Odd problem with my portable setup

[nassaubusrider]

I dont know what kind of prob I'm having, it could be related to my headphones, booster, or minidisc unit. A volume on my MD of 23 or 24 with the booster was always adequate. But recently I'm finding I have to crank up the MD unit to 28 or 29 to get an adequate sound level. I've checked the batteries in both the booster and the MD unit. I've made sure AVLS is turned off. Still, I'm finding I'm getting very little volume from my MD unit. It seems the soundstage has gotten alot narrower, and the bass less punchy. Now there are problems with two of the units involved. My headphones (my 2nd set under a plan with Radio Shack of now discontinued headphones) appears to be dropping out partially in the left ear. It seems to happen when the wire near the 1/8'' connector moves.
My Sony MD N505, as I posted in another thread, has developed a problem in the "jog dial" where it gets the wrong command or does not respond at all.
I compared the headphones involved and used them with my personal cassette, the volume seems as it always as there. I've connected the booster with the cassette, it provides a high amount of boost, so I dont think the booster is "going". It seems to be an output problem on my MD unit, possibly. I know my booster is kind of weak, and I need better headphones. Two questions. Looking for a small size closed ear headphone with a lot of good bass and gets loud. Anyone know of any for $40 or less?
Also I'm not handy with DIY & dont have a soldering iron, how much would it cost for a cMoy amplifier (the ones in the tins) to be built. I'd like something a bit more powerful than my "booster", as it really doesnt provide enough "ooomph" with the weak Sony MD units.
Here's my portable setup (yeah, I know it's REAL pathetic!)

 

[skitlets]

for your headphones, a friend of mine praises these phillip ones that cost about $15 and look like sony eggos. i dont know the model number, but i have herd them and they do have a large bass presence. cmoy amps come cheap. perhaps u can message a few diy guys and ask for a price. and have u tried switching batteries on ur md? perhaps its dying and is losing juice to power it to its normal volume.

 

[Darius94523]

Sounds like your headphone jack is having some problems. It's the same with my Zen NX, if I play with my IC a little, it'll give me little to no sound. For the matter of what improvement to get for $40. Get new phones, those ratshack cans look like crap. I'd recommend a pair of Sony V6 (not V600) or if you want to save some money ~$60, a pair of KSC-50s or Sennheiser MX500s are pretty good.

 

[nassaubusrider]

I did alot more tests today, the headphone jack seemed to operate fine on both the MD and the booster. Then I put the booster in between the MD with another pair of headphones, it sounded quite a bit louder. Of course that's a larger pair of headphones so of course it would be louder. Then using the other headphones, I took the booster out and plugged them into the jack. Apparently the booster wasn't providing much of a boost.
It's this point on that I suspect the batteries were bad in the booster. Even though I checked them, and they were fine, I put in fresh batteries and now the booster sounds OK with the usual RS headphones.

Perhaps my booster doesn't like Polaroid brand batteries. I got them cheap (8 BATTERIES FOR $2)in Odd-job, perhaps even though the tester said they were good maybe there was something wrong with them. I also replaced the batteries in my MD unit, which weren't Polaroid, but the tester said they were getting low (1.3V and dropping) so I replaced them.
So for now, the problem is solved. However I still intend to get some new headphones, and a more powerful amp like a cMoy.

 

[BlindTiger]

Have you tried a Cmoy with it? I have the same MD and I used the MZ900 hack found on minidisc org to add a line out menu.
I'm using mine with a Cmoy and grado's and they sound great. Those sony MD's don't put out that much volume.
so far no problem with the dial yet. I use nimh in both the MD and the cmoy.

 

[nassaubusrider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlindTiger Have you tried a Cmoy with it? I have the same MD and I used the MZ900 hack found on minidisc org to add a line out menu. I'm using mine with a Cmoy and grado's and they sound great. Those sony MD's don't put out that much volume. so far no problem with the dial yet. I use nimh in both the MD and the cmoy.

I'd like to get a cMoy, where can I buy one?

 

[BlindTiger]

Looks like lot's of people are selling them on the BST forum here.
Guess lot's of people are upgrading. I first bought my Cmoy to be used as a PC setup since the fans are so loud, now I find myself using it with a CDP.
The Cmoy is much better than the hp out from my NAD AV receiver.