[bhw]

Just in terms of the quality of the music, dynamism, range, frequency for a person interested in classical music (piano, violin orchestral) and some trio jazz (piano, wind, bass) for portable audio through canalphones, what is your opinion of output from these devices.

I was interested in the IPod because I thought it could directly record CD's in their native format, but I guess I was mistaken. The MD uses ATRAC compression, but still has good sound. Does it still beat the sound of the other portable players and recorders from an audiophile point of view?

 

[ampgalore]

I would wait until Sony's HIMD come out sometime in the summer before I make a purchase decision.

 

[ixeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampgalore I would wait until Sony's HIMD come out sometime in the summer before I make a purchase decision.

agreed. after comparing both, i'm leaning towards getting the Hi-MD for myself over the ipod. again, i say it depends on your intended usage.

comparisons on the internet have shown ATRAC > MP3 in terms of quality. you can do some search. minidisc.org has a lot of info as well.

 

[ampgalore]

I have an old Sony MD player collecting dust somewhere. But I do remember the sweet sound I heard the first time I got the player, it just blew away every single PCDP I ever owned. But finally grew tired of transfering all my CDs to MDs in real time. When the HIMD come out, I might give MDs another try.

 

[rapoon]

i really like minidiscs alot. i enjoy having a removable media that is small and compact. sharp minidisc players and recorders have sony beat atm in terms of sound and build quality.. until the HiMD comes out alteast. the build quality on the new HiMD's is very poor, with the exception of the top of the line unit, which is $400 and full magnesium body. just wait till panasonic and sharp start cranking out the HiMD units.

i really wish a minidisc manufacturer would produce a unit with a large backlit lcd instead of these units with 150+ hour playback

 

[BigFil]

"I was interested in the IPod because I thought it could directly record CD's in their native format, but I guess I was mistaken. "

Um you can transfer WAV, AIFF, and now AL (apple lossless) to the iPod so i'm not sure who informed you it could not do native formats was wrong. It does have an affect on battery life which is true of any HD based portable.

 

[ixeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rapoon i really like minidiscs alot. i enjoy having a removable media that is small and compact. sharp minidisc players and recorders have sony beat atm in terms of sound and build quality.. until the HiMD comes out alteast. the build quality on the new HiMD's is very poor, with the exception of the top of the line unit, which is $400 and full magnesium body. just wait till panasonic and sharp start cranking out the HiMD units. i really wish a minidisc manufacturer would produce a unit with a large backlit lcd instead of these units with 150+ hour playback

the top of the line model NH1 has a 3 line display with backlight on the remote. which IMO is -OK- the 1 step down below NH1 is the NH900, that would be the one i'm getting myself, as it is USD$100 cheaper and only lacks the LiIon battery (uses NiMH), data & time stamp and the nicer chassis (magnesium vs alu+plastic)

since MD is sony's tech. they would be coming out with it first before other manufacturers.. i believe the others will come up with their offerings in 3-6mnths after sony's debut.

 

[bhw]

It looked like the top bit rate is 132k on the Hi-MD using ATRAC3-plus compression scheme. How would this compare with the Apple lossless in terms of getting all of the nuance of the CD recording onto the minidisc? Perhaps it won't matter to ones ear, but I'd appreciate a run down on the formats and music quality.
Thanks.

 

[ixeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhw It looked like the top bit rate is 132k on the Hi-MD using ATRAC3-plus compression scheme. How would this compare with the Apple lossless in terms of getting all of the nuance of the CD recording onto the minidisc? Perhaps it won't matter to ones ear, but I'd appreciate a run down on the formats and music quality. Thanks.

"Discerning customers and audiophiles want true CD audio, and now iTunes can give you that quality with the new Apple Lossless encoder. You’ll get the full quality of uncompressed CD audio using about half the storage space."

http://www.apple.com/itunes/import.html

to make it simple, a lossless compression of a CD means 100% of the information and detail of the CD is retained.

whereas with lossy compression methods such as ATRAC or MP3, you will not get 100% quality or detail of the CD, its only a -near- cd quality. to make the file small, certain detail/information is removed to make the file smaller. *dont ask me what is removed as this is decided by the codec you use and i think its fairly complex*

so for the best quality bar none, compressions like apple lossless (for ipod) and flac (playable by rio karma etc.) would be the best choice. then again, not everybody would notice a difference between cd quality and near cd quality.

 

[bhw]

At the following website, they address issues of audio quality of the new ATRAC3+ and indicate that it can exceed CD quality. Is this hype or for real?
This is the link:
http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html#_q99

 

[Arto Suomi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhw At the following website, they address issues of audio quality of the new ATRAC3+ and indicate that it can exceed CD quality. Is this hype or for real? This is the link: http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html#_q99

"CD Quality" in that diagram means "near CD quality". It's just misleading use of terms.

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhw At the following website, they address issues of audio quality of the new ATRAC3+ and indicate that it can exceed CD quality. Is this hype or for real? This is the link: http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html#_q99

lol.... how can they say compressed music EXCEED CD quality (uncompressed)..? total nonsense. ATRAC3+ may sound close, but so can MP3 at the right bitrate, or AAC, or WMA, etc....

 

[rapoon]

minidisc.org is the definitive source for news etc, they just post links to stuff on other sites. minidisct.com is good also.

IXEO, i wish sony would put forth a little effort regarding the build quality. the NE900 would be sweet if it were full magnesium or aluminum (my preference), instead of 1/2 and 1/2. also the output is weak.

if you prefer a removable media, minidisc is hands down the best way to go (imo). i ripped some zepplin tracks in atrac3+ highest quality. i could notice a little difference between .wav and the atrac3+, nothing to write home about. the new software, sonicstage 2, is halfway decent.

 

[Watchdog]

No compression scheme can exceed the quality of the original. However, what I think some users mean is that in terms of portable audio, portable MD units with their compression can sound better than PCDP's with their uncompressed sources, due to the superiority of the hardware.

As far as the iPod vs. MD goes, I own both and sometimes I go through phases where I use the iPod more and vice versa. It depends on what I'm doing. If I'm exercising or need long battery life then I take my MD. If I know it's going to be a short trip or I can easily pack my charger, then the iPod is the choice.

There have been a couple of times when I didn't pack my charger for a 1 day trip and I accidently left the iPod running and I ended up with a dead battery and no way to listen to music. Definitely the most annoying thing about the iPod.

 

[BigFil]

apple loseless (AL) will equal a CD bit for bit

atrac available now will be compressed but atrac is known for being extremely good and will spank any of any of the popular compression schemes (MP3, AAC, OGG)

Hi-MD which will be available soon has an option to to record the PCM stream so from the same source. Hi-MD and AL should be exact representations of the source CD. The differences are going to come down to the built in amps (or line outs). I've heard good things about the "HD" amps being built into some of the Sony MD players and have also heard that audiophiles feel the iPod has a very uncolored/true amp and line out. Basically they are both will have the capability to sound real good but may have different sound signatures.