Soundbox Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 Today, I had a call to say that my workmate had bought in his MDS-JB980 to pass over to me. I opened the box and it looks unused - not a mark. There is a CD with it too in a wrapper that is unopened and also the remote is unused. It is a heavy machine and looks really nice. So, is it very similar to my JE510 to use or is there anything to watch out for? I only have room for one seperate unit and am struggling with myself whether to put my trusted JE510 unit into storage and use the new machine or save the JB980 until the 510 breaks down (maybe years and years away...). Anyway, any user experiences from this unit are appreciated. PS. It says it is a Net MD. I have never known about this before - is it a gimick or is it any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 Beautiful machine I tend not to use the NetMD function, but I have an RH1 and there are some weird driver problems discussed at great length here when you run both off the same PC. One of the best things about many of the later decks is the PC keyboard connector. You can control the whole thing and type all your titles into the TOCs of disks very easily. I recommend getting a "PS/2" based KVM (ie use one keyboard for multiple PC's and/or MD deck). Do you have an amplifier with optical in? These are common now, and you could compare the optical out from the 510 to the optical out from the 980. There's no contest with the ANALOGUE out, I suspect. However optical out may be a lot closer. Having said that, there were lots of improvements in the signal handling and DSP chips for the later decks, and MDLP is really good on this deck because it has the so-called "Type-S" MDLP playback enhancement. I have the drivers for it, but I never got the CD. What you need to do is to install SonicStage 4.3 "Ultimate" from this forum. We'll help you with that, too. Having installed SS, then you will need the drivers for the 980 which are NOT included in the standard package. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES install the whole CD that came with the machine, you will live to regret it as you experience all the changes in format, protection, etc etc that Sony passed through in their paranoia on the way to the effortlessly logical RH1. Welcome to the 980 owners' club!!!!! Stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundbox Posted March 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 Thank you Stephen. It is exciting for sure to try new MD technology after having just the first generation models. No, I won't load the CD and I will read up about what SonicStage is - all new to me at the moment! The keyboard is on my shopping list (the 510 had a keyboard on its remote which was easy on that model). The only LP mode I have used up until now is mono, so it will be novel to have stereo AND long play at once. I will try the analogue output as that is what my Denon amplifier has - no optical or digital inputs on that (it is from 1996). The 980 feels very solid and I am excited to try it out. PS. He has the RH1 recorder too, but he is transfering his minidisks to his I-Pod (!!!) and when that is complete he may pass that over to me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 I will try the analogue output as that is what my Denon amplifier has - no optical or digital inputs on that (it is from 1996). I had a 1996 amp until very recently (a Kenwood). I was very surprised to be able to get a second hand amp with digital everything for a couple hundred dollars (original price around 3x that) from 2007. Highly recommended if you can be bothered. It still runs my amazing 1972 KEF Chorale speakers, nothing fancy on that side (such as 7.1 surround sound, which is possible). When I first heard about MD, amps with digital in were still a luxury rarity costing thousands. The D to A in the 980 is very nice. Possibly not as good as that in such an amplifier. I'm not 100% sure, but it seems that amps came a long way. I recommend something by Onkyo (they make Integra too). Mine is the TX-SR605, which was the first model by any manufacturer at the right price point to sell in great quantity. S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobt Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 I had a 1996 amp until very recently (a Kenwood). I was very surprised to be able to get a second hand amp with digital everything for a couple hundred dollars (original price around 3x that) from 2007. Highly recommended if you can be bothered. It still runs my amazing 1972 KEF Chorale speakers, nothing fancy on that side (such as 7.1 surround sound, which is possible). When I first heard about MD, amps with digital in were still a luxury rarity costing thousands. The D to A in the 980 is very nice. Possibly not as good as that in such an amplifier. I'm not 100% sure, but it seems that amps came a long way. I recommend something by Onkyo (they make Integra too). Mine is the TX-SR605, which was the first model by any manufacturer at the right price point to sell in great quantity. S I trust you will enjoy it. it is a beautiful looking machine, I love mine, unfortunately even with a repaired power supply it is still a paperweight. I know Phillipe is still trying, everything on the inside says 940 or 960, so I assume the power supply to be fairly universal, could you see if anyone, particularly Sony in your locale lists a power supply? I'm not ready to dump this yet, but don't want to spend a lot more money on it yet. Once you learn the machine, and try out LP2, you will like it, let us know. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 I finally took my dead 510 to the dump about 6-8 months ago under the watchful eye and ear of SWMBO. Would that I had remained a pack rat and allowed myself to keep the 510 for spares. That way you get to ditch the transformer. I don't think buying anything like that FROM SONY is going to be cost effective, wouldn't y'all agree? I wonder how special the power supply is: I recall something about special PS for the high end models, but that may be mostly smoke and mirrors for all I know (and we care). The experts should know. If not too special, it's probably worth getting a used <whatever> and ripping out the transformer??? I can think of plenty of ways to get a nice cheap low-end deck. The question is: how essential to function is the powersupply "quality"? Sorry to hear of your struggles Stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobt Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 I finally took my dead 510 to the dump about 6-8 months ago under the watchful eye and ear of SWMBO. Would that I had remained a pack rat and allowed myself to keep the 510 for spares. That way you get to ditch the transformer. I don't think buying anything like that FROM SONY is going to be cost effective, wouldn't y'all agree? I wonder how special the power supply is: I recall something about special PS for the high end models, but that may be mostly smoke and mirrors for all I know (and we care). The experts should know. If not too special, it's probably worth getting a used <whatever> and ripping out the transformer??? I can think of plenty of ways to get a nice cheap low-end deck. The question is: how essential to function is the powersupply "quality"? Sorry to hear of your struggles Stephen All I get right now is the standby light on, a couple of the pinout voltages are low, can't see any connectors not hooked up. Oh well! I'll be in Havana in a couple of weeks, naybe there will be a Sony dealer there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 All I get right now is the standby light on, a couple of the pinout voltages are low, can't see any connectors not hooked up. Oh well! I'll be in Havana in a couple of weeks, naybe there will be a Sony dealer there! Last I heard, there were lots of bits broken. What exactly did u do to reassemble? As you say the 940 service manual is probably a pretty decent guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddyjollo Posted March 27, 2010 Report Share Posted March 27, 2010 The NetMd on the MDS-JB980 is a waste of time in my opinion - very slow compared to a decent HiMd in netMd mode like the NH600. I used that feature a few times then never again - a shame really. It would have been nice for a fast NetMd deck. It has so called S version of the Atrac codec that is supposed to enhance the playback of LP modes. I could never hear any difference. Compared to the JB940 it feels a bit light weight and lacks some features ( that I never used ) I see on Ebay the MDS-JB980 sells very well indeed - I have seen some silly punters pay upwards of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundbox Posted March 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2010 I will be setting up the 980 over Easter so I will report back then about it. Looking forward to the inaugral switching on though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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