bluecrab

Well, this is kind of an old thread, but I just noted Viconaut's post. I have had MDs with SP/LP2/LP4 on the same disc and had no problems with that. It would cause a problem only if played on a non-LP-capable unit.

Kieron, Would you be willing to offer your opinion of the JB920's SQ vs. the JB930? I own a 930 and I think it sounds great. There is a chance for me to buy a JB920 for at most 100 USD. It is supposedly in excellent condition. I'm a bit wary, though, that the 920's ATRAC 4.5 might sound noticeably not as good as the 930's Type R. Have you an opinion on that? Any other reasons that might sway me for or against the 920? TIA!

Funny how The Economist seemed to praise the DCC, which died a much earlier death than did MD...and less lamented, too. (The DCC's SQ, though, may have been even a bit better than MD's.) Thanks for posting the link. BTW, Freddy, yes, I very briefly had a DCC deck. As I say, the [digital tape] sound was great. I found, though, that its SQ with standard cassettes was not so great.

Ditto. Should have known when I saw rayzray in there. Still an interesting discussion, though, even 7 years later.

Even though the AA is less ecologically correct, i prefer it to an internal. You never have to worry about its holding a charge - when it's done, it's done, and you just put in a fresh one. If only a kind of very small tablet that would run on 2 or 3 AAs could be made, I'd even consider something like that! That said, I actually have not been using my MD portables much lately, anyway. Mostly decks and my car's (and my wife's car's) head units. The first portable MD unit I had was the Sony MZ-E40. My brother still uses his. That unit ran on 2 AAs and gave you about 4 hours of play time, maybe 4.5 on a good day. When I would fly from Boston to Los Angeles, I'd have to take practically a separate bag just for the batteries ;-) Compare to the current portable I use, an MZ-DN430. This one I can take to Los Angeles on one fresh AA battery, listen to music waiting at the airport, in flight, around LA, in the airport again, and on the flight back to Boston without having to change the battery. Sounds good, too. Works for me. Still lovin' MD!

MDX-400 wrote: "Allegedly the later units with the "MK" suffix on the box/model label were improved but who knows by how much." By nothing, if you ask me. My 702MK unit failed with that same UTOC error. IIRC, though, it was a nice-sounding unit for its time.

The place in Chicago apparently was repairing MDs 11 years before they existed.

Since this thread was started (by me!) back in DEC 2011 with what I thought was an MD sighting in "Love Actually," I've had a chance to take a couple of closer looks at the scene where I thought there was an MD. Except it isn't. It's a Sony CDP-XA20ES or something in that line of CDPs. I recognized it eventually because I have one. And while the XA20ES is an outstanding CDP, it just isn't MD. Oh well, I will continue to look closely for any movie scenes that might have an MD in them.

I like the MDS-JB930 as the most bang for your buck. It has a current-pulse DAC, among other features. Be aware that it is not enabled with LP. You should, sooner or later, be able to find one of these in your stated price range. If you must have LP, then the MDS-JB940 can also be found, sometimes at a higher price than the 930. The 940 has a hybrid-pulse DAC. (IMO, the 930 sounds better on playback.) The 333/555ES units are generally harder to find and often more expensive than the JB series, esp. the 555. I currently own, in addition to a 930 and 940, an MDS-JA20ES. Fine unit and probably fewer $$ than the 333/555, but also lacking LP. Good luck. Please post here about what you wind up with!

Hmmm...I think I may get what Sony_Fan is saying, as regards recording. The comparison begins with pre-recorded MDs and includes CD > MD digital recordings: 470 > 520 > pre-recorded MD. IOW, the 520 would be useful for making MDs from CDs instead of the pre-recorded MD version? What -were- we talking about, anyway? ;-)

DAC quality is, IMO, of considerable importance. I most often record on an MXD-D400, using internal hi-speed, internal norm speed, or from an external source via digital in. When any of these MDs are played back on a JB930, XA20ES, or JB940, the 930/20ES produce, for me, audibly superior results. Note that b/c those decks are non-LP, this applies to SP recordings only. It could be coincidental that the 930 and 20ES both have current pulse DACs, while the 940's DAC is hybrid pulse, but it seems like a reasonable chance that is it isn't coincidence. This has nothing to do with RQ, of course, but it's something to consider when evaluating the SQ you'll ultimately get.

I have both the US and JPN versions of the MXD-D400. The JPN one I got directly from Japan. Differences between the two that I can see are the JPN's gold color - called "champaigne" - its use of 100v current, and the Japanese chars on the back of the unit (front panel and display are in English, manual is in Japanese). I tried very hard to get an MDS-W1 from Japan, but one in excellent condition could not be found. My JPN MXD-D400 looks exactly like this generic image of one (from minidisc.org); I don't suppose I'll ever find an MDS-W1, sorry to say.

I read the same thing...about the 30ES not liking every recording made on other machines. For that matter, my JB930 exhibits similar behavior. The JA20ES will play anything I have thrown at it, so far. When you're ready to do so, would you consider posting about the 30ES compared to the 20ES? I know that a few people here have the 20ES, but haven't see much here about the 30ES. TIA. BTW, congratulations on your determined and successful effort to get that 30ES up and running.

Totally agree with Arr-Nine-Hundred on the Sennie PX200. A lot of value for your money there! I also have the Sennie CX-200...nice but not as nice as the PX200.

Thanks, I had not seen it. If they are going to include 8-track, that should "win" as the worst every time. The formats I have heard are LP (and 45s), 8-track, Cassette, CD, DVD, MD, DCC, and MP3. As I do not listen much to music on a computer, I won't speak to the various formats used in that environment. I feel like at some point I surely must have heard DAT and R2R, but I cannot recall when. Maybe not. Anyway, of the ones I noted, 8-track is by far the worst, although low-quality MP3s might challenge it. I find SP MD (292) to be excellent, at its best comparing quite well to CD. For the very brief time I had a DCC deck, I thought that sounded even better than MD - not really surprising since it has less compression. The comments were great, enjoyed browsing through them a lot!

There IS a site something like Gumtree in the U.S....Craigslist. Not too long ago, I found what appears to be a NM MDS-JB930 there, for 80 USD. Although MD is far more prevalent and well-known in the the UK than in the US, now and then things do turn up. You're in Brooklyn, Xircuits? Probably more of a selection on Craigslist than here in the Boston area. Check it out, if you haven't.

I have black, silver, and gold decks. I don't care that much about the color, although I have to admit that the MXD-D400 in gold looks striking. I did have a gray/white portable for a while, but now I have them in black, silver...and an MZR-500 in yellow. If I had to choose one color, it would be black, because that fits in the best with other gear, even gear that's not black.

Azureal said: "I suggest you get on eBay and start looking for used JE500 units..." I was going to offer the same advice. The units pop up often enough on eBay. Check the "Worldwide" search box on eBay in case there are any to be found in SA. Good luck!

Funny you should mention it. I did have a JA333ES, but it died. I replaced it with a JA20ES, which seems to sound about as good as the 333ES. When I got the JB930ES, I compared it to the JA20ES. Very hard to tell the difference...maybe the 20ES sounded a little more detailed. Judging by what I've read here, one of the biggest differences in how an MD deck sounds is whether it has a hybrid or current pulse DAC. This seems to match my actual listening experiences. Perhaps the fact that the JB930/JA333ES/JA20ES all have current pulse DACs (the 20ES and the 930 look like they have the same DAC), is a factor in their sounding similar. The 333ES does have the advantage of MDLP, which can come in handy at times.Good luck with the new 333ES...just finding one takes luck to begin with, and finding a reasonably priced one...I think that's pretty much history.

Thanks for posting the results. I have a couple of D40s and agree with all you say about it. I have had the JE480 as well - agree that it sounds better than the D40, but perhaps a less rugged deck. I am fairly certain I'll never have an E10, but should you ever acquire a JB930, it would be interesting to get a 930/E10 comparison (the 930 is to my also old ears an amazing-sounding unit).

It is more or less a given, at this point, that decks > portables when they have the same ATRAC version. But that is not what Sony_Fan and I were discussing: "A Type-R portable from 2003 will record far better than a non Type-R deck from the 90s." However, as Sony_Fan pointed out, my MZ-DN430 is download only, so the issue is now moot for me. BTW, I have indeed read the entire thread, although not all at once. Nevertheless, due to the subjectivity of perceived SQ, the comparison when there are different ATRAC versions, where the portable's version is newer than the deck's, might still have had some relevance. (Unless that subject was already covered and I missed it.)

I may at some point, Sony_Fan, have a chance to test that very case. I could create recordings on both the MZ-DN430 (Type R at least, maybe Type S) and the Kenwood MD-2070 (aka DMF-7020), which is assuredly 4.5. Then I'll play the result and see what the difference is. It will take me a while to do this, though...but seems a worthwhile endeavor in the context of this discussion. (The hardest part will be remembering to do it!) I have become a little infatuated with a 4.0 deck as well: the Sony MDS-JE700. Don't have one and don't know if I ever will - but I do have 4.0 in my car (Sony MDX-C7970). It's not too bad! Of course, you can't record on it, though.

If so, it isn't necessarily because of the Type S, which is said to affect playback only. I think in general the opinion is that decks record better than do portables, regardless of ATRAC version.

Congrats on getting the E10. I see that the NAD 7250PE, like my NAD C372, does not have its own DAC. So you will get a pretty good idea of how the E10's DSP/DAC chips sound. I get it about not being able to switch between two configs quickly, although where I have one or more unused inputs on both amps, it's not an issue for me. You could always get an inexpensive A/B switch for comparison purposes. They're a handy thing to have around, anyway.

Here's what I've found. Keep in mind that for at-home use, I listen to MD almost exclusively through an MD deck attached to an amplifier via the deck's analog outputs. Everyone means well, I know, as far as how to get the best sound out of MD, but the configuration I just described is what I have and will stay as it is for the foreseeable future. One of my two main listening systems has, for an amp, the Cambridge Audio Azur 540R V3. This is a "modern" amp (that is, it has an optical in), although a few years old. At the moment, I'm using my JB930 as MD input to the amp, via analog, but for a couple of years prior, my JB940 was the MD source. The JB940 sounded pretty much the same no matter if connected to the amp via its analog out or via its digital out. I don't know what kind of DAC the 540R amp uses, but given the general high quality of Cambridge Audio gear, I would suspect it's pretty good. Perhaps if I tried using my MXD-D400 as input to the amp, I'd notice more of a difference in sound via the D400's optical out as compared to its analog out. (The D400, like its predecessor MXD-D40, is really rather woefully deficient as a playback unit via analog out.) Should my NAD C372 amp (the amp for my other - and primary - main system) ever fail, or should I ever find myself with a surplus of funds, then I'd consider replacing it with a similar unit that does have optical in. That could give me more options for MD sourcing. Anyway, I just wanted to note that people on this board use MD in different ways and that there's no one-size-fits-all solution for improvement of MD sound. The important thing is that we all do use MD, in whatever way is available or best for each of us. BTW, shortly after my acquisition of the JB930, I also got a non-Sony deck - a Kenwood MD-2070. I found this on eBay as a never-used item. It certainly looks that way. First audio impression was that it's not up to the JB930's lofty standards, but still pretty good, especially considering that it is ATRAC 4.5. Not sure just yet how I am going to use it. Have a good day, all, and keep enjoying MD. Bruce (or Bluecrab, take your pick)