Tea&Crumpets

Try using a laptop which doesn't have a properly earthed plug, i.e. the earth pin is plastic (and while using plug in power!) please someone. I don't know enough about laptops but I think this might be my problem after all. T&C

Sorry but I don't think that either your first or second suggestion are correct. If it was a problem with my laptop then it would only occur when USB was used. However I will play around a bit more when I get home today. Thanks for your suggestions. EDIT 12/6/05: Sorry I am using a laptop and I have been using it on plug in power recently! My mistake! So maybe this is the problem with the USB... no earth pin!

OK so I got a 2nd unit delivered and it has the same problem. Thus I have come to the following conclusion(s): 1) The RH10 is earthed to its own casing. This is how it is designed, but to avoid problems with external power you MUST have a power supply with an earth pin. If you do not then recording with a microphone (well, the one I have anyway) while plugged in to ac power gives a lot of hum, rendering it useless (because the power running thru the casing seems to also connect to the mic input). Also, if you are playing through a Hi-Fi using the headphone socket as a line out then touching metal parts of the casing produces very loud and noticeable hum, which could be very annoying in particular situations. 2) Sony have overlooked this AT LEAST in the UK, where they have distributed the units with power supplies that have a plastic earth pin, i.e. no earthing. I tried the unit with the power supply from my old MD player (the Sony MZ-R55 ), which has an earth pin, and this solved ALL the problems. 3) The same problems occur when the USB cable is connected up, and the unit is running from the USB bus power, BUT this doesn't matter so much because you cannot record with a mic now anyway, and there is no need to listen through line out or whatever, you know what I'm saying.... 4) When USB or AC external power are connected to the RH10 unit, touching the metal casing can result in small electric shocks! (But don't worry because it is only 3V, 1A. So it won't kill you. However it is noticeable). My friend verified this. If you don't believe me, rub the hairs of your fore-arm across the top-left corner of the metal side-casing! So, perhaps someone else in the UK can verify this for me. Like I said, I have tested this on two separate RH10 units/power supplies. And people elsewhere in the world, try what I said with the USB cable attached... it should do the same thing as mine! Please try it and see. Connect USB with the line out attached and touch the casing (obviously the volume on your hi-fi needs to be moderate). So to clarify, the problem is not that anything is broken. The problem is that, because the RH10 casing is connected to earth, it NEEDS an AC power adapter with an earth pin, which Sony have not supplied in the UK. Surely they could have tested these things together first!!! BTW, Amaz0n sent me a new one straight away, and I sent them back the first one yesterday in the post. They said they will refund the cost of that. Hope this helps someone! T&C

Firstly, thanks for all your replies. veezhun and jadeclaw: The problem is not the supplied AC power supply because it is still present when the USB bus power is used instead. So I'm sending it back to Amazon. Luckily their returns department seems quite well organised. I will let you know what happens. Anyway, it gave me a chance to re-think not buying an iPod or other HD-unit instead... I'm happy with the RH10, even with the apparent niggling problems it has. Thanks, T&C Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention that I am in the UK!

Hi everyone, Shame about Sony not being perfect I was thinking, maybe the whole idea with cutting off the top-end freqs for MP3 is an attempt to make the compression less apparent... you know how high compression can make cymbals sound bad etc. well, if you make it quieter then it is less noticeable. Might be a good thing! Anyway, I suppose we should at least have a choice in the matter. Sorry if this has been suggested already. T&C

Hi everyone, Thanks for the help I get from reading your previous topics... it has been invaluable. I have a problem with the MZ-RH10 that I had delivered yesterday. It is very good but there are a few issues, like the character input matrix only partly appearing (as mentioned in a previous post), the SonicStagev3 software being very slow for me (maybe it's my old computer too)... BUT my main issue is this; When I have the unit connected to external power by either the AC adaptor or the USB bus it is clear that the unit is not properly earthed. I mean the metal casing that runs around the sides. When I touch it it buzzes (like touching a guitar cable or whatever...y'know), and gives me little static shocks. I don't think the problem is there when running on batteries only, but if it was it might be draining the batteries unnecessarily. Now, I know it's not gonna kill me as it is only 3 volts, BUT should I send it back to the shop?!! Does anyone else have the same earthing problem? Is it worth sending it all the way back to A/\/\az0n? Or is it a design flaw in all the units? Thanks in advance guys/girls, Tea&Crumpets