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aeriyn

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Posts posted by aeriyn

  3. Hurricane Ivan

    in The Loft

    Posted

    Well, your friendly neighborhood moderator Cori lives right in the path of the "biggest storm to hit Alabama, ever."

    Yeah. Should get about 70+ mph winds tomorrow and the next day. Hopefully this estimate is high, and that my power won't go out.

    I'd die of computer withdrawl. :laugh:

    So, if I vanish and stop being helpful for a few days, know that my power got knocked out and I'm driving around looking at all the destruction. Might take some pictures.

    *runs to frantically charge up gumstick batteries*

  5. Have a Hi-MD question that doesn't need a thread? [part III]

    in Minidisc

    Posted

    AHAHAHA, nice aeriyn tongue.gif

    Mmmm, I think it is pretty stupid that you HAVE to have the stand to recharge the battery.  Sony probably hope we'll buy the extra batteries for $40! :|

    That's actually not a real wonderful idea either... Li-Ion batteries don't take well to being stored (several months) with a full charge. The battery would oxidize and no longer function.

    That, however, is not nearly as bad as empty Li-Ions... the lithium can plate in the battery and possibly explode.

    Overcharging Li-Ions can also make them explode, which is why all Li-Ion batteries are "smart" batteries, i.e. the charger won't charge past a certain voltage. NiMH simply charge for a set time period.

  15. Hardware recomendation

    in Minidisc

    Posted

    Easy as pie!

    The Sharp MD-DR77. No contest.

    An upgraded version of the DR7 with added features, it has all the wonderful sound of the Sharp Auvi 1-bit amp as well as many useful recording features. It's quite a bit chunkier than newer Sony units (I think around 17mm thick rather than 13mm), but Sharp doesn't sacrifice sound quality for size. It is also built like a freaking tank... the only other modern unit I've seen halfway as tough was my R900, may it rest in peace.

    It uses normal gumstick batteries and has an external battery pack, so powering the unit won't be a problem. It does not have NetMD, but pfft... you can't record in true SP mode via SonicStage anyhow.

    This unit has many useful features for recording, including remembering record mode settings (SP stereo, SP mono, LP2 or LP4) and a record-start button on the remote. How cool is that! The unit itself has a large 3-line display for monitoring recording levels which is why I place this above my favorite NetMD unit (the DR80, which has no displays at all on the main unit).

    You can get this unit at Audiocubes. It is a Japan-only model, but pfft... that doesn't stop us. Somewhat pricey, but if you want recording and good listening all in one unit, this is the way to go.

    affiliate_show_banner.php?ref=5&affiliate_pbanner_id=873

    Sharp MD-DR77 Auvi 1-Bit MiniDisc Recorder

  16. Your 100% Non-BS opinion as a Hi-MD buyer.

    in Minidisc

    Posted

    i didnt say that he didnt keep it on his computer too but i am sayin that its frustrating having to put em back onto the player

    and say yer in a situation where you dont have your computer around and this happens. like yer on vacation or something and you bring your ipod the charger and all its whatnots this happens sure youve got your nice ipod yer nice charger and youve just lost all yer musicbecause something accidental happend you arent gonna see yer computer for a week (maybe less) wouldnt that suck

    and im not saying that it would crash on all kinds of shock to the device but im saying that some people wouldnt wanna take that chance especialy if your puting alot of music on it

    In that situation, yeah I see how MD would be superior, IF you were prone to violently flailing around and tossing your iPod through the air... :laugh:

  17. Spectrum analyzation of WAV, 256kbps ATRAC3+, 132kbps ATRAC3

    in Minidisc

    Posted

    Aeriyn, you said you're ripping your CD's to 320 kb/s MP3 and convert them into ATRAC3+ 256.

    It's only my humble theory, but I think you'd better rip them to max. 256 kb/s MP3. I guess ATRAC3+ and MP3 work quite similar. When converting from 320 kb/s MP3 to 256 ATRAC3+ a lot of information needs to be thrown away, because of the lower bit rate of ATRAC3+ 256. This will not be the (so much) case when converting MP3 bitrates lower than 256 kb/s to ATRAC3+ 256.

    When transcoding, it's always better to start with the least amount of loss as possible. When you transcode from 256kbps MP3 to Hi-SP, it's going to throw away exactly as much information as it does when you rip directly from CD to Hi-SP.

    However, with MP3, information has already been thrown away, so you get double the artifacts for the same low, low price. So if you absolutely have to transcode, it's better to do it with higher-bitrate files.

    Also, Joint Stereo, if done in the m/s method, is lossless. Intensity stereo, however, is not.

    There is one hughe advantage in ripping to MP3 before converting to ATRAC3(plus). You can normalize the MP3's to have higher volume output on your Network Walkman.

    Mainly older CD's result in MP3's with low volume.

    You want to fix the volume of all your MP3s to a certain rate, losslessly? Well, I have a nifty little program for you.

    MP3Gain

    Sets the gain (not peak level normalization, which is not lossless) of all your MP3s to an even level.

    Oh, and you're welcome. :laugh:

  18. Your 100% Non-BS opinion as a Hi-MD buyer.

    in Minidisc

    Posted

    I paid $150 for my NH600D and am listening to gorgeous PCM put directly on it. $150 buys you a wimpy 256 meg flash player, so the HD600 is a pretty good deal.

    Granted that ipod mini would probably record faster because it's HD based.  But it costs an extra $100 and has little battery mojo. Plus it comes standard with a metrosexual image that I personally could live without.

    A winner is you.

    As far as I knew, SonicStage did not allow you to transfer PCM tracks.

    Pfft. Are you saying the iPod isn't manly enough? :laugh: Maybe not a pink one... IMHO, iPod Mini's looks own the NH600D. I seriously can't stand that thing. I just don't see dropping over $100 on any digital audio player entirely made of plastic.

  21. What headphones/Ear plugs do u guys use?

    in 'phones

    Posted

    Go with the D66 eggos if you like circum-aural type headphones. They have a short cord too, and sound quite nice. They are under $100.

    affiliate_show_banner.php?ref=5&affiliate_pbanner_id=41

    If you prefer in-ear types, then you're a bit more limited. The Sony MDR-EX71SL isn't that wonderful, the bass is quite bloated but they are definitely loud enough on Sony portables.

    affiliate_show_banner.php?ref=5&affiliate_pbanner_id=387

    The best under $100 in-ear 'phones I've found are the Shure E2cs, which generally run about $90ish. Various e-tailers sell them. I bought my pair from B&H Photo. They do not have short cords, though, so using them with a remote isn't all that easy or comfortable.

  22. Spectrum analyzation of WAV, 256kbps ATRAC3+, 132kbps ATRAC3

    in Minidisc

    Posted

    Ok, thanks for that.  If I did rip it to ATRAC3... that means I would end up playing all music through SonicStage, and only PC's with SonicStage would be able to listen to the music...  I'll have to think about that one.

    Thanks for that,

    Andrew

    What I tend to do with CDs that I own (not counting the ones that got stolen out of my car), is I will rip the CDs to MP3 320kbps CBR since I don't have the hard drive space for too many FLACs, and 320kbps is plenty small enough not to totally fill up my hard drive.

    320kbps MP3 > ATRAC3+ 256kbps shouldn't be TOO bad, but CD > ATRAC3+ 256kbps would be a whole lot better. No transcoding involved.

  23. Your 100% Non-BS opinion as a Hi-MD buyer.

    in Minidisc

    Posted

    aeriyn i know yer all over these ipods and i know that they are pretty sweet lookin and hold alot and are good for some people but my reason for not getting one is this,

    i need something more durable, i had a freind that put almost 5 gigs of music on his and he tripped and fell on the thing (not too hard but enough) and the ipod was okay but that not to say the music was too....he lost it all!!!!

    i was considering one untill that happend to ma freind then i went to my himd (which i have fallen on a few times working and such and i have to say its held up wonderfuly and the music is definetly in tact all 400 tracks biggrin.gif so i think it really depends on the persons activity and where that machine is going and whats happening to it and whether you wanna risk all that music eh?

    Well, I don't see why you would load all your music onto an iPod and not also leave it on your hard drive... blink.gif That just doesn't make sense to me.

    While I record SP-mode MDs for the moment, that doesn't mean I delete the MP3s and FLACs off my hard drive.

  24. Spectrum analyzation of WAV, 256kbps ATRAC3+, 132kbps ATRAC3

    in Minidisc

    Posted

    Thanks HEAPS for that Marco, very much appreciated.  At home, I normally use Windows Media Player to copy my songs from CD to PC, and then I use the import tool in Sonic Stage to import the music off the hard drive.  I then load the songs onto my MD at ATRAC3plus 256. Are you saying the sound will be as good as CD quality if I do it this way?

    Thanks for that research, was excellent!

    Andrew

    Actually it will be much better if you use SonicStage or MD Simple Burner to rip directly from CD > ATRAC3+, since ripping into WMP is compressing it as MP3 or WMA.

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