[marios_mar]

... for a Sharp MT-831? What i care about is sound quality (a line out would be good dont know if the sharp as one) and portability would be nice for a concert for exampe. I do record mostly from my vinyl stuff and personal recordings too.

 

[MacDEF]

You're talking about two of the best MD recorders ever, so either is good

In my experience:

The R50 has a true line-out and is much better for using with an external amp.

The 831 has a bit better headphone jack, although be aware that it's headphone jack is also EQ'd a bit "warmer" than the R50, which is a bit more flat. The 831 is also better for recording "live" music because you can adjust recording levels on the fly.

 

[marios_mar]

i didnt know the sharp 831 is so good.

Does it have line out? I heard i has a bassy sound which is not always that good.

About the sound and compression which is better?

And also life span is a very important factor to me.

Do MD decks sound much better than portables?

 

[erikzen]

From what I understand home decks are better for recording. I'm not familiar with the Sharp 831 but I know the R50 has an old compression scheme. I have been told that even if I listen back on the R50, it will sound better if I record with a home deck with a newer ATRAC. Someday I will probably get a deck if I stay with MD but for now I am very happy to use the R50 for recording and playback. For the most part, it sounds better than my portable CD player.

 

[blr]

older MD recorders will have old ATRAC encoding alorithms, read not good for recording. IMO everything before ATRAC type R for SP was flawed, so if you want a vintage MD recorder better get a deck for recording. Honestly, I don't thing these sounded much better than later machines. I had briefly MZ-R55 once. It was nice but very battery hungry. 3 recorders later I have a R909 and I'm happy with the sound.

 

[fredpb]

I believe the MZR50 uses Atrac 4.0. This is goodness. My EP11's use an earlier version, even though they are the same generation as MZR50. They sound ok.....they have good output power.