[Leeco]

After having read different comments and rumours about Sharp DR7 portable minidisk recorder, I thought I should put some light on a few points for interested

.
Some people said that DR7 comes with modified Senn MX300, and others said with MX400. Well, mine are EXACT copy of MX500 down to the last detail. Only the colour and texts have changed on the buds itself.
Ok, the cord is shorter, there is no volume control on it and it is 4-pole connection (instead of 3-pole of MX500) but most already knew this.

(I will insert pictures of post close-up here, if someone can explain how to copy from HD directly ...).

By the way, this is not a review. I am still burning the MD in, if that is possible with digital amp

.

I A/B’d both, and they sound extremely similar to my ears. The Senn MX500 I have, have more then 50 hours of burn in, so the small difference might be because of that and maybe using 4-pole connection. Stock Sharp's do not sound nor look like MX400 at all, which I used to have in the past (I can't A/B them with Sharp's now, but I did A/B'd them with MX500 a while ago).

To my surprise I didn’t have to increase volume for real MX500, even though they are 3-poled. Around 22 (of max 30) was very comfortable and laud volume for both and both buds were too loud to listen above 25 for more than a few seconds (around 120dB???). I know, the increase of volume is quite steep from 20 to 25.
It might be that 4-pole connection saves batteries, but still outputs 8mW+8mW (32Ohm) on normal 3-pole headphones.

Please notice that I recorded using digital/optical cable from my mini hifi set. Analog recordings might give different results I suspect.

I am still burning in my new Etys ER-6 and will write a review soon, with regards to new (10mW+10mW output) and old (15mW+15mW) PCDP and this new Sharp MiniDisk. … A little taste for now

old PCDP with ER6 smokes Grado SR-80 with flawless victory

, but SR-80 wins easily from ER6 with 10mW player.
Time will tell about DR7, but I am already very impressed with its performance with Grado and Ety’s.

Thanks for reading.
[size=xx-small]Please add “IMO” to the above statements. You might have a different experience and I respect it too.[/size]

 

[skagen]

The MX-400 and 500 have the same specs as far as we can tell, so the only difference there is the volume control. As for the MX-300, it sounds very different and has different specs.

I have the DR7 as well, but I have to say that the stock earbuds sound much louder than my MX-500. For analog recordings, I'm using the MX-500 at 29/30 and the stock earbuds at maybe 22 or 23/30. That one I don't understand at all.

I have the Ety ER-6 and that too isn't as a loud as the ER-6 when used on my DR7. Thats probably to be expeected given that the ER-6 is 48 ohms resistance and the sennheisers (if the are MX-500) are 32 ohms.

I'll have to do some optical recordings and see if I get the same results as you...

 

[Leeco]

I know that some people think that MX400 and MX500 only differ in cord. But if you take them both in your hand, you will notice that this is not true. The drivers of both buds might be the same, but the housing is definitely different. 400 have double pipes and 500 single one at the back, for instance. The same holds true for Senn 580 and 600: according to the posts on HeadFi and Headwize they probably have the same drivers, but the housing makes 600 sound much better.
I didn’t like analog recording too much. The volume wasn’t too shabby and I could hear distortions with Ety’s. Staying on the same subject of Ety’s, ER-6 need 1 volume setting higher than stock (Sharpheisser MX500

) buds. I didn’t expect it either though. My Grado SR-80 needs about 25 (of 30) to sound as loud as stock buds on 22. ER-6 (with foams) needs 23.
You will probably notice that the sound will improve with optical recording, not only the volume.
I find it funny that Sharp breaks all the rules and puts such a bud (if it is a real MX500) in with the portable player.

Have fun!

 

[mclaren20]

does the ds8 come with the same buds?

 

[tbdoah]

Yes, it does.