sanchaz12

To help anyone interested in getting into MiniDisc and possibly even experienced users, I thought it would be a good idea to collect information regarding the reliability and possible issues that can occur on a specific model that is important to know. I'll start off with my collection; Decks Sony MDS-JE500; This model, and several others are known for turning on by itself due to an issue with the microswitch not making good contact with the loading mechanism. This is pretty easy to fix, following the instructions on this page. Note on buying a deck without having seen it in person, the display (VFD) can fade significantly over time. On the models I have (JE500 and JE520) the displays have faded quite a bit. They are stil easy to read, but compared to a Sony CD-player I have the difference is night and day. Be aware that pictures of the display as you see them on eBay etc. almost always look better than it does in person! Recorders Sharp MD-MT20; The plastic gear for the worm-drive shaft (to move the optical block) has snapped on my unit. In that case you will hear a grinding noise and the unit will display "TOC Error". I've heard that several others had the same issue. I replaced the gear and my unit is now working as it should. The gear is listed in the service manual as 'NGERH0597AFZZ' and can be ordered from here. It seems like the same gear is also used in the MD-MT15 and MD-MT16. Sharp IM-DR420; For no apparent reason the left door hinge broke when I was changing MD's. I was able to repair it by sanding down a small screw and placing it through the hinge so it just reaches the metal body. Although there is a little bit of play on the hinge now, it no longer comes off when opening the lid. I must admit the whole unit feels quite flimsy, especially the battery door.

Yes, I know this is an old topic, but I want to share my experience with others facing the same 'issue'. From what I can remember, my MZ-R70 has always produced a mechanical noise (still does) but works perfectly fine. It sounds exactly as in your recordings on SoundCloud. It is even mentioned in the manual (page 44 of the R90/R91 manual and also in the R70 manual); "Note on mechanical noise The recorder gives off mechanical noise while operating, which is caused by the power-saving system of the recorder and it is not a problem." The fact they had to put it in the manual suggests to me that the noise was louder than people would expect. As long as it doesn't sound like a grinding/clicking sound I would not worry about it. EDIT Below I've attached a recording of my MZ-R70 when the lid is being closed. It reads the MD and buffers the ~40 seconds of music of the first track. MZ-R70 noise.mp3

Yes, I agree. The 2nd device is the MD-MT20, with the standard 3-pole socket. The recording played from the IM-DR420H sounds less spacious to me, so it is definitely advisable to use the adapter on the Sharp 1-bit units.

Recently I got a Sharp IM-DR420H to add to my collection. When I first saw this unit I was not aware of the 1 bit/4 pole headphone socket, and (of course) the seller lost the 4-pole to 3-pole adapter. I decided to buy it anyway as I didn't believe that connecting a 3-pole lead to my amplifier would make a huge difference. Some people on the forum said it doesn't matter, others say it doesn't sound right and you must use it or the unit may malfunction. I've come up with the idea to create a blind listening test between the IM-DR420H (4-pole socket, without adapter) and the Sharp MD-MT20 (standard 3-pole socket). Two songs from the YouTube Audio Library were used to avoid any copyright issues. How I did the recording; Download files from the Audio Library Use SonicStage to transfer the songs to the DR420 via NetMD in SP-mode Play the files on both devices and record on an external USB soundcard (Behringer UFO202), using a standard 3-pole to RCA lead Save the songs in Audacity to 16-bit WAV-files The volume was set to 25 on both devices, 'Bass' function turned off, and after recording I let Audacity amplify the sound to the default value it automatically selects. The attachment to this post is a ZIP-file which contains four files, two songs played back on each device. Please let me know what you think, I'm very interested! Any feedback is welcome. Sharp_test.zip (109.1 MB)