horace

I recently bought one of these mics on ebay - paid the grand sum of £8 including postage. I'm rather suspicious that it might be a fake - ebay is awash with very cheap DS70Ps. Perhaps a batch escaped from the back door of the factory? Having said that, fake or not, the mic I received is very well made and makes excellent speech recordings. Does anyone know if there are fake DS70Ps about and how to identify them? Could there be another explanation for the large number of these mics selling cheap on ebay? Cheers Martin

Well, temptation got the better of me and I am sitting here as the new owner of a nice shiny black MZ-RH710. First impressions are very positive indeed. It's very well put together - no play in the lid mech when it's closed. The unit is very light and feels solid. The controls are nice - love that jog wheel! Best of all, it sounds fantastic - much better than I had expected. In fact, I reckon it gives my NH1 a real run for its money. I don't know exactly why, but I was never 100% convinced by the NH1. It seemed rather 'woolly' and muddled to my ears. I've just done the volume hack, but TBH I'm not entirely sure I got it right. I assume the fact that I have 'custom1' and 'custom2' in the eq options means I've succeeded? I found the 0113 bit, which had a line of constantly changing digits underneath it. I changed the last 2 digits to 24. Hope that was right - took ages to scroll through the numbers. Haven't got home yet, so can't comment on the software. I'm an XP user, so was planning to forget about the supplied software disc and go straight for sonicstage 4.2. Is there anything else on the CD worth bothering with or is sonicstage all I need? Anyway, I'm delighted. the only problem is that this has reawakened my interest in HI-MD and now I want an RH1! On that score, can anyone tell me if the RH1 sounds significantly better than the 710, or are the differences more about features/build etc? Thanks for your input - you persuaded me (not that I needed much persuasion). Big smile EDIT: Now for a remote - I could use my NH1 remote, but it's silver. What's the best black remote for the 710? Cheers Martin

Thanks everyone. I'm soooooo tempted. One final question - Is the latest version of Chronicstage better than the one that came with my NH1? (it was terrible, and contributed to the NH1's lack of use - I couldn't get the bloody software to behave). It seems the latest version is more stable, but there do appear to be people still having problems. I will spare you the 'drag and drop' speech, as I guess that one's been done to death....... I quite like the idea of an AA battery. Very handy. Go on, persuade me to go for it - the shop is about 100 yards from where I'm sitting right now and they're reserving it for me until the end of the day! Cheers Martin

What sort of MP3 bug? Sorry, I'm a bit behind the times here..... Thanks Martin

Hi My local electronics shop has a brand new (UK) MZ-RH710 all boxed up and lonely. The asking price is £49. I have an NH1, which has seen less and less use, as most of my music is MP3 these days and I don'r see the point in converting it to ATRAC... I've always liked MD - had a string of players over the years and like the format. I'd be using the 710 primarily as an MP3 player, transferring files from my pc (something I really wish the NH1 could do). Questions: The price is right, but what about the sound quality of the 710 compared to a flash/hard drive Mp3 player (say, an ipod or similar)? Would the optical/line recording function be as good as the NH1? I can't stretch to an RH1, so how much would I be losing in sound quality terms if I were to get the 710 (relative to the RH1)? I do like to record radio shows (I have a portable DAB/FM radio which goes wherever I go) and have been known to copy the occasional CD direct to the player when away from my pc. In many ways, I do wonder if a dedicated MP3 player might be a better option (bearing in mind my growing library of MP3 files) but ATRAC is handy for gapless transfers of classical CDs. I did read that the RH1 sounds considerably better than the NH1 - if this is true, does the improvement in quality also apply to the 710? Grateful for your views on this. Many thanks Martin

Thanks everyone - I managed to transplant a slider and all is well. Cheers Martin

Hi I have an 80 minute md of a live radio recording of a concert I went to. i haven't played it in years, but have noticed that the metal slider on the disc has got bent and the disc will no longer load into my player (I've tried it in an old Kenwood and my NH1). I tried removing the slider altogether, but no joy. The playing surface looks undamaged, but fitting a replacement slider looks tricky, as even the slightest kink or bend seems enough to render the disc unreadable. I really want to save the recording, so I would be very grateful for advice. Many thanks Martin

Thanks greenmachine, that's just what I wanted to hear. Regards Martin

Hi I have a precious recording (HI-SP) on a standard 80 minute MD, which has been 'got at' by my youngest son. I believe the disc itself is undamaged, but the metal slider (the bit that protects the exposed part of the disc) is so bent out of shape that I had to remove it. Will the disc still play (I don't want to risk trying in case it jams my player or something similar), or will I have to try transferring another slider from an old disc? is that easy to do? The recording is an analog one, so could be transferred to another disc I suppose. Any suggestions? Many thanks for your help. Martin

Gulp! Anyone confirm or deny this? Martin

Thanks Ishiyoshi I had thought of that, but I have a dial up connection and the upgrade installer tells me it is about to download about a squillion megs - surely it could just download what I actually need? Is there any way of getting hold of the CD writing module on its own? Thanks Martin

Well, I know this is a minidisc forum, but someone might know the answer to this: I have an NH-1 and am using MD Simple Burner (2.0.04.18080) and Sonic Stage (2.3.00.11020). It all seems to work just fine, but.... I have been given a Sony D-NE10 Atrac CD walkman (lucky me) and am keen to try it out. Problem is that for some reason, my version of Sonicstage does not have the facility to burn Atrac CDs - which is strange, but there you are. Also, is it possible to run MD Simple Burner and CD Simple Burner on the same computer and if so, how? In a nutshell, I need to be able to burn Atrac CDs, and use Simple Burner for both Atrac CD and HI-MD - can it be done? Can't find any info on this on the web. I thought Sonicstage 2.3 came with Atrac CD capability as standard, but mine lacks it....... Thanks everyone. BTW, the D-NE10 has REAL MP3 SUPPORT (including VBR!). Martin

Having used both Simple Burner and SS 2.3 to burn cds to my NH1 in Himd SP mode, I have a nagging doubt about the quality. I'm just not convinced that the results are quite as good as the old-style SP discs I copied via the optical input on my old Sharp MD. Simple question: has anyone compared the results of copying a CD via the optical input of a HIMD player direct from a CD player against using SB/SS? Cheers Martin I'll be doing my own comparisons, but would like to know what others have found.

That really is a great price. Now, when is someone going to release an NH1 compatible battery? I don't fancy spending £35..... Cheers Martin

Bluewater! Only a 1000 mile round trip away for me.... Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Cheers Martin