MDietrich
-
Posts
163 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
6
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Downloads
Everything posted by MDietrich
-
When you playback something that is 16 bit / 44.1 kHz it´ll stay that way, no matter if it´s recorded digitally or analogue to MD. It can´t 'improve' or 'upsample' anything to 24 bit. Recording it analogue does this: 1) if the source is 16/44.1, MD will record it with 24/44.1 precision. This 24/44.1 recording contains only one thing: 16/44.1. Why? Because it´s the resolution of the source used for recording 2) if the source is 24/96 (or 24/48, 24/192 or DSD), MD will record it with the 24/44.1 precision. This recording contains only one thing at best: 24/44.1.
-
Not quite. You´ll get the best result with any MD recorder using the digital input. All (beginning with ATRAC 3.5) will accept 24 bit signals. The best and 'purest' signal is the digital signal only. The analogue RCA input will add noise, distortions and generally inferior quality. The MD will and cannot ever work with 96 kHz. Downsampling with modern resamplers is therefore required, downsampling to 44.1 kHz.
-
If one keeps the amount of influence of the Crystalizer small enough it might work for some material. One could do that himself... add bass, treble and presence area, a bit of peak limiting, resample all of it to 96 kHz with a so-so resampler and make it 3 dB louder. I had a X-Fi once. Never used the Crystalizer... this should be telling enough. My X-Fi HD USB uses the next version (without resampling I think) and I´ve never used that either. But all of this is the opposite of getting rid of the loudness war. Yes, you have much more control with a 'DAW'. The thing with DFX audio enhancer is that it isn´t subtle, it cannot be configured to work with precise markings. So the only thing it produces is hyper compressed, distorted music. And the Crystalizer and DFX? Gosh, your poor ears. -
I wouldn´t use that for one minute. It´s a cheap thing aimed to people who don´t have any idea whatsoever about audio. It´s for people wanting bass, volume and pseudo-surround. The advertising looks like 'Dude hits some knobs and gets more bass.' This plugin makes everything worse and it sounds awful, it really does (listen to it more than 10 minutes and you´ll know what I mean: it is never subtle and it makes lots of errors). It´s the opposite of getting rid of the Loudness War. And this tool lies blatantly... like all those 'all-in-a-box'-tools. It promises that 'remastering' is as simple as a click of the button - which it isn´t.
-
MXD-D40: DSP Type-R, JE480: DSP Type-S. However, if I remember correctly, the MXD-D40 received very good reviews all those years ago. I´ve never heard it myself of course and I´ve also never read a review about the JE480. So maybe the MXD-D40 simply is the better sounding unit. The recordings themselves (from both recorders) should in theory sound the same. Getting rid of the Loudness War? Try 'ReLife': http://www.terrywest.nl/utils.html It´s a VST-plugin (you´d need a host for it). As a source, do you employ a digital output on your PC like me? If so, you´re in luck: just increase bit depth to 32 bit floating point, then 'treat' it with ReLife (volume is diminished by -4.21 dB to make room for 'new', interpolated dynamic peaks) and leave it in 32 Bit floating point. Play that back with 24 bits using a player like foobar and record to your MD units. You have to be aware though that ReLife introduces a slight (or severe, depends on how you look at it) low frequency phase error (which doesn´t hamper encoding quality but might introduce sonic errors). In general, I treat 90% of everything I have on my HDD with ReLife and I love the result. Although the actual sonic difference is smaller than expected. Wrote an article about this: http://marlene-d.blogspot.de/2012/09/need-to-panic-disease-loudness-war-is.html
-
I know what you mean... the JA50ES is a legend. I wanted to own it the moment it came out. But for used units the price is so high... I´m afraid owning it will forever be a dream. I myself would go for the JA555ES (or JA333ES). Although the reviewer makes a very convincing point by mentioning that the JA50ES with its warmer sound might make recent Loudness-War recordings bearable. On the other hand, I usually get rid of Loudness-War-related artifacts myself. In case someone else wants to read what we were talking about: http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=16445
-
Yes, I indeed do. Occasionally, these differences are bigger as differences from, say, two different portable CD players.
-
You lucky guy. Here in Germany, some MD portables are ridiculously expensive. Many NetMDs or HiMDs reach completely unjustified prices here. The same goes for the Sharps that feature their "magic sonic ingredient" 1Bit. I wish, people would know that that was only a Class-D amp and that those amps are also used for amplifiers in clubs - I bet they wouldn´t buy them anymore.
-
This sums it up perfectly. A few weeks ago I´ve read a comment on Tapeheads were somebody was talking about sonic differences between the MDS-JA 50 and the MDS-JA 555. The first with ATRAC 4.5, the latter with DSP Type-R of course. The JA 50 was described as sounding 'warmer', the more recent as too cool. Without knowing it, this person wasn´t talking about actual differences between the two units, he merely described ATRAC codec differences. With my method they both will sound the same. Say, the sound quality of DSP Type-R turned into a non-existing, theoretical DSP Type-Z. Not everyone will like it though, since using my method creates a sound even closer to the pristine CD original, it simply sounds less 'warm'.
-
Sony MZ-R 50, battered beyond belief. Was sold as broken, yet it worked without flaw. Lovely little bugger.
-
Yes, many lossy codecs do this. Yet they all try to keep those high frequencies. They base their 'decisions' on how loud this content is. ATRAC however shouldn´t have been enabled to encode them in the first place... it never was the best codec. With ATRAC3 Sony was wiser since they remove this content anyway, especially LP4. But not ATRAC1 4.0 and higher. Look at the samples I uploaded: this is the standard ATRAC encoding. You can see that ATRAC tries to keep frequencies beyond 15.5 kHz. It does this based on their gain. Generally, the ATRAC codec isn´t good enough to keep those frequencies. My 15.5 kHz cutoff gets rid of them and enables the rest of the spectrum to be encoded in a superior way.
-
Hi guys & gals! I´ve written an article - about MD again - where I describe a tweak to improve sound quality of any MiniDisc unit. This tweak basically describes how to use an equalizer to improve the ATRAC encoding. I really think that the results are spectacular and that they should be shared with anyone else. Enjoy the article! http://marlene-d.blogspot.de/2013/09/spectacular-sounding-minidisc-tweaking.html
-
Ah, ok. Thank you for the answer, Jim. And all the best to you.
-
I´d like to know - if it´s not too impertinent - if you´re able to make a living from this work. I imagine MiniDisc recorders are becoming more rare every day... so I assume it must be difficult. I´d love to be corrected though. Would give me hope that the format isn´t dead at all.
-
Uh oh... it´s starting . I started with the MZ-R 30 in October 2011... it´s not two year later and look at my signature. Spent way too much money on those nifty little gadgets... but I love'em so!
-
Those discs are among the best ever produced. Very good purchase!
-
As I said on my blog to you: I cannot understand why people are treating their devices badly. Ah crap... I killed my MZ-R 50 too. I´ll shut up now.
-
Thank you for the kind words! Always great to see that people seem to enjoy my posts. Anyway, the MZ-R 50 sound signature should be a perfect match for the warm and voluptuous sounding HD-650. Very good combination indeed!
-
Thanks! Regarding mentioning you: I needed a perfect statement why working with actual media can be rewarding and your´s came in handy The gumstick battery looks like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/HQRP-Portable-Battery-D-NE20LS-Replacement/dp/B007Y4CK5S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1374148636&sr=8-3&keywords=gumstick+battery The battery compartment door of the Sonys contains one teeny weeny battery terminal made out of some metal. Over time this wears out, hence no contact is possible and the recorder won´t play even with a new battery inserted. My temporary solution is a small plate of copper foil placed between contact and battery terminal. It re-establishes the connection and by that electricity flow.
-
In case anyone is interested... I´ve written a review of the Sony MZ-R 50. http://marlene-d.blogspot.de/2013/07/the-legendary-sony-mz-r-50-review.html
-
Exactly. From what I remember Neo only uses TDK MDs
-
If you like your Premium Golds stay with them, they are good. No-nonsense discs working perfectly... the same for the Colour MDs. I have... don´t know, 'bout 20-30 and they all work without flaw. For storing I use something from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30219361/ You can´t see the discs of course but they fit perfectly and they don´t collect dust.
-
The Sony ES disc isn´t bad, don´t get me wrong... but some discs do indeed change the sound signature and I still don´t have any idea why. I´ve tried to measure it but I was unsuccessful in determining either an effect or a reason. The ES disc darkens the sound slightly which seems baffling to me when I consider that the disc itself is the same one that´s used for the Premium/Neige/Colour line. The only actual difference is the case. The last MDs from Sony released here in Germany were these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/MDW80PR-Minidisc-Minute-blank-MDW-80PR/dp/B00CW9CL0Y/ref=sr_1_34?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1373817182&sr=1-34&keywords=minidisc When freed from their shrinkwrap they look like this: https://picasaweb.google.com/minidisc.channel/SonyEurope#5299813430823497570 I don´t know if they were released in the UK too... but I guess that they were. As for the Neige discs: I have ten of them and like them a lot. They look nice, feel a bit flimsy and work without flaw. BTW, you can buy them at amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Neige-minute-blank-minidisc/dp/B0007MAJBQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1373817583&sr=1-1&keywords=minidisc The last TDK colour MDs look like this: https://picasaweb.google.com/minidisc.channel/TdkEurope#5469046355255824034
-
Yeah, it´s difficult to find sealed discs. I also don´t like to buy used discs; nobody knows how people treated them. Furthermore, some of my MD recorders react finnicky to certain discs (mostly Maxell) so I need to get brandnew ones to avoid possible problems. Do you prefer certain MDs? Because the last MD Sony released in Europe is quite good, reliable and can be found easily for cheap money. I also find the last Colour MDs TDK produced to be very good. One of the best MDs would be the TDK MD-RXG of course... and it´s not even rare. I´d avoid the ES-MDs from Sony (the white ones) as they change the sound too much (they indeed do, still don´t know why). Even worse: people usually drive up the price needlessly, just because they think that this particular might be superior to others. I´ve also seen high prices (around eight euros) for a singular disc, even for discs which aren´t rare. Some people are really greedy...
-
Gosh, you´re right! Typical: non-native speakers trying to talk English... Thanks!
