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Everything posted by Damage
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Except the most SUVs on the road these days aren't designed for serious off-roading. I know my rig (ML Series) isn't designed for serious off road use; not enough ground clearance for one. But at least the Pope and I share the same ride (he rides a uber-riced ML vehicle, LOL) By the by, on recording and iPod, if you install Linux on your Pod and thereby voiding your warranty, you can record CD quality audio with the regular headphone jack. However, I longer have mine to confirm. HiMD does use 1.1 connection, and it is limited by the speed of MO Head than anything else at this moment. And, as for the white earphones, you obviously haven't seen these yet, they date 3 years back: White Cords and Silver Driver housing. Way before iPod. Way before white was the new black or silver in electronics.
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Having used both: I'd give a slight edge to 900 over 800 for couple of reasons: 1. Battery pack does add a bit of a bulk, but the battery life you gain is extra 20 or so odd hours that Sony may quote. So you get about 30+ odd hours. With the AA pack,you don't lose much in the way of battery versatility either. Oh, no battery bump, and this is a huge difference! 2. HD Digital Amp. With a nicer portable headphones, you'll find the audio out from the headphone jack nicer sounding overall. Now, nicer here does not mean neutral/flat or audiophile flat. It is, however, very agreeable, but that detail is lost if you use inferior to average set of cans. 3. Backlit Remote. World Versions receives the vaunted MC40 Remote. However, if loss of these does not bother you, then the AM/FM radio that you get with 800 may be worth the tradeoff.
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iPods can act as a USB drive, but you need iTunes initially to enable HD use. Furthermore, you can use third party software for music management. Sony gear, most of them, are manufactured by Sony by themselves. My 600 and 900 both states it as such, SOEM manufactured. It is probable that Apple's iPod is manufactured with mostly off the shelf parts, but Apple, I'd wager, has a very large say in QA. Speaking of cars, most luxury cars (certainly German ones, and some American brands) now offer scheduled maintenance free of charge, Beamers all maintenance. So in that case, which would be a better value overall? Or, rather, with all the maintenance costs added in, which seems like a better value, the high end Toyota or a lower end BMW? Most would say the latter. Try not to make blanket statements. Not everyone wants or needs a MD, likewise, not everyone wants or needs a Pod. By the by, I say give that BMW 7 nice ground clearance, and it'd probably handle rough terrain better than most SUVs. And H2s are nothing more than dressed up Suburbans. Admittedly, still pretty rugged, but nothing like what it was based upon.
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MP3 To MD, Preffered Compression format
Damage replied to Things's topic in Technical, Tips, and Tricks
The general rule of thumb is that whatever you transcode (be it MP3->ATRAC, or MP3->OGG for instance), there will be some loss of quality. Whether or not you'll notice them in general portable settings is another question. For the most part, you wouldn't notice much if you're transcoding MP3 (256kbps or 320kbps) into HiSP, or 128kbps MP3 to ATRAC3 (132 or 105). I have best success thus far with the latter, though using HiLP was also acceptable. I'm sure there are some folks crining their noses as if this is verboten. -
Used to be back in the early to mid 90s, there were a line of CD cases that essentially used Jewel Case innards vs. the sleeves. This was, of course, before Case Logic beat the smack out of every other CD case makers. I used to use those exclusively, but they had their faults. For one, they were about 2x heavy as a comparable Case Logic cases, and the center spindle would get loose, leading to loose CDs in some cases. And loose CDs usually meant scratched CDs. I do miss those these days. I think a good alternative to the Case Logics are the Soft Sleeve CD carriers. They are still prone to scratches and scuffs, but I think they don't scratch as much as case logics. I also realise that this is old news, but the side that you should take care is the silk screened side, since those are virtually unprotected vs. the read side. In a pinch, one of those CD Cake holders will do nicely.
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Little spirited conversation never hurts. Besides, if we are having such discussions, then I think it's a good sign that the format still has legs, or that the Digital Music platform itself has plenty of room to grow, despite what dollars and cents tell us. I'd be more worried if we're not having such conversations. It's all good Kurisu.
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Of which, I'm reminded of this: "My Eyes! The Goggles, they do nothing!" Other than the missing smilies and aforementioned e-mail bug (I tried using the same e-mail, won't get rid of those warnings), everything looks good! Off the cuff question: How skinable are the Invision boards?
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Yes you can, listen to it at chipmunk speed! Then you can get in 48, or even 72 hours of music in one day! Whether or not you can actually comprehend such things is another question altogether! I miss the high speed dubbing options on those Tape Recorders.
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Not sure about their high end ones, but the Technics RP-DJ1200 was one of the best impulse buys at $40 (MSRP $120, discontinued). Despite them being DJ phones, they are surprisingly fun (slightly bright, especially with cymbals) to listen to though there is very little to speak of in terms of soundstage (left, center, right, very little in terms of up or down). Comfortable isn't the word I'd use though, they remind me of a vice on my ears. Since they are closed 40mm cans, I think those who has trouble using PX200s will probably not like these in the least. I did forget about those KOSS cheesehead cans, but their cables aren't WHITE! These have white cables, and that was about 3 years ago! So, I guess I was ahead of the curve! Ha! I wonder how they'd sound with the Pod? How about the cutest? Any fangrrls around to drop some opinions?
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There are some strange looking ones, but this one in my personal collection : Behold, the Panasoni RP-HS9. Get the placement right, they sound little bit better than stocks, but by not much. For looks, nothing tops this in a good or a bad way... Quickie impression: Bright Mid-trebs to highs, Bass is severly lacking, Vocals are overly predominant, maybe with a hint of nasalness. Fairly nice soundstage for what's its worth. Slightly better than your stocks, I think it set me back about $20 at the time. Obligatory Disclaimer: --- Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting
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1. Not everyone uses iPod as a mirror of their library. And I'm aware that such testing is done across the range as part of a QA program. However, incredible things happen, such as a car driving over said devices or other seemingly improbable things. Don't make blanket statements that say one thing or other is more durable than other. 2. Had two, in fact. And yes, I worried over dropping those laptop all the time. However, you're not using your laptop while your jogging, walking, or other activities that increases the likely hood of droppin said device. Again, no one's going to stop you from using your lapto while you're jogging. 3. I'd also say that iPods and Beaches (water, lots and lots of water) don't mix as well. At least, naked and bare as is, no portable electronics, especially the fancy, flagship types, don't mix with water too well.
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Where as I have, and there are plenty of ways to break an iPod without too much thinking. As you said, no single product is perfect. However, the nature of the beast with HD drives is that it has potential to cause more trouble, I know that I've KO'd several HDs with drops that would have minimal impact on portable players. There is really one moving unit on both the Pod and the MD, if you want to boil it down. My argument with this is that you have more to lose with an iPod if you're the clumsy type, your entire library vs. just your player and the unfortunate disc. I've outlined the impossible (sand getting into the Pod or getting dropped repeatedly) but stranger things have known to happen, like an iPod getting driven over... I don't think anything really survives that. Not the MD units, not Pod, maybe, just maybe a very rugged flash player... If at that. It's always bad if sand gets in your PCDP, MD, Muvo, Pod, etc. No argument there. However, the bringing player to the beach does raise data integrity implicitly. After all, bringing the pod is definitely a good idea to the beach when a sizable portion of library may or may not be corrupted by the environment. OK... With a sealed system, there is real no way to expand the system one way or another, or replace the batteries in a pinch, etc. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. Versatility is what I look for, but not necessairly with third party accessories, some of which has no "useful" use (the Laser Pointer comes to mind).
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AL, Audible is a subset of AAC/MP4 codec. So, iPod does MP3, AAC, PCM (WAV and AIFF being container of PCMS, they aren't necessairly codecs). Since you've put Audible and AL as a separate codec, shouldn't you do the same with Atrac, Atrac3, and Atrac3plus, listing each as a separate codec? Opinions. Everyone has one, you know? Ahh!! It's the attack of the strawman! Ahh, run for teh hillz! We all must be poor since we can't shell out $300 for a nice MD unit these days! A clean (not sealed necessairly) environment is necessary for HD-DAPS (almost a must) since HDs in comparison to other mediums, are much more fragile. Hard Drive heads and the drive itself does not make contact, but needs a cushion of air for it to work properly. Any foreign material that enters the HD will render it useless. While optical devices and sand may not mix, it is less likely to ruin the entire system (unless you're the unlucky type and a rogue sand bits and pieces scratches the lens to death). Conversely while your drive maybe toast in such case, your data isn't, for the most part. Unless you have some sort of sandpaper fetish with shiny, unscratched media. Sealed System has its own faults, including the inability to replace media as needed. Drop your iPod (not saying you should), HD goes kaput, you're pretty much up the river as you can not replace your HD with ones off the shelf. As clumsy as Creative DAPs are, you could have always replaced the HD should something disasterous happen to them (not so with newer players). Let's not get started with the sealed batteries. Yes, you can replace them with third party goods, but isn't nice to have to have the option to do so from the get go (Zen XTRA, Zen Touch Micro)? Or how about something that you can use off the shelf, like Gumsticks and AAs? As for reliability (off of a bit of a tangent given the sand in the player conundrum): Flash players, depending on the technologies involved has anywhere from 100,000 to 1,000,000 write cycles (not read). MDs have been quoted as having similar write cycle capabilities (not sure from where, though I distinctly remember one of the Sony Videos saying such figures, so at absolute worst, you'd have 100,000 write cycle-an order differential), while HDs has 50,000 start-up contact cycles before the failure rate increases in geometric ratio (ie skyrockets). In other words, they are fairly similar in terms of reliability if they aren't exerted to external forces, but you're more likely to harm a HD than a flash based player. Don't mind me. I'm trying to look at both sides of the picture here. Touche, or is the Dogma #7 at play?
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Toggle search subfolder option when converting. It'll step through all of the folders in that folder (that is, if you have 10 folder in D:mp3, then it'll look through those 10 folders along with the D:mp3 folder itself). It'll take about overnight for a large library, and not all of the music files may be converted.
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Take duct tape, cover up the three small holes. That's the infamous silver mod. Take a sewing needle, poke the driver holes (don't worry, the driver is situated towards the silver triangles that you've just cloed) once and only once. I think the silver mod has more to do with better characteristics. However, they need to be burned whether or not mods are applied.
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EX-71s needs massive burn-in time to get the most out of them (minimum of 100). Nismo can testify to that fact, he has a very well burnt in EX71s (1000s of hours). PX100s needed very little to none, likewise with Shures. MDR-V6s need something around tens of hours vs hundreds. The easiest way for me to burn in anything is this: D-NE1 (full charge), set to repeat + Headphones at normal volume and chuck it in a drawer. D-NE1 at full charge and battery pack has insane battery life (120-150 hours, no typo). If nothing else, they work wonders in burning in headphones.
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E3s are recommended, but not if you're looking for a fun set of phones (predominately big bass). They are a great set of phones, but not something I'd use in a portable setting. I'd recommend E2s more over E3s unless comfort is a must (E2s are big and bulby and not very comfortable). Speaking of EX71s, don't be fooled by their initial quality. These are the ultimate love-it/hate-it phones (even more so than other phones), with more going towards the hate-it side of spectrum. It should also be noted that EX71 have a notorious long burn-in time, once you get over that, they sound fabulous. This does takes patience and a spare piece of equipment to do so (I recommend 100+ hours at minimum). Once you do so, the bass is tamed, the trebles not so harsh and bright, and vocals taking its rightful stage more so than it used to out of the box. If you're not willing to put in time and patience, then I'd just as recommend something else over these. The PX100s, for instance, are comfy, sounds terrific, folds up easy.
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Try the player without the in-line control (provided that it is independent of the player, e.g. inline volume controller and not the remote) and see if that helps. Try it with different set of headphones, with and without the inline controller. As for AMPS, better headphone suggestions, etc. after reading upon recommendations here, I'd recommend head-fi (http://www.head-fi.org), but becareful, your wallet will take some punishement if you spend any significant time there.
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Happy 2k5 from Rainy Los Angeles, California (where the biggest worry at the moment seems to be whether or not it rains on the Rose Parade). And I want to pass on the same good thoughts and vibes to SE Asia.
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100GB (Assumes that you have some sort of HiMD player) in HiMDs costs roughly $700. That same $700 will net you 1x 60GB iPod and less than $50 in spare change after S&H or Sales Tax. ($599 MSRP) 1x 40GB iPod Color ($499 MSPR) plus $150 in spare change or there about. 1x 40GB iPod and $250 in spare change, maybe a nice 1GB flash MP3 player or a nice set of cans (If you do have $250 in spare change, buy me a MDR-V9s?) or 2x 20GB iPod, or 1x 20GB and 1x U2 20GB Pod, and mind you, this is total of 40GBs. or NH1 ($399 MSRP) and almost 40 blanks (40GB). But then again, we're assuming you already have a HiMD player. or NH1 and 130 normal MD blanks (39GBs, or thereabout, using 1GB=1,000MB, so each blank has 0.3B or thereabout, assuming $2 per blank, prices may vary.).
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Yea, I could, but... I could do that with my NH900 and use Audacity to simulate that effect... It wouldn't ba as fun though, you're absolutely right. Or, I'd just point the mics at my dogs and see what they do, flange/loop that for barrels of fun... Nah, I still have to get that CD3000 one of these days..
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Oh the things I can record with that... Actually, more for use in semi-pro/home studio than anything else. Quite nice.
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It's typical Sony, nice Hardware ated with bad software. However, I will say that I found iTunes more than underwhelming. As spartan and featureless as SonicStage is, it gets the job done and hasn't misbehaved in a while. If you so wish, you can do completely without SonicStage by using SimpleBurner, or completely without a computer. Just a thought. The scrollwheel is both a plus and a minus IMO. In my limited time with iPod (about 3 weeks 40gb), I was taking more time navigating through my albums than listening. Yea, there are playlists, but generating them through iPod or planning in advance of what I want to listen isn't really my cup of tea. This was true of both the iPod and the Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra. I did miss using remote for my navigation, something that I think is a must for any portable electronics these days. Less risk of a drop, for instance (other than the small flash MP3s). Any competent codec will produce nigh CD-transparent quality tracks given 256kbps. Failing to provide something between HiSP (256) and HiLP (64) with Atrac3plus (and sticking with Atrac3) is very questionable decision on part of Sony. There is nothing that can stop Atrac3plus from using 128kbps or 160kbps range should Sony allow it so. I can also argue that my NH900 gives much nicer listening experience with its HD amp and sounds much more neutral than previous MD units (a quick listen with the MDR-V6s reveals this easily). As for Ease of use, perceived build quality, looks etc. that's mostly subjective and tastes can change. For instances, I must have a Dock with my portable gear, no arguments can be made there. By that argument, I can say that iPods of lesser capacity are rubbish, but they obviously are not. I'd agree that iPods are dead easy to use. It still comes down to pressing the play button for the most part however. MDs controls, for the most part, are based around old MDs, when it held at most 80 minutes of music vs. several tens of hours worth. The iPod's controls were designed from the get go to make navigating through several GBs of music easily. Apples and Sonys, pardon the pun. Thus far, I've used many a portable electronics, from a Panasonic Shockwave PCDP back in mid 90s to iRivers fine line of PCDP (250, 350), Clie's audioplayer, even more PCDPs, several DAPS (including iPods), MDs and HiMDs. While I used to think remotes were very useless, after having used several units that required using remotes, I've done a total 180 on the remotes. Not having one is very... limiting, to say the least. It is nice to keep your player in your pocket (jacket, pants, wherever) and use the remote without having to dig the player out everytime I want to do something even remotely simple as changing volume. Maybe I'm still used to using discs. I still get a little joy when I get a new CD album and all the notes, books, photos that accompanies it. So, CDs and MDs will always have a place with me. Just wanted to bring my Pov on it. (I hate to nitpick a mod, but one thing I will say is name calling a piece of software other than what it is, along the lines of Microsoft with a "$" is immature, and belongs only on forums like slash-dot or fark.) iTunes actually has a nice playlisting ability, where you can let iTunes pick certain tunes (or so I am told) based on Genre or how much it was listened to, etc (similar to DJ features on Rio Karma). So you can always cycle in and out as needed. But then again, if your computer is in the doghouse (or otherwise incapaciated), you're locked out of your music. The bigger players do not suffer this problem unless you're exclusively dealing with lossless formats or have a ginormous library. Mine is quite large, but not 40GBs large (I think I filled out 33 or so). Of course, will you listen to all 40-50GBs of it? I haven't, and I actually ended up listening to small selection of my library. It does kinda make the whole entire library in your pocket almost useless if you don't make good use of it. Finally, I'll end with this note: Head-Fi Dogma #7: ATRAC sucks. Therefore, by extension, anything related to ATRAC must suck.
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One caveat: all known HD1 upgrades thus far is send back to your local Sony Center to have it flashed for mere $20 (local currency equiv.) This could be just a space holder to announce that. Stay tuned.
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Using the default EQ settings, try either UNIQUE, or HEAVY, as they add more to bass than the other two settings. Other than that, just fiddle around with it.