jonny mac

I'm thinking about getting one of the Sony ATRAC CD mini HiFis, the two models I'm considering are the CMTGPZ7 and the CMTCPZ1. The former I can get for €200 and the latter for €270. At the moment I'm thinking that the extra €70 is probably not worth it. Both play ATRAC CDs and have an MD link which are what I want, so long as they both sound good of course. The more expensive has RDS, S-Master amp, "Dynamic Sound Generator (DSGX)" (not sure what that is) and 2-way speakers. I'm not after top-notch SQ but of course better is better. Anyone have either of these or can offer any opinion? Cheers

Are you sure it hasn't defaulted to the "normal" conversion from the "Higher quality (slower)" one?

Cool. Now pop in an 80 gig HDD and see what happens.

I´m pretty sure all the Qualia line were discontinued when Sony had that big re-shuffle. You won´t find any now.

Imagine how much effort it would take the Sonicstage developers to invent ways of wrapping DRM around all those formats! That´s probably why they´re not supported.

I have recently found a UK e-tailer now selling the violet A3000 for only £115! This might be linked to Sony's recent price drop and a replacement model is expected soon. I currently use HiMD for the vast bulk of my music listening but a HDD player would be handy for some occasions. Should I get one at this price or wait to see what Sony bring out to replace it?

I had a D-NE300 but returned it because it kept skipping tracks, even when stationary on a desk! It only did this with normal CDs (including brand new ones, no scratches) and I never had a problem with any of the ATRAC CDs I recorded. I wasn't very usable anyway since CD players can't be volume hacked. I'm considering asking someone to get me a D-NE330 from the states to replace it but if that has the same problems then there's no point... Anyone had any problems with the D-NE330/430?

Not true, the iPod is desirable because it's fashionable and Apple wisely market it as such. iTunes is only a bonus.

Depends if the US version has a remote jack or not...

The UK version is crippled. I e-mailed Sony UK and got their usual bumf - "Sony is a repsonsible company... protect customers... 100dB limit...". Europeans can expect a crippled amp at about 1.5 - 2.5 mW.

These were $3,360 when first released in Japan. I think I'll be waiting.

I'd be crying too if I just missed a DH10P for $225. Perhaps we'll see them reduced elsewhere. If I hadn't just added a fourth HiMD unit (NHF800) to my line-up I'd consider one of these HD5s but one item is quite enough to hide from my girlfriend for now. Very generous of you to offer these to the community like this, good to see.

I'm always glad to hear when companies' customer service is up to scratch, it's quite rare. Especially as I own quite a few pairs of Sennheisers myself. The PMX-200s are the new behind-the-head versions of the PX-200s, yes? As far as I know these are pretty new, only released a few months ago so they'd have to be within the 2 year guarantee period that comes with all Sennheiser 'phones.

There's ALWAYS a new player on the horizon: Sony's had 5 20GB HDD players in 1 and a half years! I wouldn't rate the A3000 much from what I've heard/seen so unless you're desparate (or can find an HD5) I'd wait.

Argos are selling this in the UK for £60 although I'd be amazed if it has the 15mW output. Info there doesn't say. It would be sweet if they started giving all their portables 15mW outputs, so long as the European ones are hackable. If not, I'd import through Audiocubes, it would be worth it.

Really? That seems crazy. Even copy protected CDs can be played on computers, albeit at crappy bit-rates and after installing software you didn't ask for or agree with. So if you have music on ATRAC CDs and then Sony stopped making ATRAC compatible CD players then you'd have no way to play them back? Stupid Sony. And you wonder why no-one uses your formats...

I was wondering: can ATRAC CDs be played on a computer using Sonicstage or only in ATRAC CD players?

I found a D-NE300 for £19.99 (in Sainsbury's of all places) and decided to go for it. I fully expected the output to be Euro-capped to some degree and sure enough it's very quiet. A quick check of the specs states 1.5mW for Europe and 5mW elsewhere; barely above the much-maligned N710 output. I have a portable amplifier I can use with this, after all, I didn't buy it for small size, but would obviously prefer to uncap it if possible. So, does anyone know if this can be uncapped and, if so, how?

Is that in Sonicstage? Can I get it to convert LP2 files to un-DRMed LP2 files with this method? That would save me a huge amount of time and effort

I'm surprised to see this so hot on the heels of the 10x/40x/50x models. I'd have to say it's cute but the 40x/50x ones look nicer and have a three line display which sets them apart. I think it's a bit strange that only the 512MB version has the option of an FM radio - why not the 1GB deluxe version? I wonder if these will play the new ATRAC bit-rates..?

So does anyone know why none of the new bitrates play on HiMD but they work on some flash and HDD players released at the same (or very similar) time? It doesn't make sense