I've considered moving from mp3-backups to minidisc because a friend of mine donated an all-in-one stereo system (Aiwa) with a MD-player. The CD-unit is faulty and according to the service, there are no more spare parts available to my unit. So, if I want to use the MD-player to back up my CDs, it would make sense to connect an external CD-player using digital out to the digital in of the stereo system. This is where the tricky part comes. I did some Google research and found out a confusing....fact. Even if the CD-player should reproduce a perfect signal, even if the cable between the units should be of extreme hardcore high-end quality and even if the MD-player should work as expected, the sound quality would not necessarily be acceptable. The point is, so it was stated, that the CD-player works at 44.1 khz. The receiveng part should work at the same frequency, but the frequency might not be stable due to component related issues. It might be 44.10001 kHz or fluctuate between 44.099999999 to 44.100000002 and the same applies to the sending device. As a result, the signal would be screwed up and be far from perfect, or even have audible clicks. It was claimed that the sample rate of the receiving device should not be locked. I'm quite confused. I did read here about cable issues when toying with S/PDIF connectors, but I did not find any post dealing with the problem I stated. If I record from my standalone CD to MD or even via the S/PDIF of my sound card, are my backups doomed to be of low-end quality? HELP!
