Avrin

Isn't the new Virtual PC with USB support designed for Windows 7 only, and not for Vista?

NetMD units (including the RH1 with a legacy disc inserted) never show up as drives. But, I'm afraid, that they will interfere with each other at the driver level, when connected to a single PC.

All OpenMG programs are single-instance only. And it is not recommended to connect several units at once. A solution may be to run several VMware virtual Windows PCs with a SonicStage installed on each, and with a different USB port connected to each of those. But I'm still not sure whether this will work.

A more thorough analysis revealed [unneeded] compression on several tracks of Mono Masters CD2. So, for those who want to get the best sounding collection of The Beatles recordings on CD, which is true to the spirit of the group, who mixed most of their albums in Mono (with Stereo releases only being a commercial by-product, except for the last three albums), we have the following option: 1. Buy the Mono Box, and dump both Mono Masters CDs. 2. Buy the last five CDs of the "Classic" non-remastered collection ("Yellow Submarine", "Abbey Road", "Let It Be", "Past Masters Volume One", and "Past Masters Volume Two"), while they are still available. And don't tell be about the Black Triangle release of "Abbey Road" - you either already have it, or never will, and no Beatles CD will ever sound better.

Oxidized and/or loose contacts/screws, most probably.

Microsoft claims to have enabled transparent USB support for Windows XP Mode under Windows 7 (using the latest version of their Virtual PC). If this is true, everything will work fine in this mode. But not directly under 64-bit Windows 7. And not with Virtual PC 2007 or earlier. And I don't think that the RTM version of Windows 7 already includes Windows XP Mode. After all, it's a 500 Mb download.

Problems are not with XP compatibility. 32-bit drivers still won't work on a 64-bit XP. And SONY won't create 64-bit driver versions for obsolete products. There's too much work: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/kernel/64bit_chklist.mspx

Thanks! The Auto Search operates quite simply - the tonearm is equipped with an infrared LED/sensor pair to detect LP "trackmarks", which have higher reflectivity, compared to tracks themselves. If an LP has no "trackmarks", Auto Search doesn't work. I once had a linear DENON with this function.

Yeah, the SL-7 is automatic. It is even able to play when turned upside down. The only thing it lacks is Auto Track Search present in later models. But the chassis of the SL-7 is the best of all linear Technics models. But the SL-1200 is the best model currently available.

SP upload won't work.

Track marks on MDs are known to shift backwards for a split second, compared to the original CD. But a couple of seconds forward definitely means something is wrong.

Accessing CDDB from SonicStage without selecting any tracks is more reliable (and you may cancel the operation if the result is incorrect). But now it looks like you have tracks spread over several albums, so only manual regrouping may help.

Well, actually the battery is long dead, but this doesn't affect quality, since the power supply in my apartment is quite noiseless. And yes, the Technics SL-7 linear turntable sounds wonderfully through the system (although right now it needs a stylus drive belt replacement).

Yes, I do prefer the sound of the NH600 connected to the Technics SU-C1000/SE-A1000/SB-M1000 system. But the NH3D also sounds great (a Japanese unit made for the Japanese market always means something). What a pity SONY decided to disable Line Out in the NH600/NH700/NHF800 family. The pin of the amplifier chip, that is supposed to control the output mode, is permanently connected to ground (which means Headphone mode).

Don't forget that the NH600/NH700/NHF800 family has a great analogue output amplifier (TOSHIBA TA2131FLG), and, as such, will always sound better than all the fashionable digital-amp units, including the RH10. And VPT and SpeedControl may be enabled on the NH700, but not on the RH10. Again, the NH700 records in all possible modes out of the box.

Never had problems transferring WOTW or any other gapless musical/album. Another source of gaps may be tracks initially ripped to a wrong format. E.g., if you rip to MP3, and then transfer to NetMD, there will be gaps. Even if you rip to ATRAC3plus, and then transfer to NetMD, small gaps may be introduced during ATRAC3plus-->ATRAC3 conversion. If you are going to transfer to NetMD, rip all tracks directly to ATRAC3@132 kbit/s with copy protection (to avoid extra conversion). Using SimpleBurner is also a great idea.

Make sure the "Microsoft PCM Converter" is enabled in your Audio Codec settings. Disabling it (by some programs) is known to introduce gaps during MP3 and WAV playback in SonicStage, and may also be the cause of your problem. Updating DirectX and the driver for your audio card is also a good practice.

This year I encountered the FORMAT DISC ERROR on two second-generation gigabyte discs that were simply sitting on the shelf with music downloaded from SonicStage. No units wanted to play them. But as it turned out, they were still uploadable. So, I uploaded all their content back to SonicStage, reformatted the discs, and then put the stuff back. Now they play perfectly. But your situation certainly looks more grim.

Trouble with digitizing is that the presence of even a low level high frequency component makes the signal unsuitable for analog-to-digital conversion. I.e., non-compliant with the requirements of the Nyquist theorem. And noone can predict, which parts of the signal will be affected as a result. The presence of a low level high frequency component may easily affect perfectly hearable sounds. Well, the big four certainly do not. And even an indie label is not a guarantee, since the material will usually still be overcompressed and clipped at the factory. Most downloads are overcompressed and mostly clipped. And don't forget the simple fact that most of them are nothing but CD rips.

Clipping is only too common on all media now. The second version of the MJ track above is horribly clipped (as is the entire set of his 2001 releases, including "Invincible" and Special Editions of his earlier albums). And I've seen clipping even on DVD-Audio. And on CDs with classical music released in Japan. Even some vinyl releases now have traces of digital clipping.

The above picture nicely ilustrates an example of distorted signal with a high frequency cutoff. This can be easily seen from a non-flat curve beyond 20 kHz - all these low-level high frequencies are nothing but distortion. When higher frequencies are removed correctly using a proper input analogue filter, the curve is perfectly flat beyond the filter band. And again, even if you remove these frequencies digitally, you will only get additional distortion of the signal at lower frequencies.

Well, I could have posted Pink Floyd originals and remasters, if MJ CDs were not on a closer shelf. But I'll say it again, the SP (or any lossy format) high frequency cutoff will not improve a digital signal, if it is already incorrect. Removing higher frequencies after digitizing, further destroys the music. E.g., the "Special Edition" still sounds like crap in SP.

Just a couple of illustrations. A perfectly mastered (and fantastically sounding) CD from 1983: A 2001 "Special Edition" CD, that will never sound good on any equipment (and I'm not even talking about compression and clipping distortion): The track is the same - "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by Michael Jackson.

The problem is related to any digital media, including CD, MD, DAT, DVD, LaserDisc/video tape with digital soundtracks, Flash, HDD, etc. And to transferring analogue media to thee digital domain, both in the studio and at home. It has two effects: 1. No input lowpass filter = incorrect digital copy (most modern CDs are made this way, but things were different in the 1980s, even outside Japan). 2. No output lowppass filter = incorrect playback (even if the digital copy is perfect). And it is not possible to fix improperly mastered media.