Avrin

Ripping and recording quality effectilvely depends on the manufacturing quality of the CD in question. Some CDs can be ripped at higher speeds with bit-perfect results, while some require slower speeds or even multiple passes with error recovery (that's what EAC does). And some cannot be ripped without errors at all.

I don't think that the original lossless format (WAV or PCM) makes any difference, as long as it is ripped correctly (this may depend on the CD drive and the disc itself). And remember that you only have the Recording Quality selector when ripping from CDs. All conversions of files already stored on the HDD drive are made in Normal quality only. Some of them (MP3, AAC) are even implemented in earlier English versions of SonicStage (MP3 in version 3.0, etc.), although in a different way and with different codes. But there is no way to use the 900XX (or the 600XX) group for any of the other codecs. There is no way to enable WMA Lossless in SonicStage. But WAV, PCM, and ATRAC Advanced Lossless should produce bit-perfect copies (under good conditions).

Recording to PCM in realtime via optical in does not produce bit-perfect copies, as may be seen from the first two screenshots in the first message here.

It looks like SonicStage was initially intended to support much more formats, but support for most of them has never been never implemented. Setting the FileType key to various values results in SonicStage actually showing the formats, but the corresponding bitrate keys are ignored, and ripping to these formats leads to errors. The following formats are shown: 90001: PCM - works when selected in the registry with the corresponding bitrate (1411 kbps) 90002: AACLC 90003: AAC 90004: AACSSR 90005: AACMP4 90006: AC3 90007: MPEG Audio Layer1,2 90008: MPEG Audio Layer3 90009: MPEG2 Audio Layer1,2 90010: ATRAC (actually, ATRAC3) - works from the interface, with 66 and 105 kbps only selectable in the registry 90011: ADPCM G.726 90012: ATRAC (actually, ATRAC3plus) - works from the interface 90013: WMA Lossless 90014: DSD 90016: ATRAC Advanced Lossless (with ATRAC3 lossy part) - works from the interface 90017: ATRAC Advanced Lossless (with ATRAC3plus lossy part) - works from the interface 90018: HE-AAC v1 90019: HE-AAC v2

I tried using some unassigned entries, but most of them are not recognized by SonicStage (and result in errors when trying to rip). The only other registry modification that actually works, is as follows: REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sony Corporation\SonicStage\CDRipper] "Bitrate_00090001"=dword:00158880 "FileType"=dword:00090001 "CDRecordMode"=dword:00000002[/code] This one sets SonicStage to rip directly to OpenMG-wrapped PCM. The only difference from WAV is that these PCM files are directly transferred to Hi-MD units, without converting them from WAV to PCM first (Hi-MD units do not accept WAV - they need OMG-wrapped PCM). This may save some time when transferring lots of CDs to Hi-MD discs in PCM mode.

All the other possible entries are controllable via the SonicStage interface, so there is no reason to adjust them with registry modifications.

The best program to get bit-perfect copies of your CDs as WAV files on your hard drive is EAC. But you need to set it up according to the parameters of your CD drive.

That registry settings only apply to 66 and 105 kbit/s. LP2 (132 kbit/s) is configurable from the SonicStage interface.

Simple Burner can only burn ATRAC3 (LP2 and LP4) to conventional 80 min. discs in standard MD mode. But SonicStage can transfer 66, 105, and 132 kbit/s ATRAC3 in Hi-MD mode. Here's a way to make SonicStage rip CDs directly to 66 and 105 kbit/s: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=15928 - I have just added quality selection there. File conversion in SonicStage and music transfer in Simple Burner are always done in Normal Quality.

Welcome to the Forums! First, update SonicStage from this message: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=141995 Second, update PxEngine from here: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=141019

Welcome to the Forums! The original official SonicStage 4.3 is known to be quite unstable in some situations. Try the experimental "ultimate" one from this message: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=141995 instead.

I have no idea about what equipment actually uses 16-bit DACs nowadays. Probably, more expensive units ($1500 and above) do.

All portables (and most "stationary" units now) have 1-bit DACs. Which does not improve sound quality in any way, when compared to a good-old 16-bit DAC that is much more expensive to manufacture because of the need to have an array of 65536 very high-precision resistors for each channel.

I don't think that this drive can upload SP recordings. To do this, you need the NETMD052.sys driver, but this driver only works with the RH1/M200 (it is only installed for devices with the VID_054C&PID_0286 PnP identifier).

Press F12 to switch to the Simple Mode. Then press Ctrl+K to choose a skin.

The one you like the most.

Good old OpenMG Jukebox 2.2 skins, still compatible with SonicStage 4.3: http://depositfiles.com/files/5kirevxv9 - the self-extracting archive should put them into the appropriate folder (on Windows 2000/XP).

The NH600 is a great unit! One of the analog amplifier family (NH600/NH700/NHF800). Sounds very warm, natural and clear. Can be resoldered to enable VPT (at the cost of the Quick Mode).

Don't forget to remove copy protection from your live recordings using the SonicStage File Conversion Tool as soon as they are uploaded!

4-pole amplifiers are designed as a relatively cheap way to achieve high output power at low supply voltage. In traditional 3-pole amplifiers, there are three wires - one common, which carries no signal, and two channel wires carrying left and right channel signals, which, after driving the headphones, are fed to the common wire, thus closing the circuit. Since the headphones have a non-zero impedance (16 Ohms or higher), the system works as expected, playing music with no chance of overload. In 4-pole systems, on the other hand, each wire carries a signal. Wires for a single channel actually carry the same signal, but with reversed polarity (it is this technology that allows increasing the output power, since a double amplitude arrives to the headphones). Now consider a situation, when you have a pure sinewave playing in the left channel, with silence in the right. If you shorten the negative signals of the two channels, connecting them to the common wire of 3-pole headphones, and feed the positive signals to the left and right channel wires, you won't get the original sinewave in the left channel and silence in the right. The left channel will play the sinewave at a seriously reduced amplitude, while the right channel will also play it at some level (the level depends on the impedances of the amplifier and the headphones). Thus, the original signal and its stereo separation will be seriously distorted. And short-circuiting the negative sinewave from the negative left channel wire to the zero in the negative right channel wire may lead to amplifier damage. The above situation may seem theoretical, but signals of actual music may become even more distorted, depending on what you have in two channels. And a good bass drum at a high volume level may fry the amplifier even faster.

Just press the "Briefcase" button on the CD-ripping screen in SonicStage. You'll see the Recording Quality drop-down box.

Normal (Faster) and High are the values of the Recording Quality parameter in SonicStage. You may also set the quality via the registry. That's what the "CDRecordMode" DWORD parameter of the [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sony Corporation\SonicStage\CDRipper] key does - the value of 1 corresponds to Normal (Faster), and the value of 2 corresponds to High. Minidisc Simple Burner uses Normal quality only.

You ABSOLUTELY MUST use 4-pole headphones with a 4-pole amplifier. Negative signals in the 4-pole system differ between channels, so merging them in a 3-pole headphone connector will distort the sound, and may even lead to amplifier damage. But it is possible to buy a spare 4-pole mini-jack connector (say, for a camcorder, or a video portable), and solder it to a set of standard headphones, making sure that EACH POLE HAS ITS OWN WIRE.

Added some really strange stuff to the very end of my initial analysis.

I haven't changed addresses 0211 or 0212 yet, since both my RH1s operate correctly (I'm not actively using them anymore though - the workhorses now are the RH10 and one of the NH600s). Still have 2E @ address 0211 and 1E @ address 0212. The only address I have changed is 0124, since I got the "READ ERROR" message on a 80-minute disc the day after I bought my first RH1.