greenmachine

If you record loud sounds only, there's not much use for mic-in. For anything quieter like unamplified instruments, ambient, speech... you will need preamplification to get sufficiently high levels.

A less aggressive high-cut can not be a direct indicator for technical superiority or better quality. Lossy codecs need to save bits somewhere. A high-cut is just one of many methods. The higher the bitrate, the less information needs to be left out.

The NH600 (not to be confused with the unsuitable NH600D) is a 2004 model HiMD Recorder with line-in only and can be had fairly inexpensive usually. It will record almost 8 hours on a 1GB disc in high quality Hi-SP Mode, so you would only need one or two discs per day. Plus, you can digitally upload the content to your PC. Search ebay or other places for a used one in your price range.

The quality will be much better if you put the mics close to your ears. Headphones in a concert may look suspicious but if you use separate mini mics and mount them on the rim of some eyeglasses, you will get the best possible recording without looking too suspicious.

To make this a bit more clear, let me add the following: The high frequency cut-off is the easiest to analyze and make visible via graphs. It can by no means be a direct indicator of perceived sound quality though since it is just one of many methods lossy compression utilizes to reduce file size. If inaudible content is excluded like in a 18 or 20k cutoff, the saved bits can be used elsewhere to retain quality in the best possible way.

Bass roll-off can make sense if you know you are going to record in a situation with overemphasized bass, which would need to be corrected afterwards anyway. If you lower the overemphasized bass from the beginning, you can set the recording levels higher, the dynamic range will be higher, noise after normalizing lower. For recording non-amplified instruments in a reflective room like a church you certainly wouldn't want to roll-off the bass since it is not too present to begin with. It depends on the situation if a roll-off makes sense - if you don't know the location and sound system, you'd better not roll off and correct afterwards.

boojum, are you talking about recording? If so, you probably mean ADC (analog to digital converter). bluecrab, bear in mind that MD decks use a lossy compressed format, which may contribute to the perceived difference.

Yeah.

The voltage rating doesn't really make a difference as long as it's above the battery voltage (9V). Capacitors with higher voltage ratings tend to be larger physically(not so good if you aim for miniaturization). 2.2uF will give a (6dB/oct.) roll-off just below the threshold of hearing (20Hz). When using smaller caps, the roll-off may be audible (above 20Hz). The capacitor is used to prevent DC battery voltage entering the recorder's input jacks.

Unamped speech is rather quiet, whereas most live music will be much louder, doesn't require as much preamplification. The (self) noise of the mic and/or preamp will be way less audible. You're comparing apples with oranges here, I'm afraid.

I suspect the buffer to be 8 MByte (64 Mbit) large in my NH700 and PCM to be uncompressed, see here.

LP4 uses some form of channel narrowing anyway, so it's neither full stereo nor mono but something in between.

Depends on the sensitivity of the microphones. Lower is better in this case.

The B model is the pin type, see here.

M10, M100, RH1 (= M200) http://minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

You can, of course, copy in real time from any MD's headphone output, but Hi-MD would give you an identical copy, faster than real time via USB. If you're looking for the lowest price, have the patience and don't mind some quality loss, any MD with the necessary analog inputs will work for you as a recorder. What do you want to use it for (music/speech recording, etc.?

NetMD models like the N707 cannot upload at all. The digital transfer is limited in one direction (PC to MD). You would have to do a lossy real time copy from the MD's headphone output to the line-in of your soundcard (with Audition or any other recording program). If you already have a collection of MDs which you want to transfer to the PC, the RH1 would be your best option (only unit able to upload legacy recordings). If you want to make new recordings and upload these, any HiMD with mic- and line input would be suited and will do the transfer via SonicStage. Audition is an editing program and cannot be used for uploading or control of any MD portable.

... said the person with an attenuator in his avatar j/k I wonder how long it will take until we finally don't need these workarounds anymore. Basically a recorder with one input jack for everything, a wide variable gain range and switchable plug in power.

One of the beauties of mp3 and many other modern codecs is the ability to use a variable bitrate: You choose the quality and the encoder will automatically choose the minimum necessary bitrate to achieve it. Makes the compression most efficient, very little disk space is wasted.

That should be possible, although paranoid users would probably make a real time copy first, just in case. Combining on the unit and uploading afterwards has been a problem with older versions of Sonicstage (pre 3.2 or 3.4 I think) but has been largely resolved lately (although I still don't completely trust it). You have several options, sorted from most time consuming, least accurate, but most secure to relatively fast and convenient (but somewhat risky): - analog copy out of the headphone output - digital real time copy using Total Recorder - upload uncombined with Sonicstage, convert to wav and use an audio editor afterwards to combine - upload with Sonicstage, use the combine feature (tracks need to be highlighted in the correct order) - remove the marks on the unit and upload with Sonicstage Some details are here. And yes, Sony should have built in an option to disable auto track marking a long time ago.

Only with a dynamic or self-powered mic - all condenser types (including the most common electret) require a voltage to operate, otherwise they won't output anything - you will record silence.

It will depend on the quality of your soundcard (and the output of the MD of course). Most of the time the quality will be quite good. Let your own ears decide. As a musician, if you need highest quality and record frequently, Hi-MD may be a worthwhile investment.

The RH1 / M200 can upload legacy recordings (although SP/MONO needs to be converted to a format that exists outside of MD). Why not make sure the unit actually does what you need it for before acquiring it?

1) There's usually a level control at the optical in. If it can't be disabled, the copy won't be bit-perfect (but still very good) 2) You cannot connect an analog out to a digital in without a converter in between. The resulting quality will depend on the quality of the AD-DA conversion. 3) No. 4) You have to use SonicStage, which is far from perfect, but usable. There's a whole subforum for software discussion in these forums.

The M100 is the MAC compatible equivalent to the RH10, which are one generation older than the RH1 (= M200) and are not designed to upload legacy recordings.