Wow... The sound quality!

[johnnybebad]

I moved away from home a few months ago, and bought an 80 gig Ipod classic just because I knew I wouldn't be able to take my 250+ CD collection with me. I also own a Mz-M100 Hi MD recorder, which I mostly used for live recording, but also had a decent collection of music stored on a few discs. Since I came here, I pretty much abandoned the minidisc for playing, and used it just for recording.

The other day, I thought I'd plug some headphones into the MD player, because I had some great mixes made.

I couldn't BELIEVE the difference in sound quality from the MD after using just the Ipod for months.

It had so much more detail. The EQ was miles above the Ipods (which I never use because it just distorts the music). And dare I say it... but it sounded WARM.

Most of these songs on the Minidiscs, I also used the same files to put on my Ipod, and the back to back difference is astounding.

I'm not sure if I ever posted here before... but I thought I would share my amazement with everyone. You people here seem to be onto something, and I wanted to spread my enthusiasm.

I know I'll still use the Ipod just because of capacity/convenience, but wow... I'll make sure my HiMD is always close by.

[remy117]

knew u'd come back to us.

wb

[theblueraja]

This is such a common scenario, yet many people will still claim they don't notice a difference, or they simply don't care as they'll opt for convenience. Hence the success of iPod.

Thanks for sharing though, its always fun to read such threads.

[tekdroid]

were both compared with the same headphones?

IMO, a good pair of headphones will really bring to light many sonic qualities. It doesn't help that most devices ship with crudbuds, Sony Hi-MD included. If you have a PSP, you also have a very Hi-MD sounding device you may like to give a go.

[theblueraja]

I'm not sure why you threw the PSP into the equation... yes it plays ATRAC, and I've tried mine and while it sounds nice, its not on par with any of MD units. It COULD be a limitation of the EQ, however...

[tekdroid]

I'm not sure why you threw the PSP into the equation... yes it plays ATRAC, and I've tried mine and while it sounds nice, its not on par with any of MD units. It COULD be a limitation of the EQ, however...

IMO, any non-HD amp model it's on par with, EQ untouched.

[jpteasy]

While I've not had quite the same epiphany as I've continued to use my MDs and HiMDs, I have dabbled in mp3 due to Sony's NWZ-A818. I now have an iPod touch. I got a 32GB specifically because of its size as I use it for watching video.

However, as a backup in case I don't have my HiMD with me I have put some music onto it.

Mp3 @ 64kps!! How can people seriously listen to that?

Mp3 @ 128kps is just about listenable.

@ 192kps you are getting better but still not perfect

To satisfy my standard and actually enjoy the music I need to record it at 256kps!! Its a good job I have 32GB.

In another post I've mentioned I now only use standard MD (i.e. 292 Atrac), HiSP and HiLP.

I'm still in a state of shock that Sony have no plans for future MD players/recorders

[jflaco1]

I still think that TBR's youtube 'comparison' post (an NH3D vs an iPod) says it best - that's pretty much how I hear it too. One's clear, the other's mud.

[jpteasy]

I haven't tried it with .wav or .alac yet. To be honest I forgot about that. Like I said I'm using it for video so .wav and .alac would take up more space, but when I get the chance I'll test it. In theory it should be crystal clear.

I did a few tests using mp3 (i'm no audio expert) and found that 256kps was the better choice. I had a big inner monologue debate about whether to use mp3 or aac but i found little advice that helped me to decide so I decided to go with mp3 as it is more universal. However, I've only converted about 20 albums so far so feel free anyone to tell me which is the better choice.

Its funny, HiLP isn't perfect but the artefacts aren't as noticeable as mp3 at 128 or 192 and its at 64kps!

The question you have to ask yourself is why go to the extent of .wav or .alac when Sony had it pretty much perfected with standard MD with much smaller file sizes? You could argue that Sony improved on perfection with Hi-SP as it is slightly smaller with as much detail (to my ears) as standard MD. Why should you fill your 80GB MP3 player with 10,000 .alac songs when you can have (just for effect as I have not calculated it) 20,000 in 256kps Atrac3plus and they sound (almost) the same?

Just think 1GB can hold approx. 200 songs in mp3 at a low quality. 1GB at Hi-LP (64kps Atrac3plus) can hold approx. 500 and is comparable to mp3 at 128kps.

Could Atrac make a comeback and we'll all hold our Minidiscs high and shout "we told you so!"?

[theblueraja]

I still think that TBR's youtube 'comparison' post (an NH3D vs an iPod) says it best - that's pretty much how I hear it too. One's clear, the other's mud.

Hehehe thanks

[jupitreas]

The iPods are notorious for their mediocre audio quality. This does not mean that all mp3 players sound terrible though. Im quite happy with my Sansa Fuze and although it still does not match my Hi-MD unit in terms of sound quality (notably, the bass seems much faster and more responsive on the MD) it is really not that far behind.

[kino170878]

The iPods are notorious for their mediocre audio quality. This does not mean that all mp3 players sound terrible though. Im quite happy with my Sansa Fuze and although it still does not match my Hi-MD unit in terms of sound quality (notably, the bass seems much faster and more responsive on the MD) it is really not that far behind.

Certainly when I heard the iPod my ears hurt terribly. But I read that the latest iPod is quite good in sound. I still doubt that Apple have sound quality as one of their main objectives, for them it was always convenience and looks which came first.

[netmduser]

Another model I would recommend is the zune, even the flashed based models have great sound quality and gapless playback with mp3s.

[pata2001]

Another model I would recommend is the zune, even the flashed based models have great sound quality and gapless playback with mp3s.

The Zune is only reliably gapless with WMA. The result with MP3 is hit-n-miss.

[HEARDATBEAT]

well i bought a sansa c200 a fairly cheap player and fitted it with a firmware hack called rockbox and wow i dare say it sounds really really good better than my EH70 and these were tested with 256 kbps ATRAC3+ files and on the sansa they were FLAC files with some ER6i earphones. plus rockbox also adds the ability of microsdhc, gapless, crossfeed, advanced EQ, Cue file support, channel mixing,custom theme, stereo width i mean it's ridiculous how many features it adds to it even though on the original sansa firmware you get none of this, to me the only downside is the fact that the battery life is about 20 compared to the minidisc have up to 80 i believe. I say this must of have been the best purchase I have made since i bought a Hi-MD 3 years ago.

[blazer78]

Isnt an ipod touch 2G with LOD and amp sounding better than a Hi-MD?

I used to be a MD fan, owning MD's from the MZ-R900 to the MZ-NH1 although frankly itouch 2G + LOD + amp > MZ-NH1 ?

The NH1 has a very low noisefloor, but the treble doesn't appear to be natural on the NH1, sort of over-accentuated. Its still a great device, but I think its come to the point where changing discs isn't as convenient as loading up a few gigs of ALAC on a single device.

Edited February 9, 2009 by blazer78

[tekdroid]

The NH1 has a very low noisefloor, but the treble doesn't appear to be natural on the NH1, sort of over-accentuated.

I love the NH1's sound; what earbuds/headphones are you listening to it with? With some of them, no doubt it can sound too bright compared to regular models without the HD digital amp; it's a question of taste and your headphones / earphones.