

 

[bangraman]

Hi-MD is not going to be available for 20,000 yen. You could try and look for good deals on existing mid and top-range models in March time because fewer people will be buying them, thanks to the release of Hi-MD.


Am I right in suspecting that the reason Morse wants MD is because he doesn't always have access to a PC?

 

[Morse]

Hi Bangraman;

Thanks for the tip; I'll be on the lookout for deals on "standard" MD recorder/players as the "hi" MD R/P units are introduced.

>>>...Am I right in suspecting that the reason Morse wants MD is because he doesn't always have access to a PC?....<<<

'Don't use a PC for music at all, though you're on the right track. I spend a lot of time away from my primary hifi system, and want something more compact than my CD player for air travel and use in the office. I've also considered just buying an MD player and an AC mains powered MD recorder/player to be a permanent part of my primary hifi - but that adds another layer of cost and complication.

Doumo arigatou gozaimasu!
Ja mata,
Morse

 

[bangraman]

A home deck like the MXD-D series or even the CMT-M333NT would speed up the transfer of CD tracks to MD... They will do 4x dubbing with no computer in sight.


I will say that although you may not prefer to use the PC for music at all (I almost never do too) it is a very fast and handy storage and 'ripping' solution. I see it like this: Since you already have your CD collection, there's no really a need to have the same collection duplicated in part or whole on another removable storage medium. 256 ~ 320K MP3's equal or surpass MD recordings in SP mode and you can certainly squeeze a lot of albums on a 40Gb player and in far less time than by using MD and even a high-speed dubbing deck. And increasingly, HDD players have similar or better output stages than MD players.


What I tend to do is to travel with a CD player and an HDD player. New CD's I buy get played on the CD player, and my music collection largely resides on the HDD player. When I get back home, the new CD's get ripped to the PC and the HDD player gets re-synchronised.


The great thing about (current generation) MD is the low cost of entry for something very portable and versatile. However discs and later a deck will add up... as they say, "Chiri mo tsumoreba yamani naru"... to a point where you might have been better off considering a large capacity hard disk device first.


Or maybe you'd like to wait for Hi-MD instead of commiting your funds. It's a halfway point between large and small capacity HDD players, with the versatility of MD. The cost per megabyte is lower than MD, although to build up a decent collection you will still need to spend quite a lot on media... And if you don't store/rip on a PC, there are a number of features on Hi-MD that will be redundant to you.