KJ_Palmer

Well, most CDs from shops are SCMS free (new ones increasingly have copy protection though), but most also don't contain CD text. So there usually is no text from commercial CD's to transfer in a CD-MD deck. If you burn your own CD-R's on a PC with CD text that a CD-MD deck can display, you would be able to transfer that text at the same time as copying. However, and my point was that that's a lot of palaver, and you may just want to record your CD's to MD in real time/type-R and just title them afterwards using Sonicstage/Simpleburner...

If you get a Sony CD/MD deck, like the DX400 or a bookshelf unit like the CMT-M333NT, any CD-Text is copied over to MD automatically, as long as the CD is SCMS free. However that's unlikely unless you make your own CD-R's and title them yourself. In many ways, for titling you're better off doing it with Sonicstage, though you can still record the high quality SP with a deck in realtime. That's generally how I do MD titling these days...

Type-R recorded via optical cable is true SP. I haven't done any comparisons between portable and deck as I do all my SP recording via a deck, but I'm pretty sure the quality would be very similar, and probably indistuinguishable. Maybe someone else can be more definitive...

You can merge tracks on the recorder by playing the 2nd of the 2 tracks to be merged, pressing pause then << then T.Mark. Make sure the 2 tracks are of the same format (ie, both HiSP etc.), and the disk isn't too defragmented through editing... Not, sure about how to do merging in Sonicstage, I think there is some limited track editing allowed, or some wave editing software will do it for you...

I think the question is whether Hi-SP sounds better (via line out) to decent speakers or headphones than LP2 on a decent deck like the JB980. I'd say the deck wins if played directly, particularly the JB980 with its high quality DAC, true hi-fi components and Type S decoder. I havent tried a proper comparison of my JB980 with, say my NH900 in line out mode, but the last time I plugged the NH900 into the stereo it didn't seem any better than SP or LP2 recordings so, I havent bothered since then... I'm happy with the NH900 through my Xin mini amp & HD580 phones though..

Well, sorry, but as the manual says, a non MDLP player can't play MDLP tracks, you'll just have to accept it. The decoder chip inside an older machine can't interpret LP2 or LP4 recordings - they simply weren't designed to read this future format. The only way round it is to get a newer MDLP capable machine - anything made after the year 2000 would be OK...

[bit of 'trouble' with the server I think, forums had to revert to yesterday's (weds 13.07.05) state it seems...] Anyway, I've again voted for the SR80... for the reasons given previously (ie. I like them)...

The MD-Ms702 is pre-NetMD, so there's no way of recordeing to that machine quicker than realtime. You'd have to get a NetMD or Hi-MD recorder and download to that in a fake "SP" format (which has inferior quality compared to realtime optical recording), or a CD/MD deck or hi-fi system...

Well, at least it seems I may have been right all along in not splashing out on expensive cables for my stereo. And I thought I was merely being tight...

Well, that's a huge loss to the forums, I'm sorry to hear about it. I hope Dex is all right, I'm sure we all wish him well...

I'd like to see: Hi-MD high quality decks For portables: True line out - ie. with dedicated socket SP recording mode (plus Hi-MD formats) Built-in DAB digital radio 2 GB discs All-metal construction 5 line LCD 6 band graphics equaliser No European volume restrictions

I'd like to see: Hi-MD high quality decks For portables: True line out - ie. with dedicated socket SP recording mode (plus Hi-MD formats) Built-in DAB digital radio 2 GB discs All-metal construction 5 line LCD 6 band graphics equaliser No European volume restrictions

Mostly listening to copied CD material, but as an occasional recordist, mostly of my own musical endeavours, I find (Hi-)MD is the best format for me in that I have a unit that can both record and play back high quality audio. I have no need or desire for oodles of gigabytes of 'all' my CD collection on one disc... I'm also doing a lot of timed recordings through my deck system, which I find easiest through the MD medium...

I'm a Hi-SP man myself, but I occasionally like a bit of SP, PCM, or LP2 action. CD-R too, and sometimes LP4 or Hi-LP for vocal stuff...

You want to get as flat an output signal as possible. It depends on your unit for how you'd turn the EQ off. I think on all the Hi-MD units (certainly on my NH600) you can set the Sound option in the menu to 'Normal' - presumably you'd have the same option on the RH10... On bass-boost type machines you set Bass to 'Off' or Bass0 rather than Bass1 or Bass2 etc

It's useful - well, pretty much the only way to make ATRAC CDs is to use Sonicstage. I've made about 10 ATRAC CDs @256kbps for my NE910 ATRAC/MP3 CD player. More of a geek factor thing as I have all the stuff on HiMD. You can squeeze about 6 CD's worth at that bitrate rather than the 7 or 8 that a 1GB HiMD would allow, but it takes several hours per CD on my PC, so I haven't bothered with it lately... You get this warning saying please dont start any other processes whilst the CD is being written (!) - so I suppose its only really suitable for overnight runs... Audio CDs are even worse...

No, you can use any PC (of sufficient spec) with a CD writer to burn audio or ATRAC CDs using Sonicstage... I tend not to bother these days as it seems to take forever for some reason...

Well, at least its good news about the line level output being more or less unaffected (if that's correct...?). I must admit I dont have any problems with the output volume of the 'hacked' Euro NH900 or NH600 - they seem to even drive my Senn HD580 headphones pretty well on their own, though I do usually use them a with a headphone amp. Is there an easy, definitive way to test the volume output of an audio unit, eg. with a test signal and a volt meter, or is this all just speculation, as it's beginning to seem...

Have you tried using another unit with line out (eg. a portable CD player or other MD unit) with your boombox? If you have, and it sounded pleasing to you then it's likely the RH10's headphone output set at maximum and the EQ off would give you a similar result. That's really what the line out feature is in the later MD units - it's just that the convenient line out 'switch' expected in the menu has been removed in the RH10. Earlier MD units had separate dedicated line out circuitry which made more of a difference. Also, presumably your boombox has a line in (or aux in) jack - in that case you wouldnt really need an external amp either, as the boombox itself would be the external amp through which you'd control the volume out. You could use an extra external amp to boost the input signal, but that seems like overkill to me - moreover there would be extra signal degradation since you'd be adding extra components into the audio path...

I'm a bit of a mixed bag - anglo-burmese (Burmese/Myanmarese on my mum's side), living in London, with British Citizenship. But I was actually born in the USA - in Duarte, California... Phew, no wonder I get confused...

You should be fine - the 'line' output voltage of other Sonys which have 5mW x 2 @ 16 ohm is 194mV into 10kOhms. This line out voltage would be equivalent to turning your RH10's volume right up to the maximum level, with EQ off... Even with EQ at max with the loudest music I doubt the RH10 would come anywhere near 1V...

The NH600 (without the D) and the RH710 have line inputs, so you can record with them, though for microphone recording you'd a need a self-powered mike or an external pre-amp...

Sorry, but the NHF800's tuner won't work with the RH910, or indeed any other unit. It's designed to only work with the NHF800...

I'm using the MDS-S50 deck with my micro hi-fi system. It's an excellent deck - had it for about 3 years I think, and no problems with it. It's a half size deck, so compact and lightweight and very reliable. No optical out, though, but as far as I can tell that's it's only shortcoming...

Not sure if you'd have the European capped model that would benefit from that volume hack... Using the graphics equaliser really helps bump up the volume on the Sony models. You could (also) try using some more efficient or isolating headphones/earphones. Do a search on these forums (fora?) for some suggestions. I personally prefer the Sennheiser MX350/450/550 range...