Volume hack for MZ-RH1 *PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK*

[Strungup]

I agrre about the headphones power issue , the discussion that took place and the "Placebo" statement wasnt quite accurate, but most of the guys here arent studio guys.

Good cans that take a preamp or work best on Pro Audio setups are going to make a substantial difference.

But I will say this in defense of most of the guys here , whereas they might not be studio rats like you and me , there are some serious Audiophiles , with good ears.

I chose the Yamaha RH-5Ma phones because of their sensitivity , they work great with MD and never have a Volume flux , I never have to turn up that loud . as will most people here will agree , at 15 on the volume with GOOD cans that have a high sensitivity, is more than enough. no need to get into the 20 range ( occasioanally I will get to the 20s , )

here is a post in agreement with that statement http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=115380

But what you have just posted is the proof of a great many Audiologists who have concluded that todays generation will mostly be deaf in there old age . The iPod gen .

You cant have a converstion anymore without a keyboard to type on , because everyone has buds in their ears, head down , and two thumbs going on the keypad of thier cell phone.

Take care of your ears dude , you might need them one day .

"The Y generation communicates by word of mouse," said Rudowicz said. "It's cool to get out to play with your peers."

Edited April 15, 2007 by Guitarfxr

[littlecx]

if you are talking about health, using low sesitivity cans is better than high sensitivity cheap earphones as the volume will never be high with low sensitivity cans. I am using low sensitivity cans and my RH1 vol always 28-30. If switch to earphone the volume will be 15-20 at home. If on the street the volume sometimes would be up to 30 since it is too noisy outside and this must lead to ear damage.

As the one who started this thread, I am very sure the difference between 4.5mW and 5.0 is evident.

Edited April 22, 2007 by littlecx

[RoGeR]

Maybe I have fat fingers or maybe my hand-eye coordination is getting slow with age... but HOW the hell do you guys manage to get the hack in so quickly? I barely reached the "pause pause" key sequence before my unit decides to go to sleep and powers itself down.

I've done the hack for my RH10 previously without fail but on the RH1, the tiny and difficult to press buttons (esp the T-mark) makes it so difficult to do!!!

[fukuda]

Maybe I have fat fingers or maybe my hand-eye coordination is getting slow with age... but HOW the hell do you guys manage to get the hack in so quickly? I barely reached the "pause pause" key sequence before my unit decides to go to sleep and powers itself down.

BTW, is it possible to "perform" this hack using the remote ?

On the RM-MC40ELK, for example ?

The keys are not that bigger but seem easier to find.

Many thanks in advance for your responses... and experiences.

Regards to you all.

[condenser]

damn, I don't think I did but I'm wondering if instead of changing the 0113 I changed the 0114 by accident.

Is item 0114 supposed to be "00"?

Thanks!

[Superbaldguy]

How about a hack to give us 10 mW, that would be useful.

[tekdroid]

How about a hack to give us 10 mW, that would be useful.

Agreed. The fine sound quality on decent cans WITH DECENT VOLUMES.

My one real criticism of Sony Hi-MD portables (and most of the rest of their portables) is their low power output. Cowon, iRiver, Meizu and the rest all have far higher-power amps (but many don't sound as good...)

[bobzilli]

The Cowan sounds great and has the volume needed. The only PAP with sound on a level with an MD and no, I don't own one-yet

[Avrin]

Is item 0114 supposed to be "00"?

Yes, it should be 00 on the RH1.

[Artstar]

A dude I know really wanted the MC40ELK remote that comes with the NH1, since he had a 2-week old RH1 which he received as a gift. I still had a (spare) brand new, untouched NH1 in the box for which he offered to trade me the whole lot for, all because of the remote - what an upgrade eh? Only thing is, it's a Japanese model, firmware v1.0A0.

Anyway, I've tested regions 01 (US) and 81 (AEP) but the menus still appear in Kanji on my remote. The unit itself shows the menus in English, thankfully, but I'm out of luck with my remote. Is 113 the only region setting or is there another step to altering the language on the remote?

Edited October 24, 2007 by Artstar

[vlad4003]

switch on the machine, switch the "hold" key, and while pressing 'T MARK', press FF FF FR FR FF FR FF FR Pause Pause.

etc.

This sounds interesting but this key combination actually does NOTHING on my unit. Should the "hold" be on or off... I tried both but does not seem to have any effect. What am I doing wrong then? Thanks!

v4003

[Avrin]

Probably, the unit switches off while you set it to HOLD. The RH1, in contrast to second generation units, only allows entering the service mode while the unit is on. So, switch HOLD on, then press the PLAY button to turn the unit back on (it will say HOLD on its display), and then, keeping the T MARK button depressed, enter the above sequence.

Putting the unit on a desk with its display facing left facilitates the process.

And don't forget that in order to get full volume and full dynamic range out of a European RH1, in addition to the service mode manipulations, you have to take it apart and do some resoldering!

Edited November 5, 2007 by Avrin

[DSP]

how do you mean?

What do you need to resolder? AND what effect would it have?

greetz

[Avrin]

Such resoldering requires sufficient skills in electronics. If you do have such skills, a quick look at R105, R106, R205, and R206 on the Main Board in the service manual (pages 33 and 62) will tell you the whole story.

[jemelia]

I found this hack a GOD SEND.

>

I'm extremely happy now that my unit is finally on par with all my other MiniDisc units (5mW). Out of all my units (5 of them), I considered the RH1 the worst, simply because of this 4.5mW output - that was how much it affected me. I'm sure you'd hate it too if you bought a portable audio device at a very high price (for your wage), only to realise it cannot provide the power to drive your favourite head/earphones.

So in concluding:

- European models all have a capped 4.5mW output, not 4.8mW.

- The volume difference between 4.5 and 5mW is not really discernable to the untrained ear between Vol 1-15 (Vol 15 @ 4.5mW ~~ Vol 13 @ 5mW).

- In the 4.5mW unit, the volume never really rises above 25, so 25 is nearly just as loud as 30. It is even quieter if bass is involved. (Vol 25 ~~ Vol 30 @ 4.5mW ~~ Vol 22 @ 5mW, if you're lucky). **

Most importantly:

- The effects of this power cap is most felt when using relatively large ear/headphones that require a lot of power to drive at respectable volumes.

- As a sound recording engineer, I can tell you this volume increase is not a placebo effect. (If you can tell the difference between 128k and 160k mp3 audio then you're into music as much as I am!)

(Oh alright, I'll write up a simple table)**

4.5mW and 5mW equiv.

Vol 10 = Vol 11

Vol 15 = Vol 13

Vol 20 = Vol 17

Vol 22 = Vol 19

Vol 25 = Vol 19-20

Vol 30 = Vol 19-21

- The range (eg 19-21) denotes that the volume fluctuates that much when driven at that volume. Imagine how annoying it is.

** This is assuming you're playing a properly normalised track.

I love this site. I have no objections to these hacks being readily available on these forums. Keep up the great work!

That's right. After applying that little hack the unit sounds great at Vol 18...19 on my Sennheiser MX-560. And I can confirm there had been some volume fluctuation before - not very noticeably, but it had been, starting from Vol 23.

[lastmanshooting]

hi guys been waiting for this hack for a while now as i posted a question about what seemed like dropouts in the music,

so it turned out it was just a limiter on the volume was a bit scary though as there where a few numbers and letters in front of the code that where counting down, it worked out in the end though cheers guys

[Strungup]

if you are talking about health, using low sesitivity cans is better than high sensitivity cheap earphones as the volume will never be high with low sensitivity cans. I am using low sensitivity cans and my RH1 vol always 28-30. If switch to earphone the volume will be 15-20 at home. If on the street the volume sometimes would be up to 30 since it is too noisy outside and this must lead to ear damage.

As the one who started this thread, I am very sure the difference between 4.5mW and 5.0 is evident.

You are quite incorrect , It isnt about volume ...... you missed the point . It is about control , When a Speaker ( or Headphone in this case) doesnt have enough power to stabilize it during transitions of Transient Peak to Peak +/- , ( what is known as Damping Factor ) then the results will be a weakening in the amplifiers ability to present transparent audio and distortions will be introduced in the audio signal chain . when there is the right amount of Power , then at LOWER volumes the speakers ( Phones) have enough power to maintain the Damping Factor , and present a Fuller Spectrum of Audio Frequencies at the given Volume .

Higher or Lower resistance Phones are not the issue Control over the sound is , You shouldn't have to have your volumes up that loud to hear the full spectrum , You should have the Power to translate it at ANY given volume

Th Use of a headphone amp will very quickly show you what I just said here

Get a FiiO E5 ( Very Cheap ) and try that ......... you will hear a VAST difference in the quality of sound at the SAME volume levels .

[h_fireage]

Hello guyz

I recently have bought an RH1 european ver. Did this hack successfully and the result is way louder vol than before the hack....

But it seems even after the hack I still have a "little" less volume than my nh1...Also more distortion...I think another mod has to be done to the deck's main board...

Not worth...?

Can someone give me a dl URL of a free service manual?

Appreciated

[Jimma]

Hi h_fireage.

Here is the address for the service manual for the RH1. I really wouldn't mess around with any other values in service mode unless you are sure you know what you're doing though. One wrong input and you could be left with nothing but a very expensive paper weight.

http://minidisc.org/manuals/sony/service/sony_MZ-RH1_service_manual.pdf

[h_fireage]

Such resoldering requires sufficient skills in electronics. If you do have such skills, a quick look at R105, R106, R205, and R206 on the Main Board in the service manual (pages 33 and 62) will tell you the whole story.

Why R105(Lch) is 10 ohms while the other ch is 22? They both should be same...Europeans have more sensitive right ears??

[mike79]

Greetings, everyone.

I Know this topic may be dead and buried, but though i'm new here, I just felt the need to check what has been said about the volume hack. I hacked my RH1 with success and i notice the difference:

More gain, and for instance, with "unique" on at the eq, sound doen't suffer/ break as much as it used to, if we crank it above volume 20. In fact, little distortion appears depending on the type of music you're playing and only at volume 28-30.

So, I'm very pleased with this hack so far. Be careful and nothing wrong should happen to your precious unit.

Ta Ta.