Sharp 24bit atrac

[SHion]

I can't find informations about the legendary 24bit atrac always claimed in sharp's recorders.

Why sony never specify their numbers as counterpart ? Is sony not on 24bit ?

Has Sharp ever got further than typeR or S ?

[MDX-400]

I can't find informations about the legendary 24bit atrac always claimed in sharp's recorders.

Why sony never specify their numbers as counterpart ? Is sony not on 24bit ?

Has Sharp ever got further than typeR or S ?

Sharp ATRAC encoders are a little "unknown" in that there really hasn't been that much AB testing between the two. It's reasonable to think that Type-R is the best ATRAC though. Perhaps Sharp has done something better than Type-R but it is really not easy to tell. For one thing a lot of the times you're comparing other things at the same time like Sharp's Auvi amplification or other electronics.

It's even harder since ATRAC output quality is determined not only by the encoding done (which is the most important) but also to some degree by the decoding as well (less important but still important). So do we encode on Sharp and Sony and then compare on a Sony? Or a Sharp? Or compare Sharp on Sharp and Sony on Sony? Or do we go vice versa? With all these variables it really is difficult to do a proper audible comparison of the two.

To answer your question directly, however, yes Sony does use 24-bit processes--this started with Sony's Wide Bit Stream feature. Originally I think it was 18-bit but later progressed to 20 and then 24-bit. There are some articles and info on Minidisc.org's main page but since the search feature stopped working a long time ago I can't seem to locate it. Not in the FAQ where I thought it was and can't find any links elsewhere.