streaml1ne

dex: The train passing sounds really good. I just rattled the entire house with it. The punch in the beginning (train cars mating?) reminds me of the scene in Apollo 13 where they mate the sections of the Saturn V together. Same background noise followed by a punchy thud. Nice stuff.

I second that. I don't like things IN my ears either. It's pretty nasty when someone uses another person's ear bud too.

I can help with this. It will give me something to do at work.

NH1. For the sex appeal . As for battery life, if I'm going to record something longer than 4 hours I'll plug it into the wall

1. 2. 3. Not it!

or HiMDRender. Read this: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7436

In general they're pretty damn durable, but I'm sure you can find ways to break one. Like Rombusters said people have had some nasty spills with their units and never had issues. I've personally thrown minidiscs (the media, not the player) hard against the wall only to have the little metal cover piece pop off. Pop it back on, put it in the player and it plays every time. Good demonstration to the non-believer The 900 is half metal half plastic I think. The front face is definitely magnesium. The add-on battery pack screws onto the bottom of the unit.

Yep.

Recording issues, track marks http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7226 Issue saving after recording. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7101 What sucks is we bought 5 nh900's at work for our field producers to backup conference presenters. These threads popped up about a week after we received them, so I've been real nervous about it. So far we haven't had any issues, but we've only done two conferences with them. Otherwise the 900 is better for portable recording because of the battery situation, but hints of issues bother me.

Better remote (fancier yes, still better than the 900), smaller unit overall, all magnesium. Otherwise the guts are largely the same. The 900 has better power options with the external AA battery pack. But I've also heard here that the 900 is quirky.

I'd rather see a component deck for my home stereo than a car receiver. I've seen too much Sony car stuff blow up to be confident enough to buy one.

They're not noise canceling per se. They are circumaural, the cups sit over your ear completely and the ear cups are made of damping materials that block out alot of external noise. They're good enough to block out a good portion of the noise in a full datacenter with 3 or 4 industrial air conditioners running at full load. I'll try them on the PATH on Monday and let you know, but I'm sure they'll eliminate most of the noise there. Up until about 3-6 months ago they were Sony's top of the line studio monitor headphone. They sound excellent and are great with the NH1. They're more sensitive than most headphones so you can get away with lower power to get the same volume. Saves a bit on battery life, not to mention your hearing because you're not fighting external noise to hear your music. When I first bought them there was a slip of paper in the package saying that sounds reproduced by these phones were the natural sound of the recording and any artifacts are not the fault of the headphone. I found it kind of funny, but then I listened to them. It's alot easier to pick up artifacts in bad recordings with them. I actually thought the amp on my NH1 was dying until I listened to the original CD and heard the same artifacts. As long as things like that don't annoy you if you pick up on them you'll be fine. B&H has the 7509 cheap now compared to what I paid two years ago: http://tinyurl.com/4gljl Sony's newest top of the line studio phone runs for about $420 at B&H (MDR-CD3000). http://tinyurl.com/3jq4t I can't justify buying them without hearing first and comparing to the 7509's. Specification wise they look slightly better, they definitely have more ergonomic features in the ear cups, etc, though the 7509s are extremely comfortable. I can wear them for an entire day at work without any discomfort whatsoever. You pretty much will not be disappointed with the 7509. And for the price now makes them even sweeter.

I'm no doctor, so this could all be in my head, but I'm surprised how well the ears and brain seem to recover from loud sound. Since I got my NH1 I've been carrying my MDR-7509's to work. They completely cover the ear and drown out all the background noise from whatever PC's/servers are under my desk. In that time I've noticed a big increase in the sensitivity of my ears. So much so that the default volume levels on my home stereo are now too loud. I find myself turning down the stereo for normal listening by at least 5db. I don't experience pain or anything, I just don't need the same volume to hear details.

Some musings about the topic. Hopefully it will help someone looking into DVD-A/SACD.... So about a year ago I was browsing for music in Best Buy and I noticed a 'DVD Audio' section. I'd heard about multichannel stuff being put out on DVD and figured it would be neat to try out on my growing home theater setup. I picked up STP: Core and Sting: Brand New Day. Brought them home, played, enjoyed. There were significantly better details both through higher fidelity recordings (more later) and obviously more channel separation. Months passed and then I got my Hi-MD. Came to these forums and in general regained my interest for how stuff works in music reproduction etc. As a part of that I started doing more research into the DVDs I bought a while ago and found that DVD Audio is a tricky little thing. Originally I thought, hey I have a DVD player and this is a DVD, so I can play these discs. Well that's not entirely the case with DVD-Audio. Sure they play in regular DVD players, but only because most discs are ALSO encoded with a Dolby Digital or DTS version of the recording to remain compatible with DVD-Video players. This sparked my interest. A few google's later and I'd found that while the DVD-Audio specification has been around since 1999-ish, MOST DVD players still don't play the high fidelity tracks encoded on the disc. Yes, even 6+ years later if you want access to the high fidelity 96kHz/24-bit multichannel or 192kHz/24-bit stereo DVD-A tracks you need a specialty player. Most are dubbed Universal players since most manufacturers bundle SACD, DVD-Audio, and DVD-Video support into them, except Sony. I don't believe they have a DVD-Audio compatible component since it competes directly with SACD. Regardless, I started shopping for a nice Universal Player to replace the Harman Kardon DVD player I'd just purchased a few months ago (yep, I'm a hardware junkie ). HK made a new player that supported DVD-A and SACD, but after some research I noticed you can only play DVD-A or SACD tracks via the 6 or 8 channel direct outputs into a pre-amp or AVR, which means a DAC conversion in the player. This bothered me because you have this lovely 96Khz signal and you're going to convert to analog!? I'd thought that since my Harman AVR supported 192kHz and 96kHz rates within its DSP/DACs I'd want to fiber the DVD-A directly to the unit and let it do the A/D conversion on the better DAC. (I also really really wanted to see the 192kHz and 96kHz led's light up on my reciever ) But this isn't how things work in DVD-A/SACD land. It seems there's a combination of bandwidth limitation on TOSLink/digital coax AND a DRM component that prevents existing fiber/coax from being used to transfer these signals to your AVR. Also, most, if not all AVR's don't know how to decode MLP which is the lossless codec used in the DVD-Audio spec. The same applies to Sony's DSD system which is what SACD uses. (edit: Newer Universal players do allow digital transfer of DVD-A/SACD via firewire or proprietary link. Denon's 3910 player uses firewire (Denon Link??) to transfer digital data directly to your very expensive AVR for decoding/conversion. I haven't found a comparison between letting the player do the DAC instead of the AVR, so I don't know how much better it would be to stay digital into the AVR given the high performance components you usually find in these players.) With all that digested I kept shopping and based on a bunch of reviews settled on a Denon 2200S player. It was a hell of alot pricier than the HK unit, but had alot of cool 'audiophile' features like Pure Direct, 192kHz Burr Brown DACs, progressive scan, full bass management etc. Pure Direct is probably the coolest feature, it allows you to shut off subsystems in the player that aren't being used. So when you're playing a CD/SACD/DVD-A you can turn off the video processors and the fiber/coax subsystems when using 6-channel direct. It eliminates high frequency interference from those systems that can affect the reproduction of your high fidelity recordings. Funny enough it actually does work. I recorded songs with the Hi-MD with the video processor on and off and you can actually see the difference in spectral graphs at about 18,000-2,0000 Hz. The difference becomes audible if you crank the stereo and turn each system on and off. The one downside to DVD-A/SACD is the loss of EQ-ability. My Harman has bass and treble pots like most stereos for basic EQ. You lose those pots when using 6-channel direct. Makes sense, you're just using the amplifier at that point, but it becomes important depending on the recording you're listening to. For instance. STP: Core sounds great with whatever signal comes from the DVD-A. The SACD version of Synchronicity (2-channel) though needs more treble, for my ears at least. Whereas the SACD of Dark Side of the Moon I just picked up sounds excellent. It mostly comes down to the recording/remastering that's done on the DVD-A/SACD versions of existing albums, but still, having at least those bass and treble pots would be a help. Most multichannel EQ options are expensive ($9000 for a Diva ) OR they resample things and do EQ digitally which is just stupid. What's the point of having a 96kHz recording converted to analog, only to be A/D'd to 44 or 48kHz only to be DAC'd again... To EQ each channel separately I'd need 6 discrete EQ's or 2 dual channel EQ's and at least another single channel for my center channel speaker. All options are costly and/or a pain in the arse to store. So for now the EQ stays out of the picture. Overall I'm extremely happy with the result. Every DVD-A/SACD I've purchased to date (STP: Core, Alicia Keys: Songs in A Minor, REM: In Time 1988-2003, Floyd: Dark Side, etc etc.) have been better than their CD counterparts. Like I said before, it's for multiple reasons. Channel separation absolutely lets more detail through. For instance in Fallin' on Songs in A Minor there's a violin that's largely faint throughout the song and only comes forward nearer the end. On the DVD-A it's significantly clearer, so much so that you can actually hear some of the intricacies the violinist goes into. Those intricacies are pretty much not there on the CD. No Memory on Core brings out details and entire instruments (maracas and other percussion) that are inaudible on the CD version. Time on Dark Side... Forget it, hearing ticking clocks coming from all around you is trippy enough without the drugs The clarity of most of these recordings is FAR better as well thanks to 96kHz rates 24-bits of depth. If you happen to be in the market for a new DVD player or are a hardware junkie like me and feel like upgrading I heartily recommend making the move to multichannel alternatives like DVD-A and SACD. You won't be disappointed... -streaml1ne Some Links: http://www.digitalaudioguide.com http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/main.html http://www.denon.com http://www.harmankardon.com

You can pretty much never go wrong with Hooverphonic. 'cept I prefer Blue Wonder Power Milk and A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular. Here goes: The Used: The Used, Greener with the Scenery sounds really good on my new setup. STP: Core, DVD-Audio. There's so much more detail on No Memory compared to the CD, it's sickeningly good Thievery Corporation: Sounds from the Thievery Hi-fi Ashen: Pull and Repel, No Other Comfort Mocean Worker: Mixed Emotional Features

Buy the album

Best advice: Go to the doctor.

My NH1 goes in the jacket pocket with or without remote. If the unit itself had a way of selecting random play I'd pretty much never use the remote for mobile play. As it is I connect the remote set random and disconnect it whenever I change discs. I've got the short-cord-behind-the-head one piece headphones from my original G750. The cord length is perfect when I've got the recorder in my jacket pocket. I plan on getting a new set of portable phones for summer. Something with a 1m cord so I can slip the NH1 in my regular pockets and not need the remote.

Yes it does.

Sony should have used a harder clear plastic to cover the LCD on the MC40ELK remote. Mine picked up minor scratches and scuffs WAY too easily even when I babied it. The clear plastic seems alot softer than the remotes that came with the nh700 and 900.

If you wanted something the size of the N10 you should have gotten the NH1 .

I hope this is part of round 2 o' Hi-MD.

USB2 Support is moot if the data transfer rate of the medium is less than 10 or so megabits per second Readjusting rec levels with the jog is cool. but it would be nice if you could default AGC to off so you wouldn't have to do the initial pause and change to manual level control.

Hmm, firefox doesn't like your PNG's... Had to open and save them. Interesting results.

vsander, take a look at this: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7436