the MZ-RH10: first impressions

[WaywardTraveller]

Greetings.

Well, after having my shiny new RH10 for a couple of days I thought I'd post a few first impressions; I've had a lot of useful information come my way on these Forums and thought I'd try to pay it back..if only just a bit.

First...I've owned a Sharp IM-MT880 for the longest time and am perfectly happy with it - the sound is sweet (even if the battery life isn't what it should be), and wanted a Hi-MD unit cos I've been on the road for almost two years and want to record market/souq/village sounds without having to lug around so many MDs. Having said that, let's get to the good stuff....

Background: I bought my RH10 from minidisco.com, so it's a non-hacked North America model.

1. The transparent covering: quite frankly, I still can't see what the problem is. I've tried scraping this surface with everything from a fingernail to an MD case, and have yet to "scratch the surface." Sure, fingerprints get on it, but if you use a camera cloth you can keep the surface shiny clean with a minimum of fuss.

2. Aesthetic: I've never really minded what others used to complain about with the MT880; I thought the USB "bump" had a uniqueness and style to it that was appealing. But with the RH10, I have to admit I find this baby beeeeeautiful!! Chrome and black...what else could you really ask for? And I feel I'd just be rehashing the obvious when I say the organic backlit unit display is simply outstanding...smooth animation, a nonobtrusive font style... The jog dial, for me, is nonobtrusive and easily moved by even a sweaty finger/thumb (travel to Singapore and you'll know what I mean!) and I find the feel of the buttons very solid (although one of them is very slightly loose).

3. Transfer: Well, anyone with a Sharp unit knows that the transfer isn't nearly as fast as Sony units, generally speaking. Personally, I couldn't care less - I read a book or do something constructive while spending the extra time transferring tracks, but all the same I found the RH10's transfer speed impressive. I HATE SonicStage with a passion, but slowly but surely Sony seems to be improving on something that seriously needs improvement...at least I can use this version on a Win98 machine (sometimes that's all you get in international net cafes )without expecting the periodic system crash!

4. A word on MP3s. One of the problems I have with online MD vendors is that they sometimes post incredibly contradictory information. Example: some advertise the MZ-DH10 as having mic/line-in jacks, others say it does NOT have this...a pretty important point for me if considering a Hi-MD unit. With the RH10, some advertised it has having "native MP3 capability," others did not.

The verdict? As always, read the directions. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the answer to the RH10's "native" MP3 support is a "kinda." As far as I have surmised, the RH10 does support native playback: but I decided to run an experiment with a 192kbps MP3. I was able to upload it "as-is" without conversion if I selected the transfer kbps as 192+kbps; if I wanted anything lower it was automatically converted to, for example, 132kbpsATRAC.

The interesting thing about this experiment was that the 132kbps ATRAC sounded way, WAY better than the original MP3 - more volume, more treble (a common gripe with MP3s as I've read) - generally, a much more robust recording than the original! Granted, I haven't tried this experiment with a higher-resolution MP3, but I'm now interested in trying it with my normal recording level of 256-320kbps.

Problems

THE REMOTE!! Serves me right for not doing enough research...I love this unit, but was disappointed at the crappy non-LCD remote I got with the North American model. I have also realized that the manual for the RH10 isn't nearly as clear on some things as it should have been...as far as I can see it doesn't mention that connecting the unit to a computer via USB presents an icon on the display that implies battery charging (if there's one inside the unit); nor does it explain some of the symbols that show up on the backlit display.

Filenames also seem to be rendered in the Windows 3.x 8-character maximum fashion...a very minor gripe, but noticeable.

All in all, I have to say I love this unit. I originally chose MiniDisc over, for example, Ipod because I wanted a removable, library-conducive media; if you have an Ipod and lose your unit/it gets stolen you're screwed, whereas if the same happens to your MD unit you can at least keep your music. But for someone who will be on the road in foreign continents for a couple of years, Hi-MD lets me keep twice the music at half the space...something like that.

That, and now I have more space for those digital photos I can't fit on my memory cards

[big_raji]

Nice Review, thanks!

I've been paranoid about the "Easily-scratched" RH10, so haven't even considered it, but perhaps now I'll give it another look the next time I'm at the Sony Store.

[Sparky191]

The interesting thing about this experiment was that the 132kbps ATRAC sounded way, WAY better than the original MP3 - more volume, more treble (a common gripe with MP3s as I've read) - generally, a much more robust recording than the original!  Granted, I haven't tried this experiment with a higher-resolution MP3, but I'm now interested in trying it with my normal recording level of 256-320kbps.....

I find MP3's at 192kps and higher on my Creative MP3 player sound as good as HiSP on my 1st gen HiMD, using the same earphones. A highly subjective test I know. But it works for me.

[Alexx]

I believe sony crushes MP3s in order to make atrac sound better