Christopher

Thanks for the kind words, y'all. I didn't even tweak with it at all, I had 10 seconds to get my recorder, pop in a fresh Hi-MD disc and record..the candles were lit so I had to rush. Thanks for the tip about FLAC, I'm still a bit noobish towards things outside of the MD world.

"Subscription auto pruning is switched off at present" Has been fixed and set for five days. Unfortunately, no. But it takes under 20 secs to change it in your Control Panel. Unfortunately, no. [is there an echo in here? ] But, you can go to your control panel, click on Email Settings, and then check "Include a copy of the post when emailing me from a subscribed topic". It will feature the name of the topic in the e-mail and also the reply that triggered it.

Is your actual username there or does it just say "User name"? If it says "Username", it's just an example so people understand that it's a login prompt. The last visit bit, if you're under guest mode, applies to all guests.

Picked this old-school gem off eBay. Now, I know alot of you would find such a purchase ridiculous, but I wanted something from the days of the old that was a little different than what others have. I was once considering a 10mW or higher unit, but then I saw this and I knew it just had to be mine. For those of you who don't know, this was Sony's first attempt at creating a player-only unit with a wireless remote. ..and yes, I'm still wearing the watch. Enjoy; all pictures taken with girlfriend's Nikon Coolpix 5700 Pro. [bottom of unit, notice the wireless on off, and the two channel selection] [from left: sharp md-ds8, sony mz-e7w, sony mz-s1, kenwood dmc-s55] [see how that top part is darker? it's metal, whereas the unit is plastic; very odd. and yes, i know it's not in the best condition.] [at it's highest point it's almost five discs tall.] [merely a sample of the options the watch remote presents. the little joystick below the LCD acts as a ff/play + rewind, and if you press it down it stops.] [back of watch.] [oy. this thing is huge, but i love it.] I have also made a short *.mov [you'll need Quicktime] of all the remote functions. It's about 16mb. http://virtual.dyc.edu/~kurisu/mze7w/remote.mov [sorry if it's not lit well enough, you may want to adjust your brightness higher.] As for the unit, it sounds good - typical 2000 generation Sony loudness, but nothing that would blow someone away. Obviously a gimmick product, but it's hard to put down once you're "strapped in" so to speak. Cheers.

Credit goes to shankur for loaning his NH3D to me for the afternoon. This unit is barely 24 hours old. All rights reserved, skyther of the MiniDisc Community Forum, http://forums.minidisc.org/ Equipment: Sony MZ-NH3D Hi-MD downloader - http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-NH3D.html Sony MZ-N10 NetMD recorder - http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-N10.html Sharp MD-DS8 MDLP player - http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sharp_MD-DS8.html Etymotic Research ER-4P ear canalphones Sony MDR-D66 "Eggo Pro" headphones I am writing this review right now on a Mac. There is no SonicStage for me to test, I am hence unable to evaluate the downloading/recording capabilities of the NH3D nor explore the benefits of Hi-MD. This review will be based primarily on sound quality with SP encoded discs. This may be covered again later, should I have another chance to meet with shankur under better conditions. This is my first time meeting him, I thank him for trusting me enough to leave the unit in my hands alone for 2 hours. A brief review of the star - the NH3D: This unit feels extremely solid. It looks a lot like the NH1 from the pictures on the web, but I can't be sure if the NH1 is this solid. The back of the unit feels hard and does not flex under pressure, something which has not been seen since the R90/R900 days. The unit overall is marginally thicker than the N10. The lid pops open and snaps shut with a solid 'thud'. Sony's infamous gap between the body and the top shell is still there, but very minor. Overall, the unit feels very well machined, very solid. The buttons on the unit are slightly difficult to use. The buttons are small and rather soft and seem to sink down rather deep, lacking a tactile feel. The joystick that controls play, pause, volume and cueing is rather small. Control of the unit from the main body is poor and rather difficult to operate single handedly. The battery door snaps with a smooth feel. The hinges are wide apart and look rather solid, but knowing Sony I wouldn't dare to comment on how long I think it'd last. The NH3D feels the heaviest out of the 3. The remote - ahh, the remote. RM-MC40ELK. The jog lever is the same as the ones on the iRiver remotes and on the R90's body. I don't like it - the RM-MC33/35EL(K)'s horizontal jog switch feels a lot more robust and gives a better grip. The buttons on the RM-MC40 are also harder to press. The jog roller on the front of the remote has a rather nice feel, but it's use is spoilt by it's weird positioning that makes it difficult to hold the remote and operate the roller. You have to grasp it by the cord in order to get a good grip of the roller. The buttons on the back - backlight, repeat and sound are awful. God knows why Sony placed them on the back of the remote, but it's difficult to get a good feel for them. The remote's display is good, but titles do not scroll smoothly. High res dot matrix LCD displays animations when it turns on, changes sound profiles, etc. This is nothing new, and has been around since the N10. The N10's animations will be displayed when the MC40 is used with it. Both remotes can be interchanged with no compatibility problems, but the N10 + MC40 will only display 2 lines. Still not up to iRiver's standards. The shirt clip on the back is rotatable to free angles and feels solid. If you're not desperate for the 3 line display, the MC33/35EL is a lot nicer to use. The cradle feels good. The unit locks tightly into the cradle, and the base of the cradle sticks to the desk. The new cradle, however, will not allow the unit to eject the disc, unlike previously possible with the N10. Sony has done a couple of things right to improve on the physical attributes of MD, but once again, size minimalization gets in the way of ergonomics. Sound quality: Now comes the interesting part. Long story short, the NH3D sounds like a refined R90. It's definately an improvement over the N10, which is not really hard to beat considering that the N10 sounded pretty much like crap. The digital amp adds a little warmth and tames the highs which the N10 notoriously splashes out as if it were raining needles. Detail is a little bit better, tones are a little bit more controlled. I think of it this way: The N10 is pretty much a disgrace in terms of sound quality. The HD digital amp sounds like what the original digital amp should have sounded like. I look at it as if Sony has realized what a load of sh*t they've been churning out since the NetMD units, and they're bringing back what they did right previously and improving from that. It's a good start, but IMO it doesn't deserve the HD tag, because it's not exactly high definition. I'm not saying the HD amp sucks. It's a step in the right direction, which is good because it shows that Sony knows what the problem with their previous units were. However, it's not exceptional. People who want something that sounds exceptional should go for Auvis. The NH1/NH3/EH1/NH900 with their HD digital amps will sound allright for Joe Bloggs, whereas the N10 sounds terrible in comparison. My girlfriend, who knows zilch about MDs and amplifiers and technical sound quality comparisons, etc. etc. told me herself that she couldn't stand the N10, and the R900 was much better. It's not that good, but it's not bad either. At least it's musical enough for casual listening, and not harsh to your ears. If you want something for serious listening, please wait for a deck. With respect to portables, sound quality has degraded so much over the years that they are no longer suitable for serious listening. I consider the NH1/3 etc. etc. suitable for entertainment on the bus or for morning walks, but if you want something you can sit back on a nice comfy cushion and relax to, this is not what you want. In terms of detail, soundstage and clarity, the Auvi walks all over the HD amp. There's no comparison. The Sharp sounds a lot more controlled, much more warmer and sharper detail. A drum crash sounds like a crash, whereas on the Sonys it sounds as if bits and pieces are missing from the crash. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself. Evaluation of Hi-MD: Sony has made some improvement, with signs that they may have started listening to their customers. However, they're still not up to the competition in regards to Hi-MD's capabilities, and are still unable to beat their own MD based competition (namely Sharp) in terms of sound quality. Many of you are probably already sick of this, but I'll say this again - the iPod will kill all 3 MD units in terms of sound quality, especially in detail. I was originally excited as most of you were when news of Hi-MD's announcement was made, some of you might remember the posting binge that I had. Over time, however, Sony seems to have tripped over their own feet and decided to take things into their own hands by crippling SonicStage once again despite of the promises they made prior to Hi-MD's release. In a game of catch-up, Sony are only 30% there, as far as I'm concerned. There are better alternatives out there, despite what many of you MD fanboys will say, and this is undeniable. Sony's improvement is no where near enough to put them on par with the other big boys. IMO, Hi-MD only offers 2 real advantages over old MD: i) true SP (well, Hi-SP) downloading ii) more space Other "auxiliary" features such as data storage are really irrelevant and insignificant. It's plain silly to carry a Hi-MD around just for data. You'd have to carry the cable (as well as the cradle for NH1/3D units) around for that to work. Just buy a USB thumbdrive, they're filthy cheap and are much more competent at the job. HDPs do the job much better anyway, when you've got 20 gigs and firewire, no one in their right mind will go back to 0.5MB/s USB1.1. There's one thing Sony really needs to realize. We, as consumers, are not their beta testers. They really ought to learn to just get things right before selling their stuff to us. Releasing 3 HDPs with overlapping feature sets and hoping one will be a sellout? Nuh uh. As Bangraman said somewhere else, when Sony was under the leadership of Morita, sh*t like that would never happen. When a company receives petitions from their consumers, they ought to realize they need to watch themselves. Conclusion: Hi-MD will still be fairly attractive as a portable audio device, but probably not as much as others, ie. *cough*iPod*cough*. The lower Hi-MD units (those without HD amps) will probably sell fairly well. Consumers in the budget sector of the market don't usually look for particularly exceptional qualities, and 1GB of storage might seem fairly attractive to them. Including native MP3 support would probably boost sales in twofolds. But since Sony is a stupid dinosaur... My personal advice for the diehard MD fans is to stick with what they have for now. Watch and see - this may be the best thing to do as Sony learns from their mistakes, with hope that they do it fast and make more substantial improvements. Hopefully this can be seen in the 2nd gen Hi-MD units. The current generation of Hi-MD units may in fact only be a short taste of what is in store for the later years. You're not missing much. Buy a DR7 or a Sony component deck + DS8/DS70 and be happy with it.

Equipment used: MZ-NH900 JE > SP-BMC-2 w/ clips [download here] I've kept it in *.wav [a 20mb download]. Conversion was facilitated by MarcNet's HiMDrenderer; upload via Sonicstage took less than two minutes, transcoding took less than a minute. Sounds pretty damn good, but it does clip/distort in a few places. I'm really digging live recording, guys. And yes, I feel weird about sharing a little chunk of my life with y'all, but what the hell..

Holy crap mate, you have a killer television. Can we hang out sometime?

Sure, but saying them? Well, I don't want to start any fires..if I knew for sure, yes, I would say, but no, I am not 100% sure on what I'm hearing.

It's a bit of work, but not anything overwhelming. What we're [the webmaster and I] really impressed with the most is how much lower a hit on the SQL side of things this system is compared to phpBB; when we hit 320 users at the same time the other day there was little slowdown in the response time of the forum - the scaleability just blows my mind. There's still a million things I need to do with the forums asthetics and the configuration, however, but I'm not regretful about this move, in fact, I wish I'd done it sooner. Re: German; I think the interface will be as such, not the posts. But that should be nice regardless, no? I think there are mods that will translate posts, but you've got a great German forum, no need for me to step in your territory. p.s. "Subscription auto pruning is switched off at present" is not an option I can turn off and on in the Admin CP. Weird, eh? I dunno what's up with that, just a weird quirk.

Another member has reported this error and Invision Power Board is assisting me with the issue . I will keep you informed, and I thank you for patience whilst we move into this new forum system. btw, after they help me with another issue I'm having, we'll have mutli language support so you and Jadeclaw can have things in your native Language.

I've talked to a close associate of Rachel Branch [who is presenting the portable audio @ CES] today on the phone and she has noted that it is unlikely to see any new models at CES. Note I say models. I have been hearing alot of chit-chat down the grapevine from my contacts about some other developments for Hi-MD that should be announced this month [i assume CES], but I'm starting to think that won't happen until Feb/March.

My MZ-NH700 arrived yesterday. Here are my thoughts on it after a day and half's use. Please note that everything expressed here is opinion and should neither be taken as gospel nor completely invalid because of that. Opening the package: Before ordering the 700, I did read what was expected to come with the unit. I mustn't really have paid attention, because I was surprised by what I found in the plastic store-shelf container it came in. The contents were: a felt carrying bag, earbuds, basic remote, NiMH battery, USB cable, AC adapter, the Hi-MD recorder itself, one blank Hi-MD, two clamp-on trap filters, the software CD, and a crapload of paper. The felt bag seemed thoughtful, and I'm actually using it. The earbuds that came with the unit aren't worth the plastic they were made with, though. The 700 itself is all plastic except for parts in the transport, inside the unit. Despite this fact, and the fact that it is so light that it seems like the battery is most of the weight, it doesn't have a total aura of cheapness about it; it appears to be rather solidly built for something with an all-plastic case. None of the panels are even remotely loose and there aren't any obvious pressure points where the case bows with moderate finger pressure. Use: The controls are fairly easy to use. The jog-wheel and menu system is fairly intuitive - I haven't even leafed through the manual and can get it to do everything I want to, including changing record settings and playing with the EQ. As foretold, Sony does still make you go through the hassle of switching to manual record levels through a menu system that takes at least 5-10 seconds to get through and set. The fact that after years of customers griping about this, yet it still doesn't remember the setting, says something about how Sony engineers think, I think. One thing they -have- changed since the previous standard-MD models I've used [mostly a couple of MZ-R70s] is that the jog wheel stays as the record level control - and stays active - while you're recording. No more having to pause to turn the levels up or down. I prefer it this way - at least they finally have half the equation right. Note: at first this might seem great, but it does pose a problem if the wheel gets spun accidentally while you're recording. I don't expect this to be a problem in my case. Everything else is standard fare for MDs, IMO. The only really annoying feature I'm finding is having to hold the menu button down for 2-3 secs to get into the menus. To me that means lost recording time. Listening: I ripped some CDs I'm highly familiar with and converted them to atrac3plus 256k in Sonicstage 2.1. Conversion and transfer times were reasonable in that they were a bit faster than I'd expected from reading others' experiences. The first thing of note here is that the included earbuds are useless for anything more than making sure you got the take you were after. They're uncomfortable, and they sound just plain bad. The sound from them is shrill and highly distorted even at low volumes. As I said, though... they're great for quickly checking your recording on-location - mainly because they're so cheap that if they got destroyed in the field you wouldn't miss them in any way. I tried the 700, playing the material I'd ripped, converted, and downloaded [download, upload, Sony uses the terms backwards if you ask me] and listening on my Sennheiser HD330s. The 330s are obviously a bit much for the analogue headphone amp in the 700 to really drive, but the sound not only isn't unpleasant, but is better than what I was expecting. I then tried it with my Koss noise insulating in-ear phones to test the EQ. These are the quick $40CAD at RadioShack solution to needing just a bit of isolation on location - the result of needing some kind of monitoring while videotaping an entire weekend last summer. These do NOT sound wonderful: they have horn-sounding mid-bass; terrible, muddy lower midrange; and an extremely exaggerated bottom end. On the other hand, they were cheap, they stay in my ears well, and the in-ear part [being much like a pair of EAR earplugs] is effective at isolating things enough to monitor on location. The 700's equaliser does a fair job of making these phones -almost- bearable for general listening. The phones that came with the unit are beyond salvaging with the EQ, though. At best, I found the unit fine for portable listening - as many others have said. I'm conscious of the fact that it's portable and running on low power, so I both expect and accept certain compromises. As a consumer portable music player, it seems to function very well. The next part is what surprised me, though.. Recording: The following is highly unscientific and should not be considered a real technical review, as I lack professionally-calibrated test equipment. The output of my Revo7.1 is calibrated so that 0dB digital is very close to 0dBVU when the volume is wide open [having measured this with a VU meter on a Nagra tape recorder as well as several pieces of consumer equipment, as well as having been told by M-Audio that that's what it should be]. I used Sound Forge to create various test tones. First was a -12dB 880Hz tone to do a very rough calibration of the line-in on the Hi-MD. I connected the main stereo out of my Revo7.1 directly to the line-in on the Hi-MD. Using the -12dB 880kHz tone, I discovered that "sloppy unity" is between 18-20 [out of a max of 30]. I set the unit to 20 and left it there. I then ran a -12dB 10Hz-40kHz sweep [24 bit, 96kHz] into the unit and recorded using PCM mode. I also recorded 10 seconds of silence using both an open input and a grounded cable plugged into the line-in. I followed this by plugging the grounded cable into the mic in and recording with the level set to 20 for 10 secs, then at 0 for 10 secs. I transferred all of these back to the computer using Sonicstage, then recorded the files using Total Recorder. This is the part that blows me away - though I'm not sure if Total Recorder is really taking all the data.. because the results of the silence tests [checking the noise floor while recording] were .. too good to be true, maybe. I used several analysis tools to look at the noise floor, including the simple analyser in Sound Forge 7. * line-in with grounded cable: average level of noise measures around -120dB, which is outside the dynamic range of 16 bit quantising. There was a peak at exactly 60Hz which reached -92dB. * line-in with open input: average level of noise was about -120dB, with a peak at 60Hz of -100dB. * mic in with grounded cable, level at 20: average level is about -120dB, 60Hz peak up to -78dB but nothing else above -102dB. * mic in with grounded cable, level at 0: average -128dB, peak at 60Hz of -98dB. There was no sign with any of these of EMI other than 60Hz from house current [possibly from being run off the AC adapter] being picked up. Yes, I realise that these aren't scientific measurements. And to be honest, they're so far outside the range I was expecting that I can hardly believe it's close to accurate - except for the part with the sweep tone. The recording of the sweep, transferred back to the computer as PCM and copied with Total Recorder, has a flat response curve from 20 to nearly 20kHz; it gets down about -3dB at about 19.5kHz and slopes off gently, brickwalling just past 21k. It's also interesting to note that the sweep as it continued past 22.05kHz kept on showing up as a half-volume downtravelling harmonic of the actual signal - i.e. the sweep goes up to 22.05kHz and then appears to come back down at half volume. This would suggest a lack of filtering above 20kHz when recording from analogue sources - meaning that exposure to high-energy ultrasonic "sound" would cause clearly audible distortion in recordings. Recordings made with atrac or atrac3plus might be severely affected by ultrasonic signals [as the harmonics would already be in the signal before it reached the encoder]. Like I said, I'm not sure what to make of these results. Either I'm doing something completely, utterly wrong [which it doesn't really look like, to me, but then.. I have been smoking the ganj], or this unit is vastly outperforming in at least one minor way my expectations of it as a recorder. My tests done [even less scientifically] with the MZ-R70 gave it a noise floor of about -70 to -75dB, which is more what I was expecting, to be honest. Of course - this says nothing whatsoever about the distortion levels of the mic preamp, linearity of the A/D convertor, etc. But it was fun to do. I made some other recordings using the line-in coming from the Revo7.1 and the results, once transferred back to the PC, exceeded my expectations in every way. Keep in mind that so far I have only used PCM for recording; I haven't had it on Hi-SP or lower at all. It was one of the first settings I changed after taking it out of the package. Overall, the unit records very well in PCM mode. I've had no trouble copying things to or from discs, including data, and Sonicstage has been stable so far. Total Recorder seems to work very well, even if it requires things to be done in real time; I'm used to transferring the analogue way, so it's no biggie to me. I bought this with the intention of using it for field recording. I've already started using it as a music player, which I hadn't really expected myself to take seriously before. As a portable the sound quality is good enough with the earphones I have [not the best quality] to be listenable, even for long periods. The recordings I've made so far have completely exceeded my expectations. While not audiophile-quality, this is such a significant step up from the previous generations of anything I've used except for DAT that I'm -extremely- happy. If anyone has questions, please do ask. And sorry for blathering on, so. I'm just having fun with my new tool/toy.

Just got these after three and a half weeks of waiting from a certain eBay seller for an amazing price, and they were certainly worth the wait! I would have to say that besides the TDK Special Edition 2002's, these are my favorite. Very keen. [back of case] [within the case, notice the lack of label for the actual disc] [see how there's no groove for a label? it's like they knew no one would want to affix anything to these beauties. ] These are essential - I definitely recommend you pick some up for yourself!

My grey Sharp MD-DS8 has arrived. Funny thing, though - I was able to check the mail right before I went to work and there it was in all it's duct-taped box glory. I just had to take it to work with me, but unfortunately I was only able to listen to it in short five minute periods in-between calls at work! It was truly torture, but that didn't stop me from sharing it with everyone, and I received alot of compliments on the sound. When I got home, I listened to Radiohead's Amnesiac and quickly picked up on what I'd been missing all this time. The sound is very impressive, and definitely leaps and bounds over my Sony MZ-E505. I was very skeptical about the lack of equalizer, but the dolby presets are quite solid and don't feel like a gimmick. The soundstage, even with a pair of D22 eggo's is really amazing, with treble that won't leave you feeling like someone was scratching a chalkboard in your presence incessantly [i don't like the equalizer on the E505 after obtaining this. ]. The bass is solid, fluid, and very clear whilst I was listening to Sublime's 40oz to Freedom album. A musican myself, I found it alot easier to pick up on what notes/etc were being played on all levels of the spectrum [bass, guitar, etc] with the DS8. I want to say more, but there's only so much you can say when you're describing something of this caliber. The remote is odd, backwards indeed but the two "screensavers" save it; I love the fish and the boat! ;-) It all functions well once you get used to it, IMHO. The size still blows my mind, and I guess it never really hit me how small the unit actually is until I actually had it in my hand. I realize now that this is probably as small as I'd like to go with a MD unit, and weight is important to me as "lightness" in a player constitutes weakness in my mind. The DS8 is small, yet carries a weight that seemingly assures you that it's not fragile. I'm also very glad I got the grey color, as the brushed finish is gorgeous. Additionally, I like the blue light on the unit and how it flashes, a simple addition but neat nonetheless. Too bad I'll never see what the LP4 flashing sequence looks like! Now I need some Audio-Technica ATH-A900 Art Headphones and I'll be set! Enough of the talk, here's some other pictures to tempt you [all pictures taken (including avatar) with Nikon CoolPix 5700]: Back to listening! :q

Well, after waiting about a week, the Kenwood DMC-S55 I ordered for my girlfriend has arrived from Osaka, Japan [woot audiocubes]. THIS IS A PLAYER, NOT A RECORDER. Contents: - box - kenwood dmc-s55 player - unit pouch - kenwood earbuds - ac adapter - charging stand/speakers - remote - remote clip - instruction manual - "bianca" white aa battery screw-on pack Simply amazing. I'm going to tell you about this little engine that could. The unit itself is quite light, and in comparison to my Sharp DS8 you can feel the sixteen gram difference very easily. I'm not sure if all Kenwood players are like this, but the loading mechanism is has a bigger "mouth" than most, and the actual metal that supports the disc going inside is almost nonexistant [unlike the tray that is featured in most recorders/players today]. I'm generally careful with my Minidisc players, but with this I feel much more inclined to take it slow with general operation to avoid any calamity. The unit is extremely quiet and quick in it's seek times, and without the remote or charging stand I doubt you could tell it was on or off. I'm not really sure why my girlfriend chose the Kenwood DMC-S55's blue color, as I think it's not that great, and at first glance/operation I wasn't too keen of it. After a while of toying with the remote and sound, I found myself warming up quickly to Kenwood's next generation digital amp player. I'll let the pictures give you a better idea of what the unit really looks like. I will note that the unusual chip-like interface on the back of the unit that "clicks" into the charger [most likely for sound transmission] could've been made a different way, as I can see that area getting dusty and hard to clean. What's the best part of this unit, besides the sound? The remote. [sorry it's blurry, I didn't have time to spend on remote animations because my girl came home + it's a Christmas gift. ] I remember when this unit was first discovered that Mystyler had mentioned something about the remote seeming surreal. Well, it's beyond that in every way. I've never seen such a functional player-only unit in my life. Eight-step bass + treble [+ 4 to - 4], nice load graphics [a "hello" that is consumed by an equalizer, then disc info] and a plethora of options. The jog dial on the remote is best used with your fingernail, and I like it better than any Sony or Sharp offerings that I've experienced. What really jumped out at me was the option to choose what is displayed in each line of the two-line display: - track number + time display - disc name display - track name display - group name display -"kenwood display" [this is a scrolling "kenwood" in a funky character set that has a music note on each end of the word - kinda gimmicky, but definitely adds to the japanese feel] - recording mode display I like track name display on the top and track number + time display on the bottom. The S55 also features an alarm [which would work well with the charging stand/speakers, I imagine], contrast selection [!!!], beep on/off, sleep mode, and the best ff/rew I've ever seen on a unit to date - for best results it's better to put it in "search". I haven't really played around with the play modes, but from what I've read/seen there isn't anything I cannot do, even with group play. I wish my DS8 had these kind of features! [plastic still on the screen, :devil:] The charging stand is pretty neat, but the sound that it emits is quite transparent. Furthermore, you don't have any control of the EQ that pushes the speakers, so it may not even be operating at it's best. I can't really even hear any bass out of it. Nonetheless, I could see it being used in a hotel/away from home type situation. The speakers on the charging stand will not function without an AC adapter connection. I wish it had a line out in the back, and I accidentally bumped the S55 whilst it was on the charging stand and the speakers emitted a very strange static sound - which has only happened once. Battery life is awesome, and coupled with an actual good looking AA adapter, it's nearly invincible. I wouldn't expect anything less than 125 - 150 hours with a SP/LP2 disc rotation and the AA adapter pack. Not a bad tradeoff for seven hours of charge. The "bianca" white AA adapter matches the pearl circle on the unit very nicely, and features regular screw-on operation like others. I wonder if the other AA adapters for the other colored units is this white as well. How can this player be only 4.3mW? This is what I have been looking for in a unit - loudness and clarity. There's a catch though; without the equalizer this device sounds worse than a Sony. Enable the equalizer or set your own custom EQ, and you have a unit that makes an Auvi run for it's money. I really didn't think anything Minidisc could come on par with an Auvi digital amp, but Kenwood has done it gracefully and at times I think the Kenwood excels [espically with bass, but that's probably because of the EQ - mids and highs sound near perfect, although a little bright, but very real nonetheless.]. Believe me, the Sharp DS8 is an incredible unit, and what makes it so is the ability to sound amazing without the assistance of an EQ, something I wish the Kenwood could have. With the EQ, it's like this thing has Sony loudness + Sharp clarity all in one. This makes me wonder about how good the DS70 really is. Also, I would like to mention that my friend listened to the DS8 and S55 and said the S55 was crisper and clearer, but like I said before this is most likely due to the EQ, and I pseudo-disagree because of Auvi integrity. EQ options: - Normal ["muddy"] - SoundEQ1 - SoundEQ2 - SoundEQ3 - SoundEQ4 - SoundEQ5 - UserPreset The SoundEQ#'s are factory preset EQ customizations. Each one is very different, but 4 seems to be the most genuine [with Radiohead, at least]. The EQ settings depend on the genre, of course. I've set the UserPreset, as I like to define my own bass and treble settings, and what I have defined should sound good to my girlfriend. I want her to open this package up, don the headphones and be enveloped with sound, and that's exactly what will happen. Unfortunately, I'm giving her D22 eggo's with this - and in all respect they preform okay, but sonically the D66's really make the S55 shine. Brilliant soundstage! I'm jealous of this player 100%, and I would definitely recommend a newer Kenwood digital amp'd unit to anyone who seeks surprising clarity [on par with Auvi, and even better at times] from a seemingly unpopular brand. I wish I didn't have to give this to my girl! Settle this for me, is this thing blue or green? The box says blue but I'm leaning on turqouise. The white print on the unit can also seem a brownish tint at some angles. Confusing! Also, it is a bit troublesome to turn off the player at times, but nothing that wouldn't be adept with time. misc. pictures: [exactly three discs tall] [included buds. meh, but pleasing asthetics. the sharpheiser mx400's that came with the ds8 are much better.] [d66 + Kenwood dmc-s55] [bwhaha, Sony mz-e505, Sharp DS8, Kenwood dmc-s55] [note the very small remote port beside the headphone out. odd.] [on-unit buttons; volume +, volume -, ff/next track, rew/prev. track, stop/play] I give it a 9.50/10, because of somewhat fragile body construction + wimpy speakers in the charging stand. Everything else about this unit is dynamite and highly recommended. Was this a good choice for my girlfriend? Very much so. She'll love it when I'm not leeching it off her. If you have any requests for further sonic explanation or additional pictures, just inquire. Cheers!

Okay, I manually deleted [and applied the change] your e-mail address and then added it back [and applied the change]. Clear your cookies via the link at the index, then log back in and tell me if you still have the error.

It looks like nothing for Hi-MD will be announceed at CES. I would expect new units to arrive in Febuary/March, as part of Sony's Spring Opener Show.

Try clicking the Delete cookies set by this board on the index and starting anew. The old links issue will have to be manually corrected as the forum has been converted to a completely different format. This will be a slightly tedious issue, but as you can see for yourself the only change in the URL structure is: OLD: viewtopic.php?t=7342 NEW: index.php?showtopic=7342 So, feel free to report dead links when you [or anyone else] comes across them and we shall fix.

Yeah, I've had a gumstick battery get a little curvy on me, like my girlfriend.

Welcome, red xiv. The cables can be used with either device, but you will not gain any new abilities for your HD1 with it.

Thanks guys. Just wait till you see what this place is like when we're on a faster server.

I'm sorry, I quickread and thought you said another unit when I had posted that. Listen 'ere, the gumstick used in that device is probably the same that are in most MD units. It's the long rectangular shaped one, right? You can purchase a relatively inexpensive gumstick charger and even a higher capacity battery than the one you're employing. What kind of gumstick does it take?

Welcome to the forums. I wish I could take credit for this new forum system, but the members of this community paid for it. I will tweak it to the best of my ability, of course. [hopefully not blowing anything up in the process]

Welcome to the forums! To cope with such, why not try using Sonicstage 2.2/2.3? It's not that bad..