[Mr_Junesequa]

sony did kill md ...rh1 was my first one and i love it.. so maybe thats why im so pro...but in early 2k i wouldnt have been caught dead with a minidisc when i could have just bought a discman... sony has made some colossal mistakes...i love the brand but i always think twice before buying anything sony

 

[synaesthetic]

Just for the record, I never once said the RH1, or for that matter, my old Sharp DS-8, is worse than my A728; I said it was a pain in the butt to deal with in a portable listening application.

For me personally, the small difference in SQ between the A728 and the RH1 isn't enough to overcome the shortcomings of the device. Others would think nothing of it, though, I'm sure.

I listen to my portable constantly, not just when I'm on a long bus ride or plane ride or at the library or what have you. I don't have a car; my portable is my equivalent of a car stereo. So just about any time I leave the house, my A728 and my ER4s go with me, always. So it has to be unobtrusive.

 

[shigzeo]

as good as md is or was, it has been hyped way too much. sq started to take a turn down after 1997 and maybe went back up a bit when sharp spent time developing the d amp which sony took note of and brought out similar amped products in 2004.

the players themselves do a good job and ultimately have less hiss than about 95% of dap out there but the atrac format is and has always been about sony's ability to lie about sq.

i love the format: so it is not about getting over it with ipod or something. if you take a look at open listening tests at hydrogenaudio, atrac consistently is at the bottom 40% of all codecs in average.

i used to preach md for years. i am not trolling but to say it is the best for sq requires many many amendments to be true.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Junesequa /img/forum/go_quote.gif sony did kill md ...rh1 was my first one and i love it.. so maybe thats why im so pro...but in early 2k i wouldnt have been caught dead with a minidisc when i could have just bought a discman... sony has made some colossal mistakes...i love the brand but i always think twice before buying anything sony

I have never seen a dominant brand fall so far so fast. I have been a life-long Sony fanatic; 90 percent of the personal audio equipment I've owned has been Sony. My first personal audio device (which I got around 1971 or '72, when i was about 12) was a Sony AM/FM pocket radio that lasted for years and produced great sound through its little speaker and its (mono!) earphone jack.

Since then, I've had a vast assortment of tape players, radios, discmans, and minidiscs. Even a clock radio or two.

Watching them drop the ball on minidisc was excruciating. The format was never really marketed aggressively in the US. I can recall seeing one, maybe two TV spots, which did a very poor job of conveying the strengths of the technology.

Ultimately, I think the biggest mistake thay made was waiting WAY to long to add the USB interface to the recorders. If they had done that when they should have, when USB was first introduced, I don't think the iPod would ever have happened. Or, at least, it wouldn't be the commercial behemoth it has become.

Think about it. In the early 2000s, when storage was super expensive (both HD and SS), minidiscs cast what? $3 or $4? Sony could have established the format as the virtual default for portable listening, if only they had added that damn USB connector.

I've still got my RH1, in addition to a discman and the latest in a long line of SRF-59 pocket radios. The SRF-59 is a dinosaur -- thumbwheel volume, analog thumbwheel tuning. But it pulls in stations like you wouldn't believe, and is still available on the SonyStyle website for the princely sum of $14.95.

To me the SRF-59 symbolizes everything that Sony once was. It's small, beautifully designed, and superbly functional. And one of these days, they'll drop it, because an old-fashioned analog-tuned radio just isn't sexy.

Oh well, all good things come to an end, I guess.

 

[synaesthetic]

There was some brouhaha about Sony intentionally slapping a high-pass filter on their second-generation Hi-MD equipment when playing MP3s. The point of this exercise I guess was to make ATRAC sound better.

 

[shigzeo]

as much as i like sony: i stayed away from them as sharp units were easier to navigate for recording and playing but i feel the sony are much easier to title and edit with.

the sharp units also did not boost the highs and lows to make up for a weaker headphone out.

how many did i actually own? i still have the sharp auvi home unit: sdsg11. love that thing but, for me, md will likely not be used again. giving it up was like pulling teeth, especially when i eventually got an ipod. i felt i was doing all the things that md stood against. now i understand that i was just in a group who felt overburdened by the world catching up finally and overtaking.

md is and will always be an icon in my life and especially as it was the defining portable audio for me longer than cd even as i got to cd late, it will be missed but probably mostly for its chic factor. did i correctly spell chic?

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif md is and will always be an icon in my life and especially as it was the defining portable audio for me longer than cd even as i got to cd late, it will be missed but probably mostly for its chic factor.

I agree with you about MD, and the way in which it has been passed by. But I still think that my RH1 sounds better than any iPod I've listened to. That may be vanity or nostalgia on my part.


Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif did i correctly spell chic?

Yes, you did. But your question brought back a painful memory. When I was in high school, my first really painful crush was on a very intellectual young woman (who also very pretty, and had a very advanced figure for her age). She was brighter and more sophisticated than me, and I was always trying to elevate the intellectual content of my conversation in a vain attempt to impress her. So we were on the phone one evening, and I was talking about how certain people in our high school were straining to appear chic. Only problem was, I had only read the word; I had never heard it pronounced. So I pronounced it as "chick."

She laughed at me for five solid minutes.

 

[synaesthetic]

I miss the sound of my Sharp "Auvi" DS-8 minidisc player. It was something else. But I don't miss the clunkiness of MD's usability in practice.

Sharp should make a set of flash-based MP3 players with the same wonderful-sounding Auvi Class-D amp. I'd buy one.

 

[shigzeo]

if you thought the ds8 sounded good: the dr7 had it running circles as it could at least put out a decently strong signal. strongest of the post 2000 md players

 

[dazzer1975]

I will be using my rh1, with regards music playback, with music I have recorded via optical connection from my cd collection in pcm format. As well, of course, being able to store documents and files for switching between here and uni. Furthermore, It has prompted me to start searching for some binaural microphones to clip to my ears and experiment with that side of things too.

SQ aside, its quite a beast of a machine for allowing me to do all those things and prompting that binaural interest too.

Listening to the old minidiscs I have from my last md foray, it has prompted me to set up a listening test between my imod and vcap dock as the sound from this machine, from memory at the very least, has a more full bodied and deeper signature, not to mention it is easily as clean a signal. Combining it with its line out feature to implement a few of the amps I have just adds another layer of depth and body.

The only trouble is I am going to have to wait for my hi-md discs to arrive to record from cd some of the wavs I have on the imod for a direct comparison.

 

[shigzeo]

have fun. for microphones, i have owned for 6 or 7 years 'sound professionals' mics that fit inside the ear and look like earbuds. they are great for concert recording.

enjoy your days with rh1. i am quite sure there will be few if any md units to come out again. sony shut the door with himd. it was too little too late with too little fanfare.
md was stronger fighting mp3 on its own force.

 

[dazzer1975]

Yes I think the rh1 will be the last flagship md model from sony, indeed, there will be no more md machines full stop from any manufacturer, at least, very unlikely.


As long as there is blank media available though, and to that end I am busy buying up media as we speak then I don't foresee any issues for very many years to come, at which point we will all be carrying around holographic devices no bigger than a ten pence piece lol.

But yeah, we are all searching for sound quality, well, at least that's why I am here anyway, I just happen to be hung up on portable stuff for the time being and listening to all the different nuances of all the different manufacturers, formats and players.

p.s. any recommendation on binaural mics? Manufacturer model numbers etc?

 

[shigzeo]

if i can be of any help:

i use these from sound professionals to achieve very good live tapings. i have used them with md and with sony 828. very very good results.

i would suggest getting the bass roll off module as well as these get massive bass overload from live concerts. several i have recorded without bass rolloff module were complete shyte.

 

[dazzer1975]

My god, I have seen some expensive binaural mics, didn't realise you could get them so cheaply.

Very much appreciate the recommendation, thank you.

 

[BigTony]

I've been extremely happy with my MZ-NH1 HiMD player. It sounds fantastic, better soudn than either of my ipods, and much louder too (I can drive my BD DT770/80 quite easily with it, no external amp. used). I only record in PCM, usually get 2 CD's on a disc.
I had hoped that we'd get ATRAC lossless on the player, but also no
but still first rate sound.

BT