bluecrab

"Aaah philippeb, one day I feel I will crack down in the MD world bying the W1 unit. At least I can find one quite easily in Viêt-Nam.' You can? What do they cost there?

I simply enjoyed reading your account, seeing the pix, and appreciating what you've accomplished. Thanks. Eagerly awaiting your review. As to, "still actually have casettes somewhere"—that is true for me also, although I have been disposing of them fairly rapidly. My current main project is getting all my CDs, MDs, and some cassettes into iTunes on a MacbookPro. Since by no means are all the media straightforward store-bought, this at times requires some tedious work and patience on my part. For cassettes, that means first, recording the CS to MD. Sometimes track marks are picked up, sometimes not. If the latter, then I have to add them. Then delete any blank tracks from the MD. Next, the MD is transferred to CD-RW. This happens in a different system on a different floor from the CS > MD transfer. I use an MDS-E10 and HHB BurnIT to create the CD-RW. When that's done, I pop the CD-RW into the MBP, say an incantation, and hope that somehow, Gracenote picks up the tracks and I won't have to enter everything via keyboard. This happens more than I though it would, even in a couple of cases where the original material was never put on commercial CD. Like you, I sometimes wonder about the time I spend on this—I think I have about 2,000 pieces of digital media and much smaller number of cassettes. Also like you, I'm enjoying the project. Keep on keepin' on, amigo! (I apologize for wandering off on this tangent.)

I am happy to report that the CA680X has found a new place in the world. It went from Massachusetts to a good home in Saskatchewan, just for the cost of shipping. I feel much better about this than binning the unit. :-) The USPS and Canada Post managed to get it there intact, too!

Yes, that could be. The D400's having optical out is a big plus—D40 does not.

Well, the MXD-D400 isn't on the same level of playback SQ as, for example the JB930—but I knew that. It sounds acceptable and does have Type S. No, what I mean is that you can't use the D400 as a DAC like you can with most decks. That and it doesn't have demo mode. Seems odd because the lesser MXD-D40 has both of those features.

Thank you for confirming that, Stephen. I could not be sure that my perception was correct. So the IC containing the ATRAC chip isn't involved at all? BTW, The one deck I have (actually I have 2 of them) that lacks the pass-through DAC functionality is the MXD-D400. Although I found this out at no cost to me, I was disappointed.

Exactly, BearBoy. It would never even have occurred to me that an MD's D.In might send everything to be processed by ATRAC. However, when that possibility was suggested to me, I thought it best to look into it further. It may even be that all digital in on an MD deck does go through the IC containing the ATRAC processor...but that doesn't mean ATRAC is necessarily doing something to that signal. At least, according to my totally guess-like interpretation of the schematic for the JE530 in this regard. (Seriously no more than a semi-informed guess.) Thank the heavens for sfbp! ;-) That all said, I have two MD decks I am using not only as decks, but as DACs: JA22ES and JB930. Coincidentally or otherwise, these units have a DAC in common (CXD-8735N). It's all kind of mish-mish and I often have to use an xls I made to determine which piece goes where, but it all, happily, works out.

Sorry, Philippe. What I am trying to ask (because the subject was brought up elsewhere) is whether ATRAC comes into play when one is using the MD deck as a DAC. So I could also give the example of taking the optical signal from a CD player and passing it to the MD deck. Although I don't see where ATRAC would be involved, it has been suggested that it does. Sorry for any confusion! (I am of course well aware that Copying is an entirely different process than what I am referring to.)

What exactly happens when an MD deck is being used as a DAC and receives a digital signal? For example, if you take optical out from one MD deck and feed it to optical in of another. Does ATRAC become involved? I'm not that great at schematics, but I looked at the SM for MDS-JA20ES and it does look like all digital in gets routed through the ATRAC chip. It seems unlikely that an already decoded signal would be decoded/processed again, but....does anyone know?

Thanks, Phillipe, for the suggestions. Unfortunately, one of the last things I need right now is another MD within my four walls. Also, I'm just not going to fuss all that much about it. I'm pretty sure that I'm headed in the direction of line-in/mp3/bluetooth/whatever. The sad truth is that what I mainly listen to when I'm driving is the sound of my car. Gears, motor, and everything else—it's all a kind of music to my ears.

Looks like between here and elsewhere, no one one wants it. Poor thing! Off to the recycling center with it, then. It served me well and it came with a lot of used MDs that introduced me to a lot of new music. I always liked its SQ, but was less crazy about the somewhat fiddly (to me) controls. RIP.

CA680X Sony Head Unit $50 Reduced. I'd rather see it go to a good home then just bin it. Make me an offer! FOR SALE: CA680X Sony Head Unit. When last in car, was working. Type R, MDLP, etc. $60 USD includes ship to CON US. Original box. Thanks for looking! (What you see in the pic is what there is.) http://minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDX-CA680X.html

Actually was sold over at https://www.facebook.com/groups/minidiscgroup/ but did go pretty quickly.

FOR SALE: SOLD 50 blank MDs (23 brand-new, 27 used—all work fine). Included are 57 individual cases, 5 cases that each hold 5 MDs, 7 empty individual cases. and a CaseLogic that holds 12 MDs. A few of the used have some label residue...most are clean. Asking $90 USD for it all, OR make me an offer for all or part. Photos and spreadsheet attached. MD Blanks.xlsx

Even though I have neither of these machines—the lack of either S/PDIF or USB is the deal-breaker for me—it's good to see this kind of community spirit!

So how exactly do you record MD > Computer in real time from a legacy MD deck? Is there a device that will take S/PDIF output and send it via USB? I don't think I have optical or coax in on my computer. Sonic Stage is no help because it will not let you upload digitally recorded files. (I am aware of the Hi-MD exception. I do not have Hi-MD gear and don't expect to.)

As another example, the MDS-JA22ES (JPN model) supports a GUI interface via PCLK-MD1. Its fraternal twin, the MDS-JA20ES (ROW) does not support it. I have a 22ES and would love to give it a try, but there are more issues involved than I want to overcome.

The E10's SM has this: e10.tiff That's the only hint! While the U/G has this (along with the usual text): "You can make only a first-generation copy through a digital-to-digital connection." Could things get any weirder?!

Thought it might be worthwhile to note that the Sony MDS-E10 (pro MD deck) not only can ignore the SCMS copy-protect bit—when set to do so—but also will not propagate it. I tested this and I was, for example, able to copy a protected MD from the 930 to the E10, and vice-versa, once the E10 had stripped the SCMS. Sony does not mention this feature in the E10's manual, at least not in the version I have. The E10 is Type R. I don't know if this applies to other decks in the E-series.

I once asked my brother, he of the long-ago audio engineering degree, why he thought US and UK source material sounded so different. He did not know why, but he suggested that voltage diffs could be a factor.

My 940 is most assuredly the US model, as was my prior 940. I have long considered the 940 to be one of the better all-around bargains. Just FTR, my sound comparisons between the Sony MD and CD units are based on the [JA20ES and XA20ES] vs. the Musical Fidelity V90 DAC. The 940 doesn't enter the picture much, because when I use it for playback, usually its output is directed digitally to the JA20ES, which in that case serves as a DAC. In any case, IMO the 940 sounds more like both the 20ESs than it does the Musical Fidelity. When I get a chance, I hope to output iTunes to the JA20ES and see what that sounds like, as opposed to the MF DAC. It's all good!! :-)

Although I recall some discussion of the "British ears" aka "UK Sound Tuned" ploy over on the Facebook MD group (said discussion instigated by me), I cannot find it...and there were some responses. Second-best: found this: https://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/european-tuned-sound ...from which I gleaned: "Generally speaking it was an attempt to get closer to the sound of British hi-fi as opposed to the bright and brash end of the spectrum. Of course, there is always a marketing element to these things as well." This makes a kind of sense, in that some people find Sony's digital sound to indeed be too "bright" or "harsh." Perhaps the "UK tuned" thing is an attempt by Sony to make the sound a bit more analog-like. Applying my own experience to this, I find it reasonable. Although I do like Sony's sound as produced in the Sony CDP and MD decks I have used, it is noticeably different from the sound I get from my Musical Fidelity DAC, which is used for both iTunes and Internet radio playback. That sound is more analog-like, yet at the same time very detailed. It may not be coincidental that Musical Fidelity is a British company. If I listen to an MD or CD on a Sony unit, then switch to the Musical Fidelity, the difference can be almost a bit jarring. I appreciate both kinds of sound-shaping, although not sure yet which I prefer.

I cannot chime in on the Tascam, as I do not have that model. I do have both the JB930 and JB940, though. These two are similarly (but not identically) featured, even given the MDLP diff. For me, the 930 has the better SQ for listening. Not to say the 940 isn't very good—it certainly is. But the CXD-8735N DAC in the 930 goes a long way. This is the same DAC as in the the JA20ES (and my JA22ES). The 930 sounds almost as good as the 22ES. Almost. The 940 misses that rung by a half-step. Good luck!

100% agree with sfbp. Noting that the "given" here is that the recordings to which Type S is applied are of equal quality. Just wondering, I mean, if every Type R recording on every Type R machine is the same quality. Would be interested to know, as an aside, if your SQ via external DAC exceeds that of the native 940/980 DAC. I have an external DAC (Musical Fidelity V90), but I use it for optical out from computer.

Thanks again, as now I can read Part !!