L7R

You are not getting mad. There are lot of defective EX71's on the markets. I have bought a pair and they lasted exactly 2 weeks. After one week left(or right?) side faded considerably, then after week 2 it totally died.

Fantastic!

Piracy is a crime, also with SS3.2. Piracy made mp3's popular, though. Music with skips is worse than crackling, popping vinyls or hissing casettes. But people liked free music more than quality... we are only animals.... Can you imagine waching movie with blank screen and skipping sound in every 5 minutes? If it would be free, you'll surely like it more than paying 15 bucks of it?

Definitely LP2! Even LP4 sounds better than Hi-LP to my ears.

Sorry to tell but I'm afraid your unit is broken (optical block?). There could be just 0.000001 percent chance what you could try. Remove battery for overnight and hope for best. When I receive my unit (shipped from uk) it skipped like hell at first couple of weeks when running. Then I took few pictures of it and forgot to put the battery back. Next day and then after it has never skiped again. I think it was miracle or something?!

Öträk!

Nice pics! Seems like we are getting rid of those stupid, big cases.

I'm with you! Maybe that's the same reason why sony didn't want to include optical outs to their CD/ combo decks; MXD-D5C, MXD-D40 or MXD-D4? Only MD/CD combo seems to have Optical in/out is Sony MXD-D400.

Both packets came in a same day and same minute. It was almost as fast as ordering inside of Finland. They cost me about 5,5€/pcs (shipping included!) so I saved 45% compared to prices in Finland (9.90€). It was really nice to do business with you. Thank you very much.

Hi Sefu! I think I bought some HiMD blanks in ebay from you some time ago. If you are same person (minidisc_au)? Seems you don't sell them anymore in there? I ordered 10 pieces and was little worry if they get stucked in customs as I live in Finland. I was prepared it though. But they were marked them as a gift without even notice(there were piece of paper on the packet) and there were only an imprint on the packets which said: GIFT. DUTY-FREE.

Here's pics from their backs: MD-105FX [attachmentid=477] MD-133 [attachmentid=478] Definitely ther's no optical line-outs. You can download full catalogs at http://www.jp.onkyo.com/support/download.htm#full Intec205 (lower-end model) intec275 (high(er-)end model)

Here's difficult one. I'm Finnish. btw. Our asian friends (japanese, korean, chinese) might gladly visit these forums and share their news & experiences. But I bet you can't do that?

....That's hard to beat!

Here in Finland, 8 (~10$) euros per month. 1Mbit up or down, no cap whatsoever. My up/download totals are 100-250GB/month. [attachmentid=462]

This is totally off-topic, but I really want to tell it. In year 2000 I bought Sharp (Kenwood) over sony 'cause Sharp had screen made of glass. About 1,5 years ago I bought Motorola v70 phone, because it's only in the world which is made of aluminium and has screen which is made of glass. Both are proved me they are pretty much indestructible. There's really no paint left in the kenwood's remote, though. I'm sorry for you guys, but same time glad I bought NH1 over RH-10.

You can make a group which contains 1 hour of music and play it. Then choose group play (in menu). When the group plays through unit will stop. Or use a program play (I don't know if RH10 has it, but some units have).

Thanks for clearing up this. Let's hope there'll be some improvement in next version of SS.

Easy way is record cd to md with NH1 and cd to MD with your deck (in SP). Then compare them listening on your deck. I doubt there's any quality difference as both use exactly same hardware in their codecs (placebo effect, at most). then the score is 1-1 Then you can listen same disc with NH1 line-out and and deck through speakers. Volume difference may be relatively big, but you'll get some idea how NH1 line-out sound. I think it's pretty good (in my mind it's one of the best in portable audio players). But deck is a deck and it should(!) sound better than portables. Even so, I doubt the deck sounds better through your speakers in LP2 than NH1 in SP, different but maybe not better? And the winner is deck by 2-1.

No, You can not make 128kbps better even if you convert it to 1411kbps PCM or 1000000kbps mp3. Even if you use pro tools. When quality is once degraded, you can't get it back in any way (what is gone, is gone forever). As a rule of thumb: - 192kbps or lower mp3 -use old SP(292kbps) or 256kbps(Hi-SP) (this gives same results in quality as) - PCM or any lossless use 132kbps LP2 - Mp3@256~320kbps you can only try as results may vary considerably. I have found that 192kbps variable mp3(EAC/Lame) converted to Hi-SP is about same or little worse quality as PCM converted to 132k LP2. This is sad as you have to use more space to avoid low quality to go even worse. ...By the way, this is excellent topic as every other than 2nd gen md users struggle with this same problem, when they want to convert their already compressed music (bought from net) to md format. I think this should be sticky (in some form at least), but better topic could be "How to maintain quality in already compressed music?)

A pretty long but intresting NY Times article from 1999. http://tech2.nytimes.com/mem/technology/te...751C1A96F958260 You have to register if you want to read it so I paste it here. A Spat Among Audiophiles Over High-End Speaker Wire By ROY FURCHGOTT December 23, 1999. In the last year, Lewis Lipnick has tested high-end audio cables from 28 manufacturers. As a professional musician with the National Symphony Orchestra and as an audio consultant, he counts on his exacting ear to tell him if changing cables affects the accuracy of the sound from his $25,000 Krell amplifiers. His personal choice is a pair of speaker wires that cost $13,000. "Anyone would have to have cloth ears not to tell the difference between cables," he said. "In my professional opinion that's baloney," said Alan P. Kefauver, a classically trained musician and director of the Recording Arts and Sciences program at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. "Has the wire been cryogenically frozen? Is it flat or round? It makes no difference, unless it makes you feel better." His choice for speaker wire? Good-quality 16-gauge zip wire. The disagreement would be unnotable except for one thing: experts are in agreement that most cables that claim to improve the sound of audio equipment don't. Even cables costing thousands of dollars per foot are often little more than sonic snake oil, experts say. Consumers trying to purchase audio cables often find themselves buying high-end replacements because the only cables in the store are expensive ones. A purchaser of an entry-level $550 stereo system might be sent home with $55 worth of the least expensive middle-quality audio cables. While experts agree that most cables make exaggerated and unfounded claims about improving sound, they cannot agree on which cables actually do improve sound and which do not. The scientific record is unclear. So far no research paper contending to prove or disprove the value of fancy wires has been accepted by the leading industry publication, The Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, said Patricia M. MacDonald, its executive editor. She said there were dozens of reasons a research paper might not meet her journal's standards. "I don't think anyone should infer anything from it," she said. The manufacturers and sellers of audio goods like to stay above the fray. Cables are a highly lucrative item that may account for a modest percentage of sales but a greater percentage of profit. Even audio manufacturers not directly involved in the cable business like to steer clear of the debate. Polk Audio, a well respected manufacturer of loudspeakers in Baltimore, no longer makes cables but declined an invitation to set up a listening test in its laboratories. One reason it gave was that the test could affect relationships with audio stores. "We would be hearing from every retailer in the country," said Paul Dicomo, communications director for Polk Audio. Kerry Moyer, staff director for the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents manufacturers, said accessories were usually the highest markup items, wires included. Sales of high-margin accessories have become critical in the current market, where prices of components like receivers, amplifiers and DVD players, have had profit margins squeezed by competition. "It becomes a question of where are we going to make a little money?" he said. Mr. Moyer, whose $3,000 sound system uses about $300 worth of cables, said the technological superiority of a cable is not the issue -- it is the perceived value to the hobbyist. Proving that one audio cable is better than the next is nearly impossible, experts say. "If someone feels good about buying it, whether it works or it doesn't, it makes them feel good," he said. "I don't think we should question." John Dunlavy, who manufactures audiophile loudspeakers and wire to go with it, does think questioning is valid. A musician and engineer, Mr. Dunlavy said as an academic exercise he used principles of physics relating to transmission line and network theory to produce a high-end cable. "People ask if they will hear a difference, and I tell them no," he said. Mr. Dunlavy has often gathered audio critics in his Colorado Springs lab for a demonstration. "What we do is kind of dirty and stinky," he said. "We say we are starting with a 12 WAG zip cord, and we position a technician behind each speaker to change the cables out." The technicians hold up fancy-looking cables before they disappear behind the speakers. The critics debate the sound characteristics of each wire. "They describe huge changes and they say, 'Oh my God, John, tell me you can hear that difference,'" Mr. Dunlavy said. The trick is the technicians never actually change the cables, he said, adding, "It's the placebo effect." This leads to disagreements based on competing science. Bruce Brisson, who owns Music Interface Technology, an ultrahigh-end wire manufacturer in Rockland, Calif., also wants to see cable charlatans revealed and may use his extensive laboratory to do it. "I am getting ready to expose this in the year 2000," he said. "People are paying a lot of money and getting nothing for it." But he disagrees with Mr. Dunlavy on the effectiveness of wires, saying that the theory Mr. Dunlavy uses to design his cables is not the right theory and that is why listeners cannot hear a difference. Some scientists say it would be difficult to prove one way or another. Changing cables leaves a time lapse that makes comparison difficult. Putting several stereos side by side with the different wires would mean that the speakers would be different distances from the ear, which could have an effect. And while a switch could be made that would send a signal through each of several cables to a speaker from a single sound system, cable makers say the switch itself might spoil the advantages of their wires. Part of the difficulty is that there are still unexplained acoustic phenomena. William Morris Hartmann, a professor of physics at Michigan State University in East Lansing, works on psycho-acoustic projects, which investigate the way sound is perceived, rather than the way it is produced. There are examples, he said, of sounds that measure beyond the range of human hearing, and yet some people seem to perceive them. That means the market is left open to wild claims and psuedoscience. "It's annoying, but it's hard to disprove," Professor Hartmann said. Perhaps the closest thing to middle ground is the position taken by Russ Hamm, an electrical engineer whose New York company G Prime Ltd. installs digital processing equipment for studios. Mr. Hamm said that indeed, wires do make a perceivable difference, but very little, and then only to professionals, like the engineers at BMG Music. He lent them new high-grade cables for use on roughly $250,000 of equipment. On his system, Mr. Hamm uses a specialty cable manufactured in Vienna that costs $2 a foot. "We are talking subtle differences, but that is what the high end is all about," he said. It is a subtlety he describes as a 2 percent difference on a high-end system. "If you had a fine Bordeaux wine, how much does it matter if it's in a nice wineglass or a Riedel crystal glass?" His advice to audiophiles: "I would say that you want to put the first $10,000 into your equipment." This was very well known article in 1999. Fortunately I read it at that time.

In fact, there's no Ultra model for 6600 series as far as I know (here in Finland). Which is better; 6600GT or 6800? That's hard to answer shortly, but in theory 6800 is a little faster what I've been reading from reviews, but it's also pretty much relative in a way you compare them (ie. what games you use for testing). 6800 was very popular when some people found some of 6800's can actually modify to 6800GT or even near to ultra. But that's whole another story...

You are right. And in fact, what I known about 6600GT is based what I've been reading from reviews. My friend also has 6600GT with his Athlon 3000+ and I was pretty impressed compared to my rig when playing some IL2-Forgotten Battles. That game is knowed to play best with ATI cards, but it was like night and day. Not to mention FPS shooters ie. Half Life 2. Of course my Athlon 2200+ with 333MHz bus is nothing when compare to these new motherboards with dual ram 400 MHz bus .

You can play all games in on your current system even if you buy 6600GT and play games in 1024x768 with all eye candies on (AA+AF). 512MB is just slightly enough for even newest 3d games. Trust me. 1GB will help, especially converting mp3's or using digital imaging or video editing programs. Or if you want to use many programs at the same time. I have to say; forget the 64bit windows if you don't want troubles. There's currently very few programs which support 64bit OS's. And hardware drivers are almost non-existing for current hardware, for example printers, scanners, soundcards etc. Hope this helps.

Best console in the history of videogaming: Sega Dreamcast! Dreamcast and Fishing Rod controller or Dreamcast and Samba De Amigo Maracas controllers or Dreamcast's VMU=Visual Memory Unit hanging in my neck.

Can anyone explain why converting to Hi-SP is so slow compared to LP2 or other formats? Has anybody even noticed it. I think it's about 1/2 or 1/3 slower than LP2. In my mind it should be faster than LP2 because there's less information to leave off. Anyway, I think this is quite intresting?