bluecrab
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Posts posted by bluecrab
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I have those Sennheiser HD-202. They are not very well regarded. I find mine very muddy and bassy compared to my other headphones. I'm only using mine for quitar practising tbh.
I like them, but de gustibus non est disputandum.
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Gotta have tunes at work, I'm not quite as subtle, although I'm the only one, got a pair of fisher powered speakers, an older top of the line Sony CD player, and whatever MD I plug in at the time, great sounds abound from the garage, get weird looks, who cares, got my tunes,
BTW nice set up you have,
Bob
Thanks. I am still in the initial throes of infatuation with it. What my colleagues think of all this, I can pretty much guess.
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For a couple of years, I used my Sony MZ-R500 portable to listen to music at work (desk job) via the unit's headphone out. These MZ-R500s, while not exactly delicate, also don't seem to like heavy use, as I have had problems with a couple of them. The MZ-R500 is great for travel and general portability, but no more will be made. So I thought about an LP-capable deck for work, one with a headphone jack. This would free the R500 from daily use and perhaps lengthen its useful life.
That didn't leave many possibilities, and those that did exist were generally somewhat pricy. I had an MDS-JE480 deck in my basement, sitting around doing nothing, but that unit has no headphone jack. A little poking around on Ebay turned up an Optimus (Radio Shack) SA-155 integrated amp, a very small box that works fine hooked up to the now-on-my-desk JE480. My 'phones are Sennheiser HD-202.
The upgrade in sound from using the same phones connected to the jack of the MZ-R500 is not trivial. Just wish I'd thought of the JE480/amp/phones combination sooner. Don't know what I'd do without Ebay!
Here's an SA-155:
It's not much bigger than the photo! ;-)
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My Sony MDS-JB940 deck is in excellent condition, but upon disc insertion it returns a C13 Read Error and ejects the MD.
I sent the unit to Sony for repair and they could not reproduce the problem. They sent it back to me and it worked properly.
However, it eventually returned to its C13 Read Error ways. So, if anyone wants to take a crack at getting it to work properly or would like it for parts, I will sell it for $60, which includes shipping via Fedex Ground within the continental U.S.
Deck only. I originally bought it on ebay a while back.
PM me if interested.
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Congrats! The JE480 is a nice deck and I wish you well with it.
I am going to bring mine from home (where it is doing nothing at the moment) to work, where it can replace my MZ-R500 portable, which I'd rather use for travel and so forth. Only problem was that the 480 lacks a headphone jack. So...a little while ago I bought, on ebay, an Optimus SA-155 Mini Stereo Amplifier, to which I can attach the 480. So that's the latest thing I bought!
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I thought I'd mention this situation in case anyone else has encountered it on any Sony CD/MD unit.
I have two Sony MXD-D400 CD/MD decks. One is the US model and the other is the Japanese model. I bought both of them new. I've had the US one longer and have used it more. Last night I discovered what seemed to be a bug in the Japanese MXD-D400.
If I am doing a high-speed copy on it and I stop the copying process manually (with the stop button), then instead of my getting an MD with recording up to the point where it was stopped, I instead get a "Blank Disc" message and indeed, a blank disc. I checked a number of such discs on the US model, which recognized them as blank. I used a number of source CDs and target MDs with identical results. This happened with SP/LP2/LP4. I next tested letting the high-speed copy fully complete - not stopping it manually - and this worked as it should, in that recording was completed and the MD was not blank. This I tested LP2 only.
I can probably live with this situation, although occasionally I might want to stop a high-speed copy and retain what I have already recorded. I'm concerned that other problems could exist or could develop. I will just have to wait and see. Although the unit is still new enough (I think) to be under warranty, I'd have to ship it to Japan, which I am not going to do if the problem remains relatively minor.
As for HCMS (which the US model does not seem to have, but the Japanese one does), I had no knowledge of it before last night - I did not even know it existed. I was making a copy of a CD on the Japanese unit, stopped it, restarted, and got a Retry [HCMS] message. I had no clue, there was nothing about it in the US MXD-D400 manual, and I'd assumed the US/Japan versions were pretty much identical. I was wrong. Eventually a little poking around on the Web gave me enough info about HCMS to figure out what'd happened, but for a while it seemed like some kind of weird bug. I couldn't imagine what I'd done to cause it or what had gone wrong with the deck. I DID notice that the "Blank Disc" copy problem occurred after I got the Retry [HCMS] message, but I don't know if there is any connection between the two events.
Here are some HCMS-related links I found:
http://www.mail-archive.com/md-l@amulation.com/msg07311.html
http://www.minidisc.org/system_table.html
http://www.audiotstation.com/forum/archive...hp/t-15169.html
Not a whole lot of fun and I am hoping for the best with the Japanese MXD-D400. The MXD-D400, US, Japan, or Euro, is now rare and expensive. My worst fear about MD units is their breaking not being easily replaceable. It's not like Sony will be making any more. :-(
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Earlier today, with about half an hour left in the Ebay auction, a Sony MDS-JA333ES deck was bid at $355.
"Not bad," I thought, briefly considering bidding on it.
I need not have bothered, as it wound up selling for $1,782.57!
NICE unit, though. Wish I had one.
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Only problem is that the MD-R1 doesn't seem keen to play LP discs. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has a solution to this.
The Sharp MD-R1 MKII is not an LP-capable unit. It may recognize, but will not play LP discs.
MD units that both play LP and have digital output exist, but can be hard to find and usually command a higher price.
If you have a portable MDLP with line out, then perhaps you could go MDportable line out > MDdeck analog in > MDdeck digital out > EMU? This is an awkward process and won't help the signal quality much, but that MD-R1 isn't going to play LP on its own.
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I know there are 'bookmarking' options with MD players, but do they just 'bookmark' particular favourite tracks or does it also remember where you are in a particular track?
What I mean is these audiobooks I have are just one big MP3, 200-300Mb in size, and having to try to get to where I am in the audiobook when I resume listening to it will become harder and harder the further I am into the book. Does the 'bookmark' fuction also work in such a way as to remember where I am in a particular audiobook, i.e. so I can just insert a MD with that audiobook on and be able to find where I left off last time I was listening to that book?
I hope this makes sense!
My MZ-R500 will resume playing precisely where I stopped it, for both SP/LP, when the disc is left in it. Probably worth noting that the unit is always connected to some kind of power, either A/C or battery, even when it's not actually on.
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I didn't know they were still making new md car units? The ones I see on ebay are all second hand.
AFAK, no new car units are being made. Mine was used and I got it here, from MDCF classifieds. New, used, whatever - I was going MD all the way with the new car.
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I bought a special-order 2006 Ford Escape in May 2006. When it finally arrived and I went to pick it up, the guy at the dealer told me, "Well, here's your unique Escape - not another one like it!" Really, there was nothing special, just a 5-speed and a few other things I wanted.
With little delay I had the dashboard taken apart and the door panels off. In went my Sony MDX-CA680X - a unit I'd bought from right here from MDCF Classifieds, months before I'd bought the car. There was no question for me that MD was the way to go. Yeah, I could've bought a non-MD unit with AUX-in and hooked up a portable - and then I'd get to mess with external cables and all that. No thanks.
In addition to listening to my "permanent" MDs while driving, I crank out a LOT of "temporary" MDs, mainly in LP2/4. I have never been happier with a car stereo!
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I'm hoping a deck would last longer than a portable, or doesn't portable/deck matter? One of my decks (a Pioneer MJ-D508) is 7 or 8 years old and still works as new - when I use it (it's mostly retired). My other decks are newer. You think after 10 years or so they're going to give it up? There's four of them that get used often.
Two or three others did in fact have premature deaths. Basically these units are irreplaceable, or will be. :-(
I still feel comitted to MD, although since I've had a Marantz CD5001 (cd player), I have realized just what MD's "near-CD quality" means. Still plenty good for me!
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If I make edits on a Sony 510 and then a Sony 920 and so on, will I have troubles and sound differences because of different ATRAC versions?
The only problems of that kind I've had are between different brands of MD units (Sony/Pioneer/Sharp) and then only occasionally. For me, it was not sound differences, but the inability of one unit to play or record on MDs from the other.
I have not experienced anything similar with MDs recorded/edited on the 510 - I still have some of those discs - and subsequently edited or played on Sony MDS-JE480, MXD-D40, MXD-D400, MDS-JB940, or MDS-S40.
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When I got my first MD - the somewhat infamous Sony MDS-JE510 deck - in...not sure.....1998? 1999?...It was the current model at the time....anyway, an MD board existed that I found my to. It was great, but got kind of overrun by spam and in any case eventually ended. I forget what it was called; I thought I'd seen an archive of it here at MDCF? When that board went down, we were referred here. I still see some of the same people from it here on MDCF. I think I'm remembering this correctly, all I can say for sure is that there was indeed an MD board that wasn't this one!
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If the Headphone Jack is White ,it is an Optical Combo jack , The "Din Unlock" means "No Signal " which means itregistered the optical , but nothing was coming out , Do it again just the same way you did before Optical and set the MD the same way and hit plt on the computer , I think you were in Sync Mode .
In Sync mode the recorder wont start untill there is a signal at the optical read buffer.
just to check , Plug the Toslink cable in to the mac , play the file and see if the other end of the cable is glowing red , if it is you have Optical out .
Some experimentation and research showed that neither of my Mac mini PPCs has the combo out. Probably my Intel mini does, but that machine is currently not being used. I'm not going to set up the Intel just for this purpose, though I want to thank you for you comments - they helped me to figure out what the situation was. I may just record directly from the Mac via the analog headphone out to my HHB CD-R, if only to avoid transcoding. Maybe. Then again, it seemed to me that the MD sounded pretty good.
This forum is the best!!
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The Sony MDS-W1 double deck moves tracks between MD (SCMS free, lossless, 4x speed). There is one on ebay.com: item number 280151955515. In my opinion, this the best unit ever built by Sony. With a little help of service mode, it can also duplicate MDs.
If the seller accepted PayPal, I'd buy it today!
I have a 1.25 ghz eMac. Mac OS 10.3.9. I tried a mini-optical out from the headphone out to a full-size optical in on my MXD-D40 - no signal (Din Unlock). MD input was set correctly. It looks like this particular model does not have the combo headphone out :-( I may try this on a more recent Mac and see what happens, it's just that the eMac is the most convenient one for me to use.
Then I tried a Xitel MD-Port AN1 USB to optical in. That resulted in the same thing. I wouldn't think there's anything I have to set on the Mac to get either the Xitel or the headphone (in digital mode) to work, but if you know something I do not, or if it's obvious I'm missing something, please let me know.
The headphone out does sound pretty good, I think I saw that it has 90 db s/n.
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Thanks. I may alreay have one of those Xitel things...I'll just have to look in the Big Box of Miscellaneous MD Stuff in my basement to see if I got one with any of the used MD gear I've bought over the years. In any case I'll probably re-record. It's not THAT bad - at least the Music Sync on the MD deck's remote works fine even using the headphone out as I/P to the deck. It's just having to play and record one song at a time that's tedious! My Mac OS is 10.3.9 on this particular machine, so unless that's too current a version, it s/b OK.
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I recently recorded 26 songs from a web site to my MXD-D40 deck via my Mac's headphone out. The songs, as far as I can tell, were not in a file format - you had to play them to get them. Not a problem, and I recorded them in SP mode. They sound decent enough - perhaps 128 kbps MP3s - but I not too cleverly hoped they'd fit on one 74 minute MD. They don't, and I now have 24 tracks on on MD and 2 on another.
My question is whether to re-record all the tracks onto one 80 minute disc or whether to copy (digitally) them all MD>MD onto one disc. Popular opinion seems to be that 2nd generation MD will sound just like the original MD, but I'd still like to ask if anyone would have had a similar experience. My inclination is to play it safe and re-record, but it's kind of tedious so I thought I'd ask about it.
BTW, is there an easily usable and inexpensive device that would enable me to play via USB out and have the device convert the signal to optical or coax format? If there is such a device, does it actually result in a higher-quality recording than headphone out? It would have to be an external device in this case, not a card.
Thanks for any help or ideas!
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About disc brands:
Although I do not use Hi-MD, regular MDs can be reformatted for Hi-MD use, so I thought I would add my two cents.
Because all MDs sound the same, the best thing to look for is solid construction; for example, the Sony MDW80P.
I've had no problems with JVC MDs, So I'd add them to the "OK" list. My TDKs have fared well, as have the Maxells.
Memorex MDs have been suspect for a long time, although so far none have caused me any obvious problems. Still, I tend to not use them as readily as others. No problems yet, either, with Hi-Space or even Princo. All three of these brands appear somewhat less sturdy than others, at least to me. It's possible that one of these kinds of disks, or another brand, or not a disk at all, caused the demise of my first Sony MDS-JB940 deck, which developed a problem where it would not read any disks - but I have no evidence of that.
Because all MDs sound the same, the best thing to look for is solid construction; for example, the Sony MDW80P.
Congratulations on selecting MD!
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Personally since CDR or DVDR is so cheap I consider them almost disposable and generally use them instead of the rewritable ones.
The cheapness and apparent disposability of CD-Rs is of the reasons I like MD. Although I have trashed a fair number of CD-Rs for one reason or another, I am not happy that such disposed-of items become part of the ever-growing mounds of garbage everywhere, or get burned up and help degrade the atmosphere.
I rarely trash an MD, though, unless it fails or is physically damaged. I suspect that most of my minidiscs will live longer than I do. So, from an ecological perspective, the minidisc is to be applauded!
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Trade it (them) in??? I'm still accumulating MD units!
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If 8-tracks are still alive.....
http://www.8trackheaven.com/index2.html
then I expect MDs are going to be around for a while yet.
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has the health effect of lossy audio been studied at all even lightly.
If lossy sound has any deleterious health effects, then there are more than 58,000 of us right here who could be very sick puppies. ;-)
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If you haven't yet visited the Vintage Knob site...
http://www.thevintageknob.org/
now's the time...because minidsc has finally made an appearance there, in the form of the Sony MDS-JA50ES deck.
http://www.thevintageknob.org/SONY/sonyes/.../MDSJA50ES.html
There's a bit of misinformation, but still, it's nice to see that MD has finally assumed its rightful place in this particular pantheon. A few more units there would be nice. Still, a nice site to poke around! (I now see that the MDS-J3000 is also there - I had never heard of that one.)
(I am in no way connected with the Vintage Knob.)
Switched from portable to deck for work
in Technical, Tips, and Tricks
Posted
Well, let me see...I tried these:
http://www.sweetwater.com/c412--Samson--Headphones
Hated 'em. They didn't match up well with the MZ-R500 or anything else I had, included a Marantz PM-68 Integrated Amp that makes most sources sound pretty good.
And I had been using my Koss MAC-7's for years - like those a lot and they are still in limited use.
I have tinnitus and I find that anything in-ear results in some pretty odd noises and frequencies after a workday, or partial workday of using them, once I take them off. These effects seem greatly reduced by on- or over-the-ear phones.
So the HD 202's sound all right to me, the price was certainly right, and they are comfortable enough for me to wear for hours at a time (this is crucial). Of course, if you can suggest a lightweight, closed, over-ear model that might be better, I am all ears, so to speak ;-)