bluecrab

Because of very recent events, I thought I'd add on to this thread. Just last night, my MDS-JA333ES gave it up. I had played a disc and when I went to eject the disc, the little drawer opened just enough for me to get out the MD. Things got worse from there. The 333ES has died and has had its funeral. I did not pay a fortune for it (~250 USD a few years ago IIRC, used on eBay). Around the same time, I also acquired an MDS-JA20ES, a deck that doesn't get enough respect. I put the 20ES in the spot formerly occupied by the 333, where I have been putting it through its paces. It seems to me like the 20ES has more bass extension and perhaps more detailed highs. It has a "warmer" sound to me than the 333. I thought this would be a downgrade, but so far I like the sound of the JA20ES better than that of the 333ES. In the same system, I also have a Sony CDP-XA20ES CD player. The sonic similarities between the two 20ES units can't be denied...and they look a lot alike, as well, The 333ES and the CDP-XA20ES sounded much different. The JA20ES, unlike the 333ES, is SP-only, so it's a one-trick pony. But it does that one trick very well! I have it connected to my amp via its analog outputs, for those who care about such things. I also have an MXD-D400 connected optically out to the JA20ES's opt in. (IOW, the 20ES can be used as an external DAC that way - will see what that sounds like soon.) Too bad about that 333ES, but it always did make some unusual sounds on disc insertion. At least it lasted as long as it did.

Hi Jim, DId you ever get around to this, Jim? I mean, work on Rob's 920? If so, what did the problem turn out to be? Thanks, Bruce

When I bought a used head unit (on one of this board's predecessors), the seller included a big bunch of discs he'd recorded. I was introduced to some new material that way and I still have some of the discs. IIRC, something similar happened with another unit, head or otherwise, that I bought online somewhere. Definitely give a listen! Nice haul.

Speaking of cars, Arr (mine's a 2006 Ford Escape, my wife's is a 2004 Subaru - both have the standard [or what once was] dashboard openings into which MD head units fit nicely), has anyone noticed that just about all the newer cars have the integrated sound systems? How the heck do you put MD in one of those? What'll I do when the Escape dies or if I just wanted to replace it? Not giving up my mobile MD without a fight!

It looks pretty much like what we'd call a flea market in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_boot_sale Possible you could find some MD gear at one, although MD is more common in the UK than it is here.

Mugged for it? Not here in the US, where few would even know what it was. Apparently, UK muggers are true audiophiles!

MD Decks: Sony MDS-JE640, MXD-D50; Onkyo FR-N7X, FR-B7, MD-105FX OK, I give up. What in the world is an MXD-D50? Is that the one with "Type O"? ;-) or did I miss something somewhere? BTW, not only using my MD decks regularly, they are my main playback source!

I agree with sfbp that it looks a bit dodgy. Yet these folks also have a new Onkyo MD-133 unit f/s on Ebay that looks quite nice. I just wish that Sony would have made a Hi-MD deck!

I get it now. I don't recall seeing much here about MD users who use an external DAC (other than connecting directly to an amp), though. I asked a similar question a while ago. Although I do not use an external DAC, I do use my MDS-JA333ES as a a DAC for one of my CD players. It makes a noticeable difference. I did try connecting an MDS-JB940 directly to the optical input of a Cambridge Audio receiver ( Azur 540R), but I didn't note much difference. I also connected the optical out of a MacBook Pro to the opt/in of the MDS-JA333ES, and that sounded good. I guess I'd really have to use a standalone DAC somewhere in the chain to actually have valid results for your question. I can't really say I am unhappy with the results using the RCA outs of any of my good MD decks (JA333ES, JA20ES, JB940). None of them, including the 333ES, sounds as good as my Sony CDP-XA20ES CD player, which is also connected via RCA out. I'm gonna go off on some kind of tangent here if I don't stop...maybe others will add their opinions.

Philippe, I am not quite sure what you are asking. Is it how to enhance the sound that is output from an MD deck?

If Rob and/or Jim would be so kind, could the outcome of this, assuming there is one, be reported here? Thanks!

If the Maxells work OK on your MZ-R501, that would be further reason to suspect the 920 and not the discs. The 940 would be a good step up from the 920. I have one, currently in use. The 940 is one of the great bargains in hi-fi, not just MD, IMO. It's easy to use, fully featured (incl. MDLP), and sounds very good. If you can find one in good condition at a price reasonable for you, I'd say grab it. I have no experience with the 980. Never released in the US, I believe. At least one other member here (sfbp) has the 980, and perhaps if he sees this he will chime in. The 980 does have Type S, which could be important if you're using LP mode. Then there's the 930. Again, I've never had one, but I know it's non-MDLP and that some 930s have a problem in Divide Rehearsal mode on the last track of a disc. You can see much more about the 930 and many more units here: http://minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html There are also some high-end MD decks you could consider: MDS-JA20ES, MDS-JA333ES, MDS-JA555ES, MDS-JA50ES, et al. However, most of these are hard to find and costly, when you do find one. I have the JA20ES and the JA333ES - I just got lucky a couple of times on the price. They do sound just great, though, especially the 333ES. But if you are happy with the 920's sound and features, there's no real need to leave the 9*0 series. Good luck with it all!

I thought I had just replied to this, but I'm not seeing my reply, so I will try again. Quite possibly "something else." From http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDS-JB920.html : Problems: The disc drive mechanism has been shown to be finicky [link follows] when loading discs, however Sony knows about the problem (an internal technical information bulletin has been published to SONY Service centers). http://www.minidisc.org/jb920_slot_fussiness.html Other users have reported Maxell-specific problems with this unit. For example: "The 920 is the second MiniDisc Recorder that I have owned. It replaced a Sony 510 that had a bad case of loading errors. Thankfully, I bought an extended warranty with the Sony 920. . .eight months out. . .it gives constant C-13 errors on Maxell Golds The Good Guys of California are eating it on this deal. . .the solution is a new loading mechanism (the one sold with the units is too narrow for the range of acceptable tolerances of minidisc media)." ============ I think I have seen similar elsewhere. So even if you're not getting the C13 error, there could still be a problem with the Maxells. If it is worth your while, acquire an MD that is not Sony, TDK, or Maxell and see how that works.

I just happened to come across this article regarding copyrights. It's by James Berardinelli, who writes, among other things, some pretty good movie reviews on reelviews.net: http://www.reelviews.net/reelthoughts.php?identifier=711

Ebay nevertheless prohibits such sales, although it is a kind of toothless prohibition, in that they will enforce it only if the copyright owner complains. "Hello Ebay? This is Blood Sweat and Tears. Remember us? We're complaining about our copyrighted material being sold on MD on Ebay." Not too likely.

In general, you cannot legally sell or distribute copies of copyrighted material in the United States without the author/creator's permission. If these MDs contain the artists' original material, then selling them online is asking for trouble. Even if it's NOT original material, there are legal issues with covers of songs. It makes no difference if the original was on a CD and you are selling an MD copy of it. That is a big no-no. If it weren't, we could swap copyrighted material on MDs right here. You can legally copy any copyrighted recorded material that you own for yourself. I have always wondered about music CDs I borrow from the public library - whether I have a right to copy them. It turns out that you cannot do that legally. Fortunately, the Library Police are in short supply ! ;-)

Music Sync is not available on any of my decks, other than on the remote. (MXD-D40/0, MDS-JB940, MDS-JA20ES, MDS-JA333ES.) Don't think I've seen it on any previously owned but now departed decks, either. IWBN if that feature were available on a deck's front panel. I have a D400 and a 333ES in the same rack, and unless great care is taken (sometimes even that doesn't help), what you enter from the remote for one of the decks also happens on the other. As bad, when I'm using the CD section of 400, the remote may also affect my Sony CD player, also in that same rack. As for iTunes not being able to insert a 2-second gap, that it is true, but I found two possible workarounds: * You can change iTunes' settings to make the breaks between songs longer, shorter or nonexistent. Click on the "Edit" button at the top of your iTunes <------ Note: In my version of iTunes, it's iTunes > Preferences, not Edit > Preferences screen, then on "Preferences." Click on the "Playback" tab. The button next to "Crossfade Songs" is probably checked. Drag the slider all the way to the right (to 12 seconds) to increase the time between songs. Drag it all the way to the left, or un-check this box, to play songs with no gap in between. http://techtips.salon.com/itunes-adding-gaps-between-songs-737.html * Just in case anyone is still interested in this problem, here is an easy way to add silence between songs in a playlist. First, place some short track that you don't care about between two songs in your playlist. Select the short track and right-click on it to drop down the menu. Click on "Get info." In the "Get info" window, click the "Options" tab. In the "Options" window is a volume control. Slide that sucker all the way to the left, to turn off the volume. Click "OK" at the bottom of the "Options" window. Presto, a silent track. If you want to shorten the silence, go back to the "Options" window and shorten the ending time of the track as much as you like. http://forums.ilounge.com/itunes-related-mac-pc-applications/256111-can-you-make-gap-between-songs-itunes.html There were some other suggestions for 3rd-party software that could be used, but I leave that to you.

Very helpful thread for me. I was thinking only earlier today that if I got XP for my Mac, I could then use SS to make MDs @292 faster and easier than I do now. But now I see that can't happen. I guess I am "stuck" with using an MXD-40/0 or going 1x via the Mac's optical out. Funny, though, using the opt.out > MD route results in far less volume on the MD, no matter how high I set the Mac's sound. I tried adjusting the dig. rec. level on the MXD-D40, with the usual erratic results. It's still All Good, though, because MD is still a great format. As long as my decks and discs hold out, I'm good to go!

No MXD-D40 has a factory installed opt. out that I am aware of. For that, in a CD>MD deck, you'd step up to the MXD-D400 or the Tascam. The more I see of sfbp's descriptions of the mod, the more I inch towards truly considering it. I believe the decks I have mentioned here all are compatible with LP; in fact, the MXD-D400 has Type S, as well.

There's not a whole lot of MD Mac support, either here or from Sony. I have 4 Macs (Snow Leopard x 2, Lion, Leopard), but no Hi-MD. I can go Mac opt. out > MXD-D40 and of course, since this involves actually playing MP3s (or whatever), it works well, albeit @ 1x. I have burned MP3 CDs on the Mac and copied them to MD on an MXD-D400, and that's nice, too. But none of this really helps you. It's possible that OS X ML is so different from its predecessors that there may not be a convenient fix. If you're truly expert in Darwin, perhaps an answer lies there. You might try the Apple Support boards, although I'm not sure what response you will get. Still, that'd be worth a try. Good luck. If you find anything, could you report it here? Might be helpful to a few of us!

Ah. That's what I missed. So DVD-A is 48, but DVD is 96?. It is mainly DVD I've had the issues with. So, if I use optical out form DVD-A, run it through SCMS-killer, and record on, say, an MZ-R500, that should work? Portables have the SRC, but decks don't? Is that it? I don't have a DVD-A to test with, but the public library does and they are not far! I did see this reagrding DVD-Video, not that it would be meaningful, apparently, in recording from DVD to an MD deck: PCM: 48 kHz or 96 kHz sampling rate, 16 bit or 24 bit Linear PCM, 2 to 6 channels, up to 6,144 kbit/s. N.B. 16-bit 48 kHz 8 channel PCM is allowed by the DVD-Video specification but is not well-supported by authoring applications or players.'' from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Video

I don't see any evidence that the RH10 can handle sampling rates other than 44.1. I know that I have never been able to record direct digitally from DVD > MD and I think it is b/c of the sampling rate, as I can't do it even when I do through an SCMS stripper.

I just bought a Kenwood KMD-44 (head unit) on Ebay for USD 102.50. Used but looks to be in very good condition. I bought it as a future replacement for the Kenwood KMD-673R in my wife's car in case the 673R dies. The units are very similar. The 673R is actually a Euro or UK unit, but it works very well here in the States. They are both hard to find and both have LP. The LP functionality is critical because my wife listens to a lot of audiobooks, all recorded to MD by me on an MXD-D400 or MXD-D40. I also listen to MD-ized audiobooks while driving, but my Sony MDX-C7970, which I also bought on Ebay (NIB) doesn't do LP. I use Mono for them. It seems incredible to me that MD decks can still be found on occasion in stores. But then, if that were going to happen anywhere, I'm not surprised it would be in the UK, where you are far less likely to get a blank look when you say "minidisc" than you are here! BTW, congrats on your JE780 acquisition. Great find!

MDietrich: That is exactly why I was asking to begin with. It also could help explain why I usually get excellent results recording between MD decks @24-bit setting. sfbp: MOST of the standalones are able to use only Audio CD-Rs - you cannot even record to a regular CD-R on them. My HHB BurnIt is an exception, but even the HHB (which famously strips SCMS - remember that? - and outputs SCMS-free) likes lower-speed discs, say, up to 12x, better than the 52x ones for recording. Now, I have have a nice rack full of gear that includes an Aiwa CD-R, and it's quite a simple matter for me to switch inputs to the Aiwa and record from any of an MXD-D400, MDS-JA333ES, CDP-XA20ES or, if I like, I can use the Aiwa much like I use the MXD-D400, except both its sides are CD. It's also no big deal for me to swap a few front-panel connections and record from any particular source onto any particular recordable target. That old Aiwa (c. 1999?) has outlived more than a few computers! There was indeed, IIRC, some just-give-us-the-money reason for the creation of the so-called Audio or Music CD-R, but I forget what it was. I have such gear as I have and need to use appropriate media. I certainly use my Macs to burn CDs, as well, but my answer to your question about PCs (I assume this includes Mac) being the "only?" way to produce CDs would be a definite "no." It's kind of funny you should mention it, though. Just the other day I was burning a CD on the Mac and some other concurrent operation caused the burning to just stop. The player part kept trying to write, but the burning s/w (iTunes) was having none of it. Have had the same thing happen on PCs and UNIX/Linux boxes, too. It's not a regular occurrence, but it sure is annoying when it does happen!

Well, thanks, sfbp...I think. The MDS-JA333ES does have the two settings and only two: 16 or 24, with 24 being the factory default. I did find this, which is enough to make my head spin: http://www.head-fi.org/t/415361/24bit-vs-16bit-the-myth-exploded Anyway, I guess the thing to do, as it doesn't seem to hurt anything, is to just leave the setting alone @ 24 - although it does make me wonder why, then, would Sony even bother adding this "feature" to the 333 and other decks. IWBN if Sony, in their inifinite wisdom, would have mentioned in the documentation when one might want to use 16 and when 24. But tant pis, as you say, or fn Sony, as I say, they do not. FTR, I have gotten pretty good results, before I even thought much about this topic, by using the default 24-bit setting when doing MD > MD copying.