Mr_Bass_Man

Last weekend I was busy in the house doing varioius jobs, and I wasn't able to sit down and listen to some music I knew in advance was coming up on BBC Radio 3, so I decided I would record it to play back later. As I have a DAB radio with an optical output, and a HiMD machine, and the piece was likely to be longer than 80 minutes, I decided to record the programme on my NH900 from the DAB receiver, setting it going before the piece and stopping it sometime after. The piece was Bruckner's 7th Symphony, a piece rich in strings brass and dynamics, though it is essentially a fairly quiet and moody piece. This all went very well, but I decided after having recorded the programme as described, that I would transfer the Bruckner (minus the bit of programme recorded either side) and transfer it to "SP" format, as I have a number of non-HiMD machines (!) and wanted to be able to play it back on any of them. So some time later I transferred the HiMD recording to my (rather ancient) PC, converted the file to WAV format in SonicStage, edited the WAV file using GoldWave, and then transferred the edited files to a NetMD machine, again using SonicStage. " I am aware that "SP" from SonicStage is really "LP2" padded out to work on SP players) When I played back the resulting performance, the quality of the recording was not as good as I would have expected. Though it could not be described as horrendous, it soon started to irritate me, is it had a kind of harshness about it, and is what I would describe as a "gritty" or "grainy" sound. Somewhat disappointed I set out to try to work out where the problem occurred in the above process, first by transferring to a "top of the range" NetMD machine (my JB-980 deck) - the result was the same. Then I played back the WAV file on my computer (it has a reasonable Creative sound card). Still grainy or gritty. I toyed with the idea of burning a CD using the WAV files, but decided in the end to simply connect my NH900 to my HiFi and play back the original unedited recorded piece. The result :- "grainy" or "gritty". The format of the original recording is "HiLP" I know the quality of DAB in the UK gets a lot of bad press - the programme was originally transmitted at 160kB/s in MP2 - but normally BBC Radio 3 at this bitrate sounds "acceptable" to my ears. Other recordings I have made from the radio in this manner have been quite unoffensive, though the material may not have been quite so demanding. Has anyone had any similar exeriences?

My dear fellow, CALM DOWN!!! The only way for you, with a NetMD machine like the N510 is to go via the "analogue" route. You CANNOT UPLOAD (in the conventional sense) using NetMD and the USB connection. If you are suffering hiss with your uploads, and the hiss isn't present on the master recording, then you need to adjust your uploading levels and your analogue recording sensitivity to find the optimum setting (it sounds like your output from your MD unit is too low) without causing clipping of the recorded signal. In the future, if you decide to stick with the MD solution (a wise decision IMHO) for recording your band's music, the choice for you is HiMD which is far more flexible when dealing with "uploading to PC" issues. My own experience with uploading to PC using analogue is that it is very tricky to get the levels absolutely correct, but when you do the result is pretty good. If you get the levels wrong, the result is far from satisfactory (too much hiss, or too much clipping!). 'Twas ever thus with NetMD. NetMD is great for ripping to MD, but less good the other way round, as you have found out! Hope this helps ...

That does look rather like the famous (infamous?) "broken ribbon cable problem". One of my N910s does exactly what your N707 does, and I would imagine that the opto/magnetic transport is substantially similar between the two, and therefore liable to suffer from the same problem. There are a few around who have successfully repaired this problem, but it seems to be almost in the "brain surgery" category, though I supposed a Sony service centre could do the job using replacement parts, though at a cost ... ? Hopefully I am wrong

D'oh! You are quite right, I went off at a tangent there!! However ... Here is the URL for the N707 service manual, and the comments about the possible root cause of the fault still apply! Well, it's been a long day, and I'm not getting any younger Side by side pics of the N10 vs N910 will (off-topically ...) appear in my gallery... The N707 is a nice machine too, btw . . .

As far as I can see, (others have said this before so I make no claim to originality), the N910 seems to be more or less the same as the N10, but built to take a gumstick battery. When I get a few minutes I'll post some side-by side pictures. The internal battery on the N10 needs a 6V charger (like the E10), whereas the N910 uses the same 3V charger as almost everything else. Hope this answers your question

It probably could be any one of a number of things, but I would favour the fault being a broken printed circuit board trace, or even a "dry joint" on the headphone connector. If you know someone who dabbles in electronics repair and who is prepared to disassemble the unit to have a look (a strong magnifying glass or a jewellers' loupe may be needed) they might be able to spot what the problem is. The Sony MZ-N10 Service Manual is available on this site, which describes in some detail the disassembly of the unit. Quite a challenge though, unless someone has had plenty of experience at this kind of repair. You could alternatively buy another off EBay, though the N10 seems to attract quite good prices second-hand (as my sig suggests, it is a splendid little machine ...) Best of luck! ... that looks like the "classic" fractured ribbon cable problem doesn't it? I wasn't aware that the N10 was prone to this, but as I do know that the N910 is, I guess therefore that they most must be

Asking a question like that will almost inevitably end up in a "hot debate", if not a "flame war", and almost certainly go even further off topic ... There are certainly issues with quality on DAB here in the UK, as the broadcasters, and the BBC in particular try to cram too many services into the available bandwidth, and, obviously, quality suffers as a result. "Speech" channels go down as low as 64kB mono, and for my money (others will inevitably disagree!) it is the speech "fidelity" which suffers before the music. That is always going to be a very subjective appraisal ... BBC Radio 3 (a PSB station), runs at 192kB/s and to my ears the music sounds great most of the time, but speech sounds noiticably less natural than on FM (I live in a strong FM signal reception area, so it is fully quieting). Classic FM runs with less compression on DAB than on their FM service, and is "nicer" as a result, but the "loudness" of their commercials is such that it makes listening generally intolerable to me. BBC Radio 4 often has to be transmitted in "mono only" at a fairly low bit rate due to limited bandwidth issues. BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra (THE channel for cricket fans) is a part-time channel and runs at a low bit rate, and after prolonged listening (cricket matches tend to be "prolonged!") the artefacts really start to grate. However all that being said, one of the BEST features of DAB for me (and possibly the only way I can keep this "on topic") is that my DAB tuner has an optical output, if I feed that into my HiMD machine I can make "perfect" recordings off the radio and upload them to my PC for later enjoyment/editing/archiving. What most folk over here tend to forget is that DAB was really designed for mobile reception, and in that area it is (in well served areas at any rate) THE medium of choice for vehicles. And how many car DAB radios are there around? Not a lot. I rest my case!

I recentlly acquired an E900 via EBay, and the BC-9HP2 came as an unexpected bonus - so far it seems to do the job perfectly OK, and yes, it has an auto cut-off. The pictures below are the UK version :- Hope this helps ...

I can only speak for the PX100s, but I think they are tremendous both in terms of sound quality and value for money. I had to wait a while for mine because at the time I ordered them they were allegedly in short supply due to "unprecedented demand". They were, however worth the wait. Plenty of bottom-end (others have said possibly a tad too much!) but I set all my MD players, etc to "flat EQ" (ie no bass enhancement or whatever) and the result suits my hearing perfectly. And they are so light that it is easy to forget you are wearing phones (this can be dangerous if you are plugged in to your amp, and you stand up too quickly ... ). Oh by the way, this is before "burning in" ha ha ha ... !!!!

I think I am right behind you, bland10000 (with the caveat that I may well be wrong, so you may put me down as "agnostic"), but I suspect that the "burn-in brigade" may well also be using gold-plated mains plugs on their equipment . . .

As far as I can see, all (well at the very least, most) of Sony's units which use a "gumstick" battery, and have a 3V external supply jack, and externall AA battery case cabability use compatible AA battery cases. I think the emphasis must be on 3V, as the MZ-N10 for instance, which doesn't use a gumstick battery uses a 6V external supply but has a "special" AA battery box. If you didn't know this, it may improve your chances of finding one on EBay. (I think I have seen them in the past ...). So one for MZ-N1, MZ-N707, MZ-N710, MZ-R900, MZ-N910, etc will more than likely work with your NH-900. Hope this helps! P.S. this photo shows the difference (or rather the lack of difference) between the "business end" of the NH900 and that of an N710

It strikes me as a bit of a waste, using HiMD to save data. Data can be saved in so many ways (CD-R, DVD, Memory Stick, etc etc,) but ATRAC3+ (etc) is only really useful on HiMD media or the "original" PC, so why waste HiMD media on data? Yes, it can be done, and the "coolness factor" is beyond measure ... ... but I would advise sticking to using MD/HiMD media for the use for which it was originally concieved - a less bulky alternative to playing music at (near) CD quality recordings ...

I am sure the members of this forum can help you, but they might need a little more technical detail about your computer, MD model, etc. The Sonic Stage disc which came with your player probably has the appropriate drivers on it, but if not, some of the kind people here will most likely be able to help you out with that too!

Hmmm .... I wondered the same thing Volta, in I would be in a position to verify your comment, excepting fot the fact that I think my N710 cradle is back in the office, and today is Saturday !!! However, out of interest I have posted some side-by-side pictures of the NH900 and the N710 in my gallery (sorry they aren't up to Ishyoshi's standards! ) but they seem to show how similar and yet how different the form factor and "charging footprints" are between Sony units. NH900 vs N710 Owing to the large number of portables I have collected, and the finite amount of desk space I generally don't use charging stands but use the "DC in" socket (apart from the N10 which needs to use the charger stand for both the (6V) charger and the USB connection, and the E10 which hasn't got a separate charging socket (no room!)), but curiously I have the NH900 charging stand also on my desk, perhaps because I use the NH900 most of all (it is great to be able to PLAY HiMDs on my PC via the USB, something not possible with NetMD, of course ...) If the definitive reply isn't forthcoming by Monday I will try to remember to dig my N710 charger out of my office drawer and let you all know ... ... Monday update :- Yes the behavioiur of the N710 is similar to the NH900 in that it charges automatically when in the cradle, but when NOT in the cradle and the DC charger supply is plugged directly into the base of the MD unit itself, it does NOT charge until the STOP/Cancel/Charge button is pressed. Hope this helps someone

Surely there is a socket on the bottom of the unit marked "DC in 3V" where you can put the plug in from the charger ? ?

The N707 for some reason appears to be rather prone to losing screws - my elder son has one and managed to lose three! I bought a broken unit (an NE410) off Ebay in order to cannibalise it for lid screws. (I was hoping to be able to mend the broken unit, but so far without success . . . ) This worked fine, and I tightened the screws up as much as I could with a jewellers' screwdriver, and (Touch Wood) no more screws have been lost. Good luck!

... don't tell me - you get the dreaded "BLANKDISC" after recording? N910s seem somewhat prone to that mode of failure

Thanks for that - you learn something every day!! It makes no sense in the context of English as spoken in here in England, isn't "culture" a wonderful thing! Still I suppose it is poetry, rather than plain dialogue so the normal rules don't really apply. I regard the Andy Williams version as the definitive recording. And a pretty decent song it is too ...

... I could never get my head round what "my huckleberry friend .... " was all about!!

Maybe the small metal "hook" in the middle of the top of the (fixed part of the) unit has become slightly bent. I had this once with a similar player, and it was fairly easy to bend it (gently) back into position. It is easier if you have another similar one to look at to compare it with though. The metal of the hook is quite thin so you will have to be careful (that is presumably why they are easily bent out of position). I could post a photograph if necessary. Good luck

Well my PC is an old workhorse (OK, donkey then ...) and in spite of having numerous players of various vintages from SP only to HiMD, most of my transfers are SP from Sonic Stage to one of the MD units. It always takes ages, but even on a Pentium 2 350MHz machine, including the "converting" time and then the transfer, it probably takes around half an hour to convert and transfer one 50-minute CDs worth to NetMD/pseudo SP. But at least those MDs are playable on ALL my machines, which is why I do it! I don't have a car player, I use one of those FM Transmitter jobbies though

I reckon you are dead right, KJ Providing the cable is reasonably short, and providing there is a reasonable electrical connection at each end, I can't imagine ther being a problem. My set-up is practically the same as yours, I have a short coax lead from my DAB tuner which connects to one of my decks (the JB980 - LP2 is an ideal format as DAB quality is so poor that there really isn't much point going to SP ) and I also have a coax from my CD player to my other deck (the JE530) for great quality SP rips. The cables are cheap and cheerful, in fact one is home made!

The cord on PX100s is symmetrical . . . . . . shame my ears aren't! (Of course the headband is adjustable though! )

... there is always the "Real Player" plug-in for downloading to MD. However this is somewhat restrictive as it has to be NetMD LP2 or LP4, and there isn't a device plug-in yet for HiMD. SonicStage or OpenMG Jukebox also need to be installed. However, having said all that the "drag and drop interface" is reasonably intuitive and consistent with other device interfaces available in Real Player. I've used it a few times within the limitations mentioned above.

Well ... my N910 just screws up recordings, period. It appears to be faulty, and the TOC gets messed up so that after I have finished transferring (or recording optically) it just says "BLANKDISC" every time - d'oh! Anyhow, your problem is a bit strange. I had a problem with an MP3 file just crashing Sonic Stage every time I tried to transfer - in the end I got a different rip of the same tune, and that fixed that, but as your N910 appears to work, and the JB980 doesn't, that's obviously different. Just out of interest you could try transferring it to a different format (SP, LP4 or whatever) and see if that makes a difference. It would be nicer if it was the "posher" unit which was performing better though ...