Smokey Lynx

I bought a well made Toslink cable for my MD decks recently and made a quick comparison of the digital input recorded disc to the analog recorded version of the same material on NOS Sony ES minidiscs . The analog recording is lower in volume with less highs at the top and a rounder warmer bass at the low end . I'm going to reset the analog volume level higher and re-do the analog recording to recheck . Robert Harley, the author of a book on High End Audio states that the order of recording quality on digital recorders like MD is best on a Coaxial input and the second best option is the analog . He said the Toislink optical connectors aren't very good and appear to have errors resulting in some missing information being transmitted . I don't know if he was referring to earlier versions or in general . I never used the cheap skinny Toslink cable Sony provides with the deck accessories and always replace the cheap RCA interconnects given away free with new stereo gear with better made ones . Any thoughts on this topic ? Any body willing to share their preferences ? tx

Thanks for the suggestions , I forgot to mention in my original post I simply copy CD's from my Sony CD player to my Sony 440 Md deck for walkman listening

Thanks for the retailer outlet guitarfxer . I linked to the store from their entry in Wikipedia and saw the page and information in English with the Minidsic prices and shipping info but have not been able to find it again , only the all Japanese page .

I own a Sony MZ-N420D portable MD walkman and use it with a pair of JBL headphones when I ... walk . I would like to get another unit as a backup as this one is a few years old now . I don't need a tuner , recording or computer input output capabilities and wonder if there is any better unit for plain old listening to as walkman unit . I only dub CD comps or discs to each disc I use from my Sony 440 deck. nothing fancy and I don't use the long play modes at all . Is there any better unit for this function than the bare bones 410 or 420 units that sounds better .... or are you only paying for features ? Any tips certainly appreciated .

. Maharishi ; Thank you for the tip , the ES discs are the thick white 80 minute jobs ? I went to the web site of the retailer you suggested and they do ship to addresses outside of Japan but I haven't converted the Yen to $ to see if it's cost effective for me yet . Your ID picture of the dog with the Headphones ... funny .

I like the heavier duty case vSony ES minidiscs and now wish I had stocked up when they were still around . Does anyone know of any retailers still selling these blanks ? thanks