national Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Hi all! My Sony MDS-JE440 is showing signs of fatigue and I'm ready to upgrade. The Tascam MD-350 and Sony MDS-JB940 both have the features that I need/want: MDLP, keyboard in, and optical in and out. I've read quite a few reviews online, but no direct comparison between the two decks.I realize a major difference is the Tascam is still in production whereas Sony has discontinued the 940 a while back, but I'd be over budget if I bought the Tascam new, so I'm looking for used units. Everything else being equal, which one would you recommend? Feedback from members who have experience with both decks would be fantastic but any piece of advice on either of the two units would be much appreciated.Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Looks like you're in luck, but often these decks are hard to find in North America. I refrained from posting a link. Go for it!The JE640 is quite decent and has all the features you need, I have one. So if you can't get a JB940 there ain't much difference between them. The 640's seem to pop up slightly more often here.There are lots of used 940's in UK. However: 1. they are for 220V/50Hz and it's not clear to me how easy that mod is 2. they are "specially adapted for the UK" - whatever that means. I have no clue if #2 makes them worse on 110V/60Hz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 * Topic Moved to Find Your Minidisc section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrab Posted June 6, 2009 Report Share Posted June 6, 2009 Hi all! My Sony MDS-JE440 is showing signs of fatigue and I'm ready to upgrade. The Tascam MD-350 and Sony MDS-JB940 both have the features that I need/want: MDLP, keyboard in, and optical in and out. I've read quite a few reviews online, but no direct comparison between the two decks.I realize a major difference is the Tascam is still in production whereas Sony has discontinued the 940 a while back, but I'd be over budget if I bought the Tascam new, so I'm looking for used units. Everything else being equal, which one would you recommend? Feedback from members who have experience with both decks would be fantastic but any piece of advice on either of the two units would be much appreciated.Thanks in advance.First, condolences on your JE440. Reviews and reports on that machine were usually positive. I have its descendant, the MDS-JE480, a nice enough unit, although lacking some of the features you want. I also have two MDS-JB940s. One is slightly dysfunctional and the other works 100% correctly, although they both do work. The flaky one is in a box, while the other gets frequent use. I bought both of them on Ebay. I am of the opinion, like most owners of the 940, that it is remarkable in many ways. It is full-featured, well-built, and sounds terrific. However, if you want ATRAC Types S for LP playback, be aware that the 940 has Type R. There is currently one 940 on Ebay U.S.. it is the QS model. I thought the QS was a UK model, but perhaps I am wrong. In any case, over the last 3 or 4 years, I have seen various 940s go for ~200 USD to ~350 USD, for the US model. I would say that one in very good condition would be worth over 300. You never know how it's going to go on Ebay, though. Sometimes you pay less than you would expect, and sometimes more than you'd want to.Where sfbp has mentioned the 640, I would say that would also work out for you. I wasn't aware that it was ever released in North America. In any case, I have seen more 940s for sale on Ebay than 640s, at least in the U.S. No matter which one, they are still not all that common, but both are fairly well sought-after and therefore usually command a good price, at least for one in truly good shape.Now then, the Tascam MD-350. There was a guy who used to post here a lot, a musician if I remember correctly. Haven't seen him here in a while, but he always seemed to have a good handle on things. He praised the MD-350 in no uncertain terms (I am pretty sure it was the 350, not its predecessor, but I cannot swear to that). I think the the MD-350 may have ATRAC 4.5, so you may want to look into that if it matters to you. I wish I could tell you more about the Tascam, but I have never even seen one, I am going only by what someone here said.Good luck and let us know what happens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted June 6, 2009 Report Share Posted June 6, 2009 There's a nice 940 on for 70GBP BuyItNow... alas I am not very good with circuit diagrams, and I really don't know from looking how easy it would be to modify the 940/Europe to run on 110V. The other problem is shipping but it's not impossible to work something out, I bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
national Posted June 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2009 Thanks for the replies, guys. I've been tracking the 940 and the 350 on eBay for a couple of months and it looks like +/- $250 is the going rate for used units in good/very good condition, with $50-$100 more for like new/mint. At first, I thought the Tascams would fetch quite a bit more than the Sonys, since the 350 is a a "professional" unit and has a higher MSRP than the 940, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Looks like people have been happy with their 940s and are grabbing replacement/backup units while they're still around.As for buying a 940 in England or France (I have family in both countries), I've considered it, but I don't have the technical know-how to try to make the model work on 110v--is that even possible?Finally, I'm not in any particular rush--I just grabbed a JE480 on eBay which will do the trick for now; but I'm looking forward to the optical out and keyboard in of the 350 or 940 when I finally upgrade. In the meantime, if other people want to chime in on either units, it'll be more food for thought in my decision process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted June 6, 2009 Report Share Posted June 6, 2009 If you can get someone to bring it as luggage on a visit, that would be the trick.Many of the older decks have clearly defined tappings for 110 vs 220 volts on the transformer. Some even have a switch on the back. Worst case it might work on a stepup transformer (I bought one so my kids could use my train sets, and it's sitting under my feet as we speak).The strength of the 940 is the current-pulse DAC. The keyboard is also there on the 640. I actually prefer a deck with Type-S to play into my stereo, that extra edge makes the difference between listenable and not, for LP2. I keep the 640 next to my computer hooked bidirectionally with Optical (Toslink) and use the MXD-D400 over on the stand with all my analogue stereo gear.None of the units you so far considered except the 480, actually has Type-S, which is a playback-only technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrab Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Thanks for the replies, guys. I've been tracking the 940 and the 350 on eBay for a couple of months and it looks like +/- $250 is the going rate for used units in good/very good condition, with $50-$100 more for like new/mint. At first, I thought the Tascams would fetch quite a bit more than the Sonys, since the 350 is a a "professional" unit and has a higher MSRP than the 940, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Looks like people have been happy with their 940s and are grabbing replacement/backup units while they're still around.As for buying a 940 in England or France (I have family in both countries), I've considered it, but I don't have the technical know-how to try to make the model work on 110v--is that even possible?Finally, I'm not in any particular rush--I just grabbed a JE480 on eBay which will do the trick for now; but I'm looking forward to the optical out and keyboard in of the 350 or 940 when I finally upgrade. In the meantime, if other people want to chime in on either units, it'll be more food for thought in my decision process.Don't see why the xformer wouldn't work. I use one for my Japanese MXD-D400 (100 > 110). Also, it has been reported that a few people here modded the 480 to have optical out. It can be done if you are handy enough. I agrees with Sfbp that they type S makes a noticeable differrence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strungup Posted September 7, 2009 Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 I have a Tascam MD-5 Mk2 MDLP deck with Keyboard input . Digital Out , 2 Dig in's I really like it , it sounds fantastic . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modernaire Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 Wow. That Tascam is beautiful! Type R or S? I own the MDS-JE780 I bought from someone who brought it over from Japan. Its not as bulky but wow is it a beautiful deck! Champagne, keyboard input, record levels for optical as well, plus it has NETMD capabilities, but that only works with Windows computers and I use a Mac OS PC. Optical I/O is great, sound quality stunning at SP and LP2 with S playback. I'd like another one like that 480 though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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