Portable MD for highest quality playback of SACD transfers

[poop1e]

Hi everyone, Im looking for a portable md that is lighter/smaller than my nh700(not so difficult...) and offers the highest quality playback(when used with a cmoy headphone amp and v700's).

I've just bought a ja20es to transfer my cds and sacds and get the impression that I'm not getting all I can out of the nh700 in terms of audio quality. It sounds good, don't get me wrong, but I think it could sound better and I was wondering if anyone knew which portable players are best sheerly in terms of music reproduction. I'm not bothered about himd or net md and it doesn't have to record, I'm most interested in audio quality but I'm not sure about lugging it all behind in a wheely bin

The problem is that the nh700 is too bulky to be carrying round with a headphone amp too, I was considering buying a mz-e10, it seems more than small enough to be attached to the back of the amp no problem, but I'm not sure that it would last too long like that, it looks pretty delicate. I also noticed that it uses some sort of custom headphone plug-which might be tricky for connecting to the amp. I hacked the volume on the nh700 as it couldn't drive these phones properly but now that's not a prob, so the player doesn't need to be powerful with the amp(but maybe the european are all capped anyway?) so nice sound tweaking options would be good too

Does anyone have any ideas what model might be best? Or maybe someone has used the nh700 and can offer me some advice on a decent upgrade to the sound? I had a net md for a short while before I bought the himd, I forget the model now but I remember being blown away with the quality in a way I never quite have been with the nh700.

I'm a recent convert to md and I am now pretty much permanently converted as the sound/size/flexibility is just a no-brainer. It really is superb technology. Any help is much appreciated....

[pata2001]

As far as I know, there is no way in recording SACD digitally, or ripping an SACD. You can only record via analog, and any HiMD units with line-in should do the job, in this case, your NH700. To get the highest quality possible, record in PCM mode, which is uncompressed. Nothing will be better than that, and any HiMD unit can playback PCM.

For playback, best bet is to get a unit with an HD amp. If you want a thin one, get the EH1 (unfortunately, it's quite rare now). Next best bet is the EH930, EH70, or EH50, all have HD amp. Or you can get the NH1, which is a recorder also, and has a line-out mode.

[poe]

You maybe able to record your sacds if they have a cd layer. I believe that Sony produced sacds were never produced with a cd layer, most other companies do have a cd layer. Pata2001 is correct about PCM recording on HIMD being the best, although for some space you may want to use the new 352 Atrac Plus, beaware that its only avaible trough Sonic Stage.POE

[poop1e]

Thanks Poe and Pata, sorry for the late reply.

I've had a look for the models you mentioned Pata and I can't find any of them on Ebay, you're right about them being rare! I'm at a bit of a loss where else to look really.

You're right about not being able to record sacd digitally Pata, there's too much info, so I've been doing it via the analogue phonos and it sounds good, better than the cd layer on the same disc via the analogue(I think!).

I'm thinking of plumping for the NH1, nice looking machine too and not so big. So the HD amp makes a real difference then?

Spacewise, Poe, I'm not really that fussed as I have a shortish commute and a couple of discs is usually enough, but I know what you mean. I've got my ipod or HIMD if it's a long trip(but there does seem to be an obsession with how much music you have with you, it seems to inspire having lots of albums and doing lots of track skipping...)

Also, what is the best deck for transferring? The ja20es is great, but as it's not the latest version of atrac I wondered if the newer models might be better. But, seen as it's pcm perhaps it doesn't matter? I read that the jb930qs is considered the best model, even better than the 980 or ES models, is there any truth to this? I've seen the other ES models, and the price, and to be honest I'd have to be very sure before I considered upgrading to one of them, though the keyboard in would be handy.

[zerodB]

The HD amp doesn't make any real difference in SQ. The bass is slightly inflated (ie. punchier, but perhaps not as tight), and the highs are a tiny bit crisper, but any real difference between the standard digital amp is minimal at best.

What you do get out of the HD amp, is a noticably lower sound floor. For this reason alone it's worthwhile.

The deck you use shouldn't effect the sound quality. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong (perhaps these high-end decks use better quality DACs) but what really matters at the end of the day is the encoder.

ATRAC Type-R is the best you are gonna get on standard MD. With HiMD you can get uncompressed PCM, or 352kbps ATRAC3plus, which, although compressed, is still better (I assume, as I have no HiMD myself) than ATRAC Type-R (which, although good, is only at 292kbps).

[poop1e]

I'd hope that the high-end decks do use higher quality DACs but in this case I really don't know(yet!). I use mine as a makeshift DAC at the moment and the quality is good. I've not used other sonys so I have no frame of reference with this brand, but it's a marked improvement over a cheaper Kenwood MD I had and equal to the last proper unit I had. At the same time I would agree with you that the quality of the encoding is important-bitrates and build don't always tell the whole story.

So perhaps my best bet is to bypass any compression at all and use a HIMD to record in pcm. The only thing is that it is expensive in discs and they won't play on my home deck. But that is as good as it gets, couldn't ask for more than a bit4bit copy.

Does anyone know if Sony are, or why Sony are not, releasing a HIMD deck? I can only assume that they don't think it is a viable product.