aeriyn

Bush isn't a real Republican. He's a caricature of what a liberal's worst nightmare of a conservative would be. Also, this isn't a democracy. We live in a republic, which is controlled by representatives rather than the individual... Well, just think. Our government is slow as it is; it would grind to a halt if every single one of our 260 million plus population was allowed to have a direct say on it.

I'm voting for Hillary next time if she runs, or whomever runs for the libertarian party if she doesn't.

I tend to mention AAC because it's a very good codec IMO.

Actually MD is 16 bit... all MD. ATRAC 4.5 and new Hi-MD. The Wide Bit Stream thing on MD decks has to do with the data while it's in the deck... I'm not entirely familiar with how it works.

Lossless is the same as PCM, but smaller so more would fit on the disc. AAC is superior to MP3; I'd be happy with 256kbps AACs.

Glad to see someone doesn't think I'm nuts. When listening fairly closely, I find that Hi-SP's artifacts are much more metallic (and irritating) than legacy SP's. Old-school ATRAC 4.5 may have more artifacts, but they aren't as noticeable by me and metallic noises tend to catch my attention. Also, I agree that for real empirical information on one's ability to detect encoded tracks, one would need to ABX said samples... Maybe it's all in my head, but I swear that I can tell if something's been compressed. Maybe I'm just nuts. :laugh:

If Sony would include a lossless codec support for Hi-MD, I'd be game. :laugh: Or even MP3/AAC. But lossless would be nice, too.

I can hear the difference between linear PCM recordings and legacy SP. I can hear the difference, but it's not annoying. It's not a terribly bad difference. The difference between Hi-SP and PCM is much more marked. Hi-SP artifacts tend to be metallic and flangey and are slightly annoying, but nothing near Hi-LP. Hi-LP literally fatigues my ears. (FIY, I don't own a Hi-MD unit, so all these tests are based on listening from inside SonicStage with PC sound card.) I blame you, Skyther, for making me so picky! But, if I can, I'll listen to the original CD. I use my DS8 and MD for on the go because it's almost impossible to make that thing skip, it fits well in pockets (even in stretchy low-rise jeans with tiny pockets!) and it's really cute. When I'm at home, I listen to the orignal CD. Right now, while my amp's still being built, I use my PC with my DT440s connected to listen to tunes. Honestly, if it wasn't so huge and didn't skip like a mofo, I'd use my beat up old D-33 and my Shure E2cs for portable use. It has a nice sound to it. :sleep: D-33 skips too easily even to use in my car... damn my bad shocks! :grin: Sony's organizational system for tracks on MDs (Groups) is horrid. I'd honestly hate to have to use that for 8 hours of music, much less 34. It's much easier to have one MD for one album. I'll admit, Hi-MD discs are very, very hard to come by... so I can understand your point of view. But I don't agree with it. :laugh: Maybe this is the RIAA's evil plan... to addict us all so hopelessly to bit-perfect quality that we'll never download MP3s ever again. If so, they did a good job on me... I've been buying CDs like a good girl. (Used, of course, and off eBay, but still not stolen. :grin: )

Hmm. My Shure E2cs are supposedly very efficient, yet my DS8 has trouble driving them to a decent level. Please bear in mind that my hearing was damaged by ear infections when I was young, so what may be loud to you may not be loud to me. I believe that the 4-conductor design, when shorting the negative channels across themselves by using a 3-conductor headphone, results in some kind of power drop... I've heard people saying that Sharp 1-bit recorders' headphone jack can't function as even a ghetto line output. However I think my hearing may be getting better; I don't have my DS8 on 21/30 most of the time anymore. Usually around 15/30 in a quiet room, 18/30 in public places with ambient noise. Or maybe my JE330 is just recording things louder than that stupid N505 did... This is sort of off topic, I know. :sleep: Skyther, the ER-4Ps have 24 ohm impedance... wouldn't that make them harder to drive by 5mW headphone amps?

Try uninstalling SonicStage and reinstalling via the directions on the FAQ. Make sure that, once your install is complete, that "OpenMG Secure Module" is not missing from your Add/Remove Programs list. Gods I'm glad I don't have to deal with SonicStage. :laugh:

This isn't really a question, just an observation. I've noticed that when recording with my JE330, the gain of the discs recorded is noticeably higher than those recorded with my now-defunct N505 (real-time mode). No, the increase in gain doesn't seem to negatively affect sound quality; it's a marginal increase, on the scale of 1-3 dB. But I can tell with the DS8, by finding myself setting the volume one notch lower.

Well, of course not. SP is old-school and can't be DRMed. Since by adding DRM would alter the codec, making it incompatible with legacy MD equipment. Also, Hi-SP is supposed to be ATRAC 4.5R's replacement with the new machines. No, it's not as good (yet) but there's every indication that Hi-SP will eventually be better. I still say we need AAC for MD! :laugh:

AFAIK, the ATRAC DSP is a specific purpose IC within the MD unit and can't be upgraded and isn't a ROM. I don't know about Hi-MD. I'm not the person to ask about Hi-MD. I still want an AAC-compatible MD unit. :laugh:

Maybe they are worried about mics picking up the mechanical noise of the recorder? ... can an NH900 even power Etys? The hissing that some cheaper DAPs produce comes from either cheap opamps, cheap capacitors or both, or maybe something's not grounded well in the headphone amplifier... I haven't ran into an MD unit yet, even the very cheapest models of Sony (N505, et al) don't produce a hissing noise. Sony MD units, especially cheap ones, have a lot of motor noise. However, my R900 was louder than my N505, my N10 was quieter than both, but my DS8 is utterly silent. I'm talking about playback noises and start-up sound, not recording since the DS8 can't record. :grin: It is ironic to note that my JE330 deck is much quieter than either my late R900 or my N505.

I like PCM. PCM likes me. :grin: Anyhow, I would definitely say that ATRAC3+ 64kbps is superior to MP3 at the same bitrate, even a good MP3 encoder. MP3 is rarely used at such low bitrates, I guess no one thought to make it sound like less crap than... Any codec that compresses something 20:1 is not going to sound good, no matter what you do. I think Sony actually put more effort than most to make low-bitrate tracks sound better, but still... I would not listen to music at anything below Hi-SP (if I even had a Hi-MD unit) and probably would record everything PCM if I could obtain enough discs. Although, if I did that, I'd just get an iPod, because then I'd have to use SonicStage. Ugh. I like my MD deck. Listen to PCM. It is your friend! :laugh: You can record to Hi-MD 1gb discs in LP2 mode. However, the SonicStage encoders are much, much worse than the hardware encoders inside the MD unit itself. Ye have been warned... :happy:

If Sony doesn't do it, they won't allow anyone else to do it also, since they have total control over what their licensees do with the MiniDisc technology.

actually, what I used was black epoxy. I just painted a little bit on the edges of the slash (it's a small superficial slash in the material that makes up the outer casing of the remote cord) and you can't even tell its there now. :grin:

Today I got up and got ready to head out and screw around while waiting to go to work... and on my way out of the bedroom, I felt a sharp tug. I caught my DS8 remote cord on the door plate in the frame. It ripped a big hole in the sheathing of the cable. *crycrycry* Still works though... no wires got hit, but now I'm cranky! At least Audiocubes has these remotes for sale now. *coughoverpricedcough*

This is unfamiliar territory to me, but the fact that your NH700 is a European model may have something to do with this; they have reduced output power (3mW I believe as opposed to 5mW). Or you may just have a wonky MD unit. :sleep:

Since you use your MD unit for business purposes, I would suggest purchasing a higher-quality microphone... but I need to know how much you can spend. Good monaural mics aren't terribly expensive, but for a little bit more you can have a pair of binaurals that will give you great sound. :grin:

Most Sony remotes are universal in the signals they send/receive from the MD unit; so yes the RM-MC38EL will function with the NH1. However, why don't you see if your RM-MC40ELK will work in the same way? Start recording something and see if "P MODE" functions in the same way as "T MARK." Who knows? It might work. :happy:

I mean, I've never tried it before, so I dunno if it'd work. And I do have a netmd portable (N505).

He has a valid point, Syrius. A nation that is comprised of hundreds of millions of people, who all have very different religious and/or spiritual/philosophical beliefs... the government cannot play favorites, both morally and pragmatically. However, because people can't think for themselves, we have what we have. Why is thinking for one's self so unpopular?

Final Fantasy XI was released in Europe last month.

The day Sony improves SonicStage to an actual usable level is the day I start using it-- ... wait a minute. I use an MD deck. :laugh: I suppose that I would use SonicStage for titling discs recorded on the JE330, since while it's not hard to title with the deck, it's easier to title with the computer keyboard. :grin: Well, if SonicStage actually allowed me to title discs recorded in true SP mode on a deck. :sleep: I wish my deck had a Control A1 interface.