Sound quality. Which is best?

[rich1068]

Hi guys, first post here so be gentle. And I'm sure that this has been asked before but a quick look around didn't turn anything up so bear with me.

I have always been a fan of MD but currently use an NW-HD3 for general use and in the car. The thing is I always find the sound a little 'flat' whichever import or transfer mode I use be it MP3 or Atrac. Would anyone have an opinion as to whether I would be better off getting the MZ-RH1? Is it basically a better bit of kit than the HD Walkman? I know that this is an MD forum and obviously you lot are sold already but an impartial view would be appreciated. I always rated the sound from my old MZ-N710 and I still can't bear to part with it but obviously it's storage capabilties are limited hence this post in the Hi-MD section.

Cheers,

Richard.

[rich1068]

112 views and no opinions? Welcome to the forum Rich.

[The Low Volta]

- it is a forum an your post isn't 24hours old (the views do not say everything you know) so give the ppl some time

- btw: welcome to MDCF

- just wait a bit till someone with experience with Sony HD-players as well as Hi-MD's chips in with some advice (I could guess, but I have never in my entire life listened to any Sony HD-player so that would be rough guesswork at best)

- you could always post the same at the atraclife forum as there are a lot of HD-player users over there, but the ones with a HiMD as wel are probably a member here as well (like stuge IIRC)

[Stuge]

First of all,I don't want this thread to turn into HD vs Md .

Now ,It depends on your usage.If you like to carry a lot of music with you,then Hard disk players are the most convenient ones .

There is not much sound quality difference b/w my DH10P & HD3,HD5,A1000(Slight difference ).Only difference is that the sound quality of DH10P is slightly clear than HD3 may be b'coz of HDamp in DH10P.

I'm quite sure that RH1 will also sound same as DH10P b'coz they both have HDamp.

I will advise you to tweak the settings of manual Eq in HD3.

Edited September 3, 2006 by stuge

[rich1068]

Sorry guys, probably a badly worded question. I certainly didn't mean it to be a 'vs.' post either. I suppose what I meant was that as the MZ-RH1 seems to be sold as a low volume 'professional' product then are the components of a better quality than a high volume seller such as Sony's HD offerings? Shoot, it still sounds like a 'vs.' but do you see what I'm getting at? Sound reproduction on my HD seems OK but not much more. I'm digging a hole here, I'll stop

Specifically @ stuge,

TBH being able to carry around hundreds of tunes certainly isn't a priority. I don't think I've ever gone more than about 5 gig on my HD3 and then usually I end up removing the lot and putting something else entirely different on. Sort of defeats the object I know but hey...

And as far as tweaking settings, well yes I do but I always like to think the test is what it sounds like straight out of the box.

Again, sorry for the confusion and (seriously) thanks for the welcome

[sub27]

I don't like HD devices. I bought an ipod twice and sold it twice because the sound seemed to lose it's life but whereas the MZ-NH1 seemed to add more life to the songs, I think mainly because of the HD amp. I'm happy with the MZ-RH1 too, the sound seems divided by two sides giving a bigger scope whereas the MZ-NH1 seems more slim fat. This only applies with using simpleburner, not sonicstage... another advantage of md is the 1G discs, you get to listen to what you want rathar than randomly picking a song from a giant group. So I like 1G discs best.

Edited September 6, 2006 by sub27

[ZosoIV]

The NH1 (and presumably RH1) have extremely low noisefloors due to their “HD” digital amps. While the sound is very neutral, like most other audio players I've heard, my NH1 is DEAD silent in between notes. This is especially striking through my new Sennheiser HD-595 headphones in PCM mode. I have not had the same experience with iPods or even older MD units (MZ-R900, MZ-N505, etc).

[rich1068]

Cheers guys. I knew a rephrasing would do the trick

[ATELETRONICS]

i have had several md units never an hd player but i had 2 of the same unit and 1 of them always sounded a little off. i thought it was just me theni got a new one of the same type of unit and wow what a difference. the first unit obvoiusly had a problem. other people in this fourm a hav had this problewm with md units before. it might just be your specific unit has a lousy output... i know it might sound strange but it definitly was true in my case so anohter hd unit even of the same model might sound better.

[Stuge]

i know it might sound strange but it definitly was true in my case so anohter hd unit even of the same model might sound better.

Strange Solution

[sub27]

Another factor of good sound quality has to do with your hearing. I heard a seriously terrible version of hearing, this is no lie, while I was in hospital, I think alot of people I'm guessing might have this where everything sounded bad no matter what I listened to. I seriously hated my Mz-nh1 for a while. No one believes me though... I guess you'd have to be lucky to get it.

Edited September 7, 2006 by sub27