[leon]

I got rather excited at these news releases and felt that I should post...

http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/020902-4.html
http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/P...00209/02-0902/

Sharp promised to develop 1-bit amps for portable use (mainly for the low power consumption promises of the technology)... and here we have it on the MD-DS8. Spec-wise the benefits of the amp isn't obvious (32/43/62 hours on rechargeable), but hey, are you really complaining?

Also check out the pictures on http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/mdds8.html - Sharp claims to have completely separated signals for the left and right channels. New remote appears to have a longer text field.

Now, Sony's 10th anniversary bunch.

Sony's MZ-E10 is 9.9mm thick and 55g including battery, with new motors, new pickup, new circuit board, and Li-ion battery. Battery life is fairly respectable at 29/35/40 hours, and there's no AA attachment possible. The E10 also uses a proprietary 3mm tall output jack for the remote - they apparently will include an adaptor to the usual phone jack.

The E10 also has a digital amp, with surround sound effects ("virtual-phone technology acoustic engine") and a 6-band equalizer (7-step within -10 - +10dB for each band, 2 user presets). You can't use these two simultaneously. There's a new remote (not shown) with detachable clip, 2-line display (if it's non-kanji); a bookmark function (pick up to 20 tracks for, well, program play); and pitch control now goes from 50% to 200%.

The recording MZ-N10 has everything from the above paragraph, and ATRAC Type-S.

My opinion - it seems that the Sharp ST880 was a hit. Everyone's scrambling to add some kind of surround sound. Never underestimate the merchant(s) of Osaka.

The Sharp is scheduled for release September 17, the Sonys for November 10.

 

[Vertigo-1]

Will the upgrading never end?!? I just got my R909!

 

[leon]

Edited out for easier reading

 

[leon]

Separate post.. go to these pages for pictures of Sony's "anniversary party" and Sharp's product launch. Click to enlarge.

- Sony
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/do...20902/sony.htm

Norio Ohga made a speech as a guest, saying that only 3 people made the decisions of the format's specs, including himself. Quote: he sort of feels like giving MZ-1 owners a free exchange (ha!) because MDPs were always meant to be portable.

No headphone "jack" per se on the E10. They didn't show the "adaptor" so I don't know if the adaptor is supposed to give you a jack without the remote. The internal battery isn't meant to be swappable by the owner. The E10's street price is estimated at 30,000 yen.

Sony also put on display a mockup from June 1990, of what was considered to be the ideal size for MD players. It's displayed alongside the E10 mockup from this February.


- Sharp
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/do...902/sharp1.htm

the gray version has brushed metal surfaces. The enclosure is aluminum, not magnesium alloy. Street price is estimated to be 28,000 yen.

Sharp claims double (40-->80dB) the channel separation (!?) with the complete separate L/R channel signals - certain distortions cancel themselves out (?!).

Edit Again - Sharp says you can use "normal" (i.e. non-separate for the ground on the mini plug) phones but you may not get the full potential from the player. They're going to offer clip-on headphones later this month with the special plug.

Been a while since any portable really needed this kind of elaboration, yay.

 

[tbdoah]

ARFFF!!!! I just got my N1 a couple of months ago!

 

[impoeticpoet]

Is this N10's "ATRAC Type-S" that much different from the N1's "ATRAC Type-R"? I was just gonna save up for an N1 this year.

 

[leon]

Type-R only works while encoding (recording) in SP tracks, and Type-S works only for decoding (playing) LP tracks, so one doesn't replace the other. Sony has said that all Type-S equipments also have Type-R.

 

[Braver]

whoa, sweetness!

E10

wondering how long it'll take for those babies to reach the western tho, and how bad the prices are going to be! and how thats going to affect "last year's" models prices.

 

[Superbaldguy]

Do you think Sony is starting to move away from the NH-14WM gumstick? Good thing I have six of them.......Although these units are the new rage, I think I'll stick to the 'older' R909 technology. Thanks, anyway, Sony.

The Sharp unit looks more intriguing than the new Sony models.

 

[pkpaik]

As the units get thinner and thinner, I imagine Sony will migrate away from those gumsticks that they're using now, to make room for components that might otherwise be displaced internally. What I did notice about the E10 was that although it's about 2.6mm thinner than the E909, it's significantly lengthier in one dimension. While the E909 was the size of a minidisc (LxH), the E10 is not. You might think of it as having been squashed to make it thinner. Regardless, it's cool-looking, and I can't help but feel, as you guys have, the tug towards getting one of these. I imagine, too, that E909 prices will drop by $20-30 in the coming month(s).

On a different note, I'm a bit confused about ATRAC Type S, as to whether it improves upon the LP recording algorithm or modifies the LP decoding algorithm on playback . . .

 

[gloco]

another site to check out: http://www.t-station.net/md.html

 

[leon]

Type-S is for playback only, i.e. it improves the equipment's interpretation of the ATRAC3 (LP) data.

For the purpose of MD portable use, it seems that an Ni-MH battery would store more power than a Li-ion battery of the same size. The reason's got something to do with energy density and DC-DC voltage conversion, it seems... I've been looking at the layouts of MD portables for about a year now, trying to come up with my own designs, hence the weird conclusions.

Perhaps Sony shrunk the circuit board enough so that none of it is under the pickup - that alone could free up 2-3mm in thickness.

I'm not hyperventilating, am I? (yeah right)

 

[krayzie]

Well I am hyperventilating rite now... hehe

Am I seeing stainless steel casing? Sure looks like it... so is the new Li-ion battery the same size as the old gumsticks or is it thinner? I wonder if it's really Li-ion or it is Li-Polymer which can be made very very thin like the ones use on Ericsson cellphones...

 

[AssafL]

About ATRAC-S

From Minidisc.org (originally quoting the Sony fact sheet):

The two new products MDS-JB980 and MDS-JE780 in the press announcement at CeBIT both adopt the newly developed DSP (Digital Signal Processing) IC chip "CXD2664R." The CXD2664R chip has two DSP functions; one is ATRAC DSP and the other is ATRAC3 DSP. The ATRAC DSP, the TYPE-R algorithm which is the version of the highest grade, is adopted, and the highest sound quality can be obtained at the time of recording. And the ATRAC3 DSP, the algorithm of a newly developed DSP is adopted. It can reproduce the track recorded in MDLP mode in very high sound quality at the time of reproduction. This works in the same way for the disc recorded by other MDLP products. Sony calls the DSP functions of the CXD2664R chip "ATRAC/ATRAC3 DSP TYPE-S". In other words, "ATRAC/ATRAC3 DSP TYPE-S" is a combination of "ATRAC DSP (TYPE-R highest Version)" and "ATRAC3 DSP (newly developed)."

Well, 4 long months after acquiring the MZ-N1, it is time to throw it away. And here I was expecting 6 months...

 

[purk]

Leon,
Thanks for the infor...man oh man! These players (all 3) are one of a kind. Now, I have a reason to upgrade to a newer MD player/recorder. If the "virtual headphone" and those eqs does work well, my Sharp MD-SS323 will be retiring soon. According to Minidisc.org, the transfer rate is also quicker on LP4 (64X); hopefully, the SP mode is quicker too. Yay!!

Purk