bennythesoundman

I'm not sure what your source is but I've heard no such information regarding DSD (which yes, is used by SACD). What I have heard, with my own ears, is a significant improvement in recorded sound quality over PCM (particularly the 44.1 & 48Khz sampling rates). If you read the technical specs of DSD you will see that it is in fact the closest digital equivalent of an analog waveform possible, plain & simple. Indeed if you begin to look for flaws in the technical specs you will find countless ones in that of PCM - Sony & Philips knew this which is why they created DSD. At it's core DSD offers a vastly improved sampling rate (2800Khz), dynamic range (120db) & frequency response (~100Khz) - in English this means more realistic sound. As for SACD itself, it was never going to be a mainstream format, but merely a niche format for those who appreciate good sound. Enough said. As for recording let me put it this way. If I'm recording something that's only going to be heard once for all of time & will go down famously in history (say like say Queen Elizabeth II announcing that England has declared war on Australia, or perhaps U2 turning up at my local pub to play an acoustic set of their Joshua Tree album) I'd make damn sure it was recorded DSD. :-)

Hi Chris, I've been using a Korg MR-1 for a couple of months now. I'm actually a freelance location sound recordist, also in Sydney. The audio quality of recordings in sensational as you would expect being DSD. One major caveat with the MR-1 though: the battery life sucks in a major way. My experience has been two hours recording time tops (stopping & starting a few times) - maybe 2.5 hours if you record non-stop. And, that's only recording fairly light weight 16/48 PCM with all the possible battery saving methods (eg backlight off) engaged - I've only ever used it for recording so I can't comment on what the playback-only battery life is like - the manual suggests it's no different. It's so bad that I've relegated it to occasional high-end work or short jobs - the original idea was to use it as a constant backup (like DAT) - that job has now gone to a $99 Sony MZ-NH600D believe it or not. Because most of the work I do doesn't require high sampling rates the Hi-MD serves the purpose fine - I record Hi-SP to a 1GB disc which means I just press record at the start of the day & stop at the end of the day. In order to lengthen recording times with the MR-1 I've also since bought an external Lithium-ion battery pack from Jaycar which more than doubles the portable recording time but it unfortunately makes things very fiddly for portable use (more cables): http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?I...=&SUBCATID= One other thing with the MR-1 is it's bigger than it looks in the photos - about twice the volume of early HDD iPods. It's nowhere near as heavy as the volume suggests though, it feels like a there's a lot of air space inside when you hold it. Perhaps a lot a padding to protect the HDD (which is almost certainly a 1.8"drive the same as iPods). Functionally the MR-1 is simple but effective, it doesn't have complex menus because it doesn't need them. The inputs are switchable from MIC to LINE with full level control through the menu. Recording can be up to speed within about 5 seconds of complete power off which I like. So in short, it's great having DSD recording ability but the battery life is diabolical. It kind of reminds me on the Sony MZ-1 in 1992 - that machine could record 75 minutes to a single MiniDisc but only had enough battery capacity to record 60 minutes. The MR-1 has enough HDD space for 30 hours, but only enough battery for 2 hours!!!! Feel free to drop me a line if you want to know anything else. Cheers, Ben P.S. The North American version of the MR-1 (which I have) has a white LCD display not a blue one as seen in stock photos (which I assume are of the original Japanese version).

I'm just wondering if your MZ-E50 is still available, & if so, how much did you want for it? Cheers, Ben