IdiotSavant

Aiwa AM-F5 - dropped and dinted the lid. It was mostly fine afterwards, except for having issues saving changes in track names. Sony R700 - put it into what I thought was my inside pocket, and dropped it on the floor. The lid bent and it never quite played properly after that Sony N707 - kept it in mint condition, but as a consequence of walking to school and back twice a day with it in my pocket (along with my sweaty hand) a lot of the paint rubbed off. All my units since then have been kept in mint condition

I chose my name for a variety of reasons: - It was the name Talking Heads (my favorite band) were originally going to use, until David Byrne decided it didn't sound right. - I like the contradiction of the words; placing "idiot" with "savant" (meaning "learned") - According to dictionary.com an Idiot Savant is "an intellectually disabled person who exhibits extraordinary ability in a highly specialized area, such as mathematics or music" (any attempt for me to explain it would just confuse people, I'm sure.) Though I'm not one, I find it a quite endearing quality.

Well I hate to disappoint, but I don't do any live recordings by mic. I would assume that the RH10 would be slightly better quality as it's a new model so the firmware would be a bit more recent, but I doubt there'd be much in it. If you're thinking of doing a lot of live recording, I'd strongly suggest considering getting the NH900 as it allows you to record in MD mode using NetMD bitrates (vs. the RH10 which only allows you to use Hi-MD bitrates) which would give you more flexibility. (Though I don't know for sure whether you can upload recordings made in MD mode.. I've never tried.)

If you're after 'the more the better' and 128MP3s are OK for you.. you might want to seriously consider Hi-LP (64kbps.) It has to be heard to be believed, but it sounds as good as LP2 (which is twice the bitrate) and you'll get about 32 hours on one Hi-MD. That said, I've only used it with stuff I've had on CD in the first place - I imagine transcoding from a low bitrate MP3 would give an awful result (as it does with LP2.) But if you're fine with MP3s at 128kbps then just stick with that - you'll get about 16 hours on a Hi-MD. As for variable vs. constant, I don't really rip stuff to MP3 that much so I can't really say. I mean, I've had constant bitrate MP3 files and they've sounded fine.. but I've never tested the quality.

Well ideally you'd want as a high a bitrate as possible so you can convert to Hi-SP (ATRAC 256kbps) and transfer to Hi-MD. While it does involve transcoding, having the track in ATRAC format means you don't get the problems associated with the volume reduction in the treble region during MP3 playback... but this will only get you about 2h20 on a 80 Minute MD and 7h55 on a 1GB Hi-MD blank. Personally when using MP3 my preferred option is to transfer direct to MD at 192kbps. While this does mean you have to apply the EQ to compensate for the incorrect MP3 playback, you don't have to transcode and you also get a much more reasonable amount of space on a disc; 3h30 on a 80 Minute disc and about 12 hours on 1 GB Hi-MD blank. You could go for lower bitrates (lower bitrate MP3s or LP2 and below ATRAC bitrates) but I wouldn't exactly call it a 'good sound.' Likewise, the only way to get a higher bitrate than Hi-SP would be to use PCM (and then you're getting what.. 20 minutes on a 80 minute MD?) or transfer MP3s to Hi-MD at up to 320kbps (which seems somewhat pointless given the volume filter on MP3 playback, meaning that you're not getting much extra quality for the extra space each track would use.)

Well I got the RH10 so I'm biased Basically I'd say the NH1 beats the RH10, aside from 3 points: 1. RH10 is cheaper 2. RH10 has several line OLED display (with the NH1 you only get a 1-line display on the unit, but the remote is highly functional and backlit) 3. RH10 supports direct MP3 playback Just decide whether those three things matter to you. If they don't, then go for the NH1. I'd say that the main advantages the NH1 has are: 1. A proper line out 2. A better build quality and a smaller size 3. Ability to record in Net-MD mode as well as Hi-MD mode (RH10 only supports Hi-MD mode and codecs.)

Well technically it does work Without the hack I don't think we'd be able to up the volume with the EQ to the extent that we got clipping. But yes, I haven't really noticed any difference. Perhaps you only notice a difference on tracks recorded at a high level in the first place? I seem to recall with the first Gen Hi-MD hacks people saying that the difference was only noticable when increasing the volume on the last few notches. Not to mention the talk there's been over an actual hardware limitation...

I think a lot of it is due to supply problems (given that it was only about a month ago that second gen Hi-MD units were available to the UK at all.) Plus I remember AVland's prices were rather high - who's going to buy from there when well known retailers like Amazon and EmpireDirect are undercutting them by at least £50?

I had every bar up by 1 notch and - while it did work a treat on some stuff - it also caused clipping on quite a lot. The simplest thing to do is use your ears. Hook your RH710 up to a hifi or something and compare the playback with or without the EQ (using your hifi to up the volume without the EQ so you know any heard differences aren't just due to volume) to try and figure out what to use it on. So yes, it does decrease audio quality unless the original recording was at a sufficiently low level that upping the volume with the EQ doesn't give enough output to cause clipping.

If the dock and remote mean that much to you, check what you're getting first; I'm pretty sure it's only the Japanese RH10 which comes with a dock (or even the ability to use a dock) and the non-Japanese RH10s don't have displays on the remote.

So it has a DC-in... but does it have a charge facility of any kind? Does the unit come with a supplied battery?

Ineed you can't cue to the next or previous group (as the manual states) but using the method that mcca6392 described you can cue to any group on the disc (which may or may not be the next or previous group to the one you're playing) - in manualspeak, it would appear there's a big difference between the two! Also, if you have the unit selected as playing in group mode then when you hit search, the 'group' option will be automatically selected, so it's just a matter of search->enter then scrolling down and pressing enter again on the group you want... and let's face it, the jog wheel's easy enough to use isn't it?

That would be assuming you have one Besides, I'm not going to mess around with another device (when I prefer MDs over everything else) just because for every 7 or so hours of playback while walking the MD skips once for... a few seconds!

About not having an AC adaptor.. you should be able to get one from any decent electronics store - just check the specifications of the adaptor in the manual. Or failing that... ebay - there's always people selling old broken MD units for parts/accessories. (And all portable Sony units within the last 5 years have come with the same AC adaptor.)

It's definitely not the record - it happens on files which I know for a fact are recorded correctly. The thing does tend to get jolted around quite a bit in my pocket though, and - like I said - it doesn't happen much. ...though if you're wanting a MD unit for running or jogging I imagine the effect would be more pronnounced. That said, if you wore it secured around you waist or whatever it might not skip as much (vs. rattling around in someone's pocket.)