All Activity
This stream auto-updates
- Today
-
Complete test would be to connect the toslink cable to an optical in of a PC or a receiver.
- Yesterday
-
Well, the MXD-D400 isn't on the same level of playback SQ as, for example the JB930—but I knew that. It sounds acceptable and does have Type S. No, what I mean is that you can't use the D400 as a DAC like you can with most decks. That and it doesn't have demo mode. Seems odd because the lesser MXD-D40 has both of those features.
-
someone just told me the mz-n1 head phone out, can be inserted by a mini toslink, and it HAS optical out. He said he's sure there is a red beam shining out from that hole. However, even if it's true, it's no good to me, as N1 is not Hi MD
-
By what, the sound quality comparing CD to PC vs CD to DAC to PC ?
- Last week
-
Thank you for confirming that, Stephen. I could not be sure that my perception was correct. So the IC containing the ATRAC chip isn't involved at all? BTW, The one deck I have (actually I have 2 of them) that lacks the pass-through DAC functionality is the MXD-D400. Although I found this out at no cost to me, I was disappointed.
-
Just to follow up I double-checked with a schematic of one deck (the 980 but others are I am sure identical), you will see a path from DIN to DOUT that does NOT involve going through the block marked "ATRAC encoder/decoder". The only caveat is that the DAC doesn't work when there's no (BD) drive in the unit, as I discovered to my cost one time I had to get a drive fixed. Because that circuitry is IN the disk assembly's circuit board.
-
PC laptop optical out ----> JB980 ----> Cyrus IIIi I rather use my JB980 as a DAC not before but between my PC (so I can record directly fromPC) and my amplificator (Cyrus IIIi). I can even record SACD files if I downgrade the quality to 48kHz or if I use an analog connection. PC desktop (player JRiver Media Center, Hi-Res settings, 1000 SACD/DSD/DFF albums + ) toslink optical out --- 24bit-192kHz coaxial output ---> Yamaha DSP-AZ1 (5.1, good enough...) PC desktop (toslink optical out , using a splitter) ----> JB930 (future) tolslink optical in ----> Yamaha receiver Marantz 5001 CD player coaxial optical out ----> JB930 (future) coaxial optical in ----> Yamaha receiver I don't have any use of your configuration (CD ----> MD deck before PC) in my major audio system as my CD player is a modern one so it has as a 24bit/192kHz DAC inside and the receiver (incredible old Yamaha DSP-AZ1) as also a coaxial input connection set to 192kHz. In my major configuration, a MD deck could be only use just to listen MDs and to record MDs from the CD player directly. I would need to buy an optical out PC splitter (PC ---> receiver + PC --> MD). I will do that when my JB930 now in france will joint my JB980 in Vietnam.
-
Exactly, BearBoy. It would never even have occurred to me that an MD's D.In might send everything to be processed by ATRAC. However, when that possibility was suggested to me, I thought it best to look into it further. It may even be that all digital in on an MD deck does go through the IC containing the ATRAC processor...but that doesn't mean ATRAC is necessarily doing something to that signal. At least, according to my totally guess-like interpretation of the schematic for the JE530 in this regard. (Seriously no more than a semi-informed guess.) Thank the heavens for sfbp! ;-) That all said, I have two MD decks I am using not only as decks, but as DACs: JA22ES and JB930. Coincidentally or otherwise, these units have a DAC in common (CXD-8735N). It's all kind of mish-mish and I often have to use an xls I made to determine which piece goes where, but it all, happily, works out.
-
Good to know. I'd wondered about this when trying to work out the best way of connecting a couple of MD decks and a CD player to my PC audio interface. Sounds like I wouldn't lose anything by routing the CD player through one of the MD decks and eliminating the need for a separate digital switch. Might be able to reduce the amount of wires and boxes I have set up in my office now
-
Nope. If there are pins on that very complicated connector on the bottom of the NH1, there's no connector I know of that allows you to read a digital signal. Interesting thought though. Sonic Stage gets the information from a HiMD disk as ATRAC data, and decodes it in the PC. The only exception to this rule is the MZ-RH1 which manages to upload the S/P DIF data directly, thereby allowing upload of legacy MD's. Until the RH1, the combined USB and MD processor chips weren't fast enough. You can only get a good stream from the earlier units because the PC buffers it, pulling the data. That's what happens with the "Slow upload" problem with the RH1 (polling other installed drivers wastes time), kind of like the "floppy disk format interleave problem" which was so annoying back in the early days, one sector per revolution because the electronics couldn't keep up.
-
That's the range. It has very nice headphones that come with it. I use it on planes as the noise cancelling works better than anything else I've tried. There's even an analog INPUT adapter if you want to hear the output from the plane's audio (analog of course), though you'd have to buy that. There's no difference in signal format of SPDIF between Optical and Coax. S/PDIF is S/PDIF (as I am sure you know S stands for Sony and P for Philips).
-
Absolutely not. There is no ATRAC decoding/encoding for signal that passes through, the ATRAC only affects stuff going to/from disk.
-
I solved the problem. It's not the best solution, but it's the best I can do. I connect 1 RCA jack cable to the remote, and connects the other end to the input of my Sony portable DAC. It's not a digital signal out, but until there is such a thing as optical out for MD portable, there is nothing further I can do to make sure of this DAC
-
I have an Emotiva XDA1 that has a USB Type b female. Has anyone connects a NH1 to it? I thought we can use the black cable that c/w the NH1, connects to this: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=6561 and from the above, connects to this: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5438 and from the above, connects to the back side of the USB port of my DAC. can this be done? If so, can you play your HiMD and you think the DAC can see the signal, process it, and send it to the speaker?
-
when you said NW-S75x, are you talking about these: https://www44.atwiki.jp/sonynw/pages/40.html If we get an external converter that the source is optical, and the output is digital co-ax, don't we lost all the original quality of digital co-ax? meaning we are not getting the sound quality of digital co-ax because the source is optical?
-
Sorry, Philippe. What I am trying to ask (because the subject was brought up elsewhere) is whether ATRAC comes into play when one is using the MD deck as a DAC. So I could also give the example of taking the optical signal from a CD player and passing it to the MD deck. Although I don't see where ATRAC would be involved, it has been suggested that it does. Sorry for any confusion! (I am of course well aware that Copying is an entirely different process than what I am referring to.)
-
As you know, only few decks (MZ-W1 for the most famous but also some professional decks like the E10) can make a real copy of an MD. Digitaly connected to another MD deck copy is possible one time if I remember well, due to SCMS limits. But another gentle SI member will be better than me for all the details. analog copy is Ok. Anyway digital or analogic, the Atrac compression will act again...
-
What exactly happens when an MD deck is being used as a DAC and receives a digital signal? For example, if you take optical out from one MD deck and feed it to optical in of another. Does ATRAC become involved? I'm not that great at schematics, but I looked at the SM for MDS-JA20ES and it does look like all digital in gets routed through the ATRAC chip. It seems unlikely that an already decoded signal would be decoded/processed again, but....does anyone know?
-
There are a couple listed here: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Hi-MD_Onkyo.html But they only seem to provide optical out for CD, not MD, playback (assuming the information posted is correct).
-
What is the model number of the Onkyo with optical out? It's trivial to get Coax instead of optical, either by hacking or by an external converter for $20. Try the NW-S75x you will like them. They have noise cancelling built in. You can play using VLC or Sonic Stage or Windows media player or ...... Kind regards
- Earlier
-
I did see Onkyo seems to have a desk model that support HiMD and has optical output. Personally, I prefer Co Ax output. I did see Tascam TEAC has an optical output on their deck, but they don't play HiMD, just MD see, I bought a Sony portable DAC, and I connect my portable CD player to it as I do my workout. The sound is great. So by listening to just the mini disc player to headphone, the sound is noticeably not as good. So I can't get all these files to my PC, as I mostly listen to these at the gym. As to the home use, I don't know how to play all these files eventhough if I copied them to the PC, at my DAC / speaker set
-
That is right, no Hi-MD with an optical output. BUT I have read somewhere that somebody (was that you Stephen ?) hacked is MZ-RH1 and made an optical out.
-
Absolutely no on all counts. The HiMD decks don't have optical or coax output. The HiMD portables do not have digital output of any kind. However, you don't need a HiMD device to get digital playback of ATRAC3+, the codec used in HiMD format. 1. You can hook the device to Sonic Stage and play it back through your PC using all-digital means 2. You can upload the tracks on your HiMD disks into the Sonic Stage library and play them on PC with no device connected. 3. Once you have the computer files on your PC, you can play them anywhere with VLC which understands the format perfectly. There are a few limitations, and some copy protection stuff but most of it you don't need to worry about. 4. You can load your ATRAC3+ files into some Sony devices with NO CONVERSION required and experience direct playback of the files. Examples, NW-ZX1, NW-F887, NW-S756. Even your LP4 files laboriously compiled on a standard MD can be played back this way, I do it every day with Bluetooth in my car.
-
The only desktop Hi-MD player was by Onkyo for the Japanese domestic market.
-
I am looking for portable HiMD player of any brand that has an Optical output. Is there such a thing? If not, is there a way to use the head phone out as co-ax output by chance? Likewise, I am also looking for desk model of HiMD player / recorder that has Optical output or Diigtal co-ax output. Is there any brand name that makes that?
