Which One To Buy?

[Trigger2001]

So my old minidisc is finally giving up and heading to minidisc heaven (five years of constant use, i'm gonna miss it ), and the time has come for Hi MD. But i have some questions: I'm looking at both the RH910 and the NH900, and i'm having trouble deciding which one to get. What i need is a minidisc that's happy to play back Mp3's, which is why the 910 appeals, but i've heard battery life is poor and it doesn't come with an AA attachable..errm..thing. Is this true?

the 900 appeals because it does have such a pack, and an lcd remote, but i understand you need to convert your Mp3 files using sonic stage, then upload them. That right?

I really like good quality sound, so i'm wondering if that conversion will lose quality on regular 128 - 192 Kbps Mp3's, and how they're quality fares under LP2 compression on both units. And does having to convert my Mp3s on my PC mean they'll take up more HDD space?

Lots of questions i know, but any help is much appreciated!

[valta]

So my old minidisc is finally giving up and heading to minidisc heaven (five years of constant use, i'm gonna miss it  ), and the time has come for Hi MD. But i have some questions: I'm looking at both the RH910 and the NH900, and i'm having trouble deciding which one to get. What i need is a minidisc that's happy to play back Mp3's, which is why the 910 appeals, but i've heard battery life is poor and it doesn't come with an AA attachable..errm..thing. Is this true?

the 900 appeals because it does have such a pack, and an lcd remote, but i understand you need to convert your Mp3 files using sonic stage, then upload them. That right?

I really like good quality sound, so i'm wondering if that conversion will lose quality on regular 128 - 192 Kbps Mp3's, and how they're quality fares under LP2 compression on both units. And does having to convert my Mp3s on my PC mean they'll take up more HDD space?

Lots of questions i know, but any help is much appreciated!

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Hi, yesterday I received RH10 unit(similar as rh910) and I think, that the battery is the same as a battery in rh910. But: in accesories bundled with my unit was AA attachable pack, so i think that it will be bundled with rh910 too. My unit is Europe version

[lightbulbjim]

the 910 appeals, but i've heard battery life is poor

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Actually I'd say the battery life is better with the 910. The 1st generation HiMD units in general don't have spectacular battery life.

but i understand you need to convert your Mp3 files using sonic stage, then upload them. That right?

I really like good quality sound, so i'm wondering if that conversion will lose quality on regular 128 - 192 Kbps Mp3's, and how they're quality fares under LP2 compression on both units

←

Yeah that's right, the 900 can't play back mp3 files natively, you have to convert them to atrac first. I'd say that if you're going from 128-192kb/s mp3s to LP2, then you're definitely going to notice the difference and it won't sound all that good. So from that point of view you might be better off going with the 910.

Also, if your old MD unit died (and so backwards compatibility isn't important to you), then you're not restricted to LP2. You can use Hi-LP, and fit just over twice as much audio on a disc for comparable quality (see this chart for more info on HiMD and MD codecs and how they compare). Note that the RH910 CANNOT record to old MD modes (SP, LP2, LP4) by itself, to do this you have to have it connected to your pc via usb and record THROUGH SonicStage. The NH900 on the other hand can record in all the old MD modes and the HiMD modes on its own.