Fat Tires

I own several pairs of headphones that sound great out of a minidisc player. I'll give you a quick list of models here, but look in the 'phones section soon for a more detailed guide on headphones for the average MD user. Headphones Grado SR60 Audio Technica ATH-AD400 Koss Portapro All of these phones are called "open phones" because sound comes out both sides of the earcups, the side that comes to your ear, and out the back. This open construction allows for rich realistic sound, but it comes at the cost of letting a great deal of sound come out to bother your neighbor. Outsides sounds like airplane noise, or sounds on a bus can overpower the sound too. Earphones Sony MDR-E888SP Shure e2/e2c The Sony earphones are similar to an open phone in their construction. The Sony's also have a short headphone cord so that they will work better with the remote controls that come with many portable devices such as minidisc players. The Shure e2 and e2c phones are identical, they are just packaged differently, so they get different model numbers. The phones are isolating phones, they block outside noises so the listener can can enjoy the high quality of their recordings. These phones are a bad choice for use when commuting around town while walking, riding a bke, etc. *I've only mentioned headphones/earphones that I currently own and are still available for purchase.

WHere do you live? Europe? The availabilty of certain phones is worse there.

I don't remember that at all atrain.

I've got that DVD and it's still in the Shrinkwrap. I need to crack it open sometime.

I've been looking at my equipment today and found my old walman as well as a few compilation tapes that I used to listen to when I took public transportation to get everywhere. I also found two Maxwell XLII tapes still wrapped in their packaging. This got me to thinking that it'd be cool to make a mix tape or two on my stereo component cassette deck. Both of my cars have tape decks so why not? Do any of you still use cassettes on a regular basis?

That's not far from what it's really like.

Who says that he was gonna keep both of them?

One of the big complaints against current MD gear is that the internal headphone amplifier is pretty weak compared to other players, including vintage MD gear. Many portable music listeners complain about the lack of volume they get with MD gear. I've found that this can be dealt with to a great degree by wisely choosing which headphones you pair with these weak amps. I've gotten very nice results from many modern units including the MZ-N510, MZ-E710, MZ-NH600D, and Sharp MD-DR480. I've also used a MZ-R50 with good results. I can suggest some good models of headphones to try out if you're interested.

Justin42 has a point though. MD/Hi-MD isn't for everyone. A good flash player or HD DAP might be better for Sony_Man. I can'r personally comment on the sound of a Creative or iriver unit though.

I'm no expert at solving these Sonicstage issues. Thankfully I've never had any. I'd look at this link If I were you though, it might be of help to you. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=8071

Why wait. Why not buy a cheap unit from eBay of the FS subforum to get used to MD, especially if you plan on ever using it for field recording (don't say you'll never do it, now that I've started I love it). Buy a Hi-MD only if you feel like MD is worth it. By the way, higher end MD units tend to have more customizable EQ settings than the low end ones. I'd suggest looking into a used or old stock Sony MZ-N10. I've seen them go for under $100 on eBay. I also loved my MZ-N510 (no mic input though) a lot. It was an awesome unit, and I've seen them go for about $40 before. The second gen Hi-MD units will be awesome though for avid MP3 fans, as they will natively play back MP3s without conversion. SP/Hi-SP/LP2/Hi-LP/etc are best when encoded from the original source, but there's a quality loss when you transcode a file. Just my opinion.

13 Going on 30. It was just what I expected it to be, a feel good romantic comedy.

I've seen everything recent except the N1, N10, and NH1 in plastic bubble packaging. I need to point out that I am only refering to NA products.

Radiohead - Kid A. I've had this CD/MD(SP) for a long time, but only played it once. I tend to play Amnesiac a lot, but I'm glad I've given this record another shot. It's really great.

In the US, we can only get a silver NH900 with the RM-MC-38EL. A microphone would be an additional cost. For US residents it'd be cheaper to buy a NH900 online for less than MSRP then buy a RM-MC40ELK from eBay. I'd imagine that it's the same for others. You could also get a Japanese market NH900 from Audiocubes, that will come with the 40ELK, but as Kurisu found out first hand, you won't get black either. Team Digital sells a black one, but it comes with the 38EL remote.

I tend to like "Jazz" on my MZ-E710, "Heavy" on my MZ-NH600D, and "Active" on my D-NE900. There are no EQ functions on my Sony CDPXA1ES CD player, I just used it's headphone output directly. In order to be as analytical as possible with my discussion of my impressions of the headphones I did not use any EQ settings on my equipment.

I think that the NH900 would be a fine unit for you. You can record on the fly and upload your recording to your PC via USB. The NH900 is nice because it uses both a gumstick battery and has the ability to use an AA battery too. You can swap one battery while running on the other, so it'd work very well for situations when you must record for long periods oftime while away from the ability to use AC power. As to durability, there have been few to no complaints about the NH900. I think it'd be a fine choice. As the next generation of recorders, they look very good, but the main benefit I see in them is MP3 playback, aesthetics, and, some battery life improvements that be dealt with by using high capacity rechargable batteries. I'd look to see if you can find a bargain on a NH900 and get one if I were in your shoes.

Goodbye to my DR480 and N510. I'm making room for the RH10 baby.

At least one e-tailer, Audiocubes, sells them for $80 USD. I got this pair used from a member at Head-Fi.

Oh, you put a label over a TDK Ho?

I have ammended the above post to reflect the volume level I used when I used a MD unit.

The latest version of Sonicstage will work with your unit. You can get it from www.connect.com.

It's no problem, I just moved it to the right place. No worries.

I recently purchased a pair of Audio Technica ATH-AD400 open air headphones. I was extremely anxious to get them because I love the sound I've gotten from open air phones like my Koss Portapro and Grado SR60 headphones. They arrived in the mail the other day and I can happily share that I am not disappointed with them in the least. The ATH-AD400s are a great pair of headphones. They are circumaural headphones, which means that the earpads do not sit on your ears, they actually surround them. The earpads are made of velvet and are very comfortable. They do make my ears a little hot after a long listening session though. I've been taking them off after 30 - 40 minutes of use and taking a short break. The phone also sport Audio Technica's 3D wing supprt mechanism. This allows for a very unique way to form fit the phones to the shape of your head. The sound quality is stellar so far. I mainly used recordings by jazz and female singers to try out these phones. I've listened to several MDs recorded at SP and Hi-SP. I've also listened to CDs on three different CD players including my Sony ES model. The sound quality across the entire audible spectrum is very nice. The highs are very detailed to me, I really enjoy the clear and precise sound when I listen to a female vocal. Mids are rich as well. The music I hear on recordings by artists like Jonatha Brooke are so enjoyable (despite the overuse of eletronic keyboards on her albums). The lows are very full as well. The kick drum on many tunes really thumps. I was able to listen at comfortable levels by raising the volume on my NH600D to only 12/30. I'm happily surprised by how easily these phones are driven by the weak amps in portable gear. I'm anxious to pair these phones up with a dedicated headphone amp so I can really see what they're made of. At this point I'm really enamored of these headphones. They're easily my favorite pair of phomes for use when I'm stationary. These are by no means portable phones. Apart from their size my only other complaint would be the heat that they trap when worn, as I said earlier, give yourself a break from time to time when using these phones for extended listening sessions. ...and what would a decent review be without a picture or two?

No info on Target's site. I'll see if we're lucky in Illinois and check stock levels at my local Target.