What is a good setup to go into the future?

[Soundbox]

If you were to recommend perhaps two or three machines (or more if needed) that would set someone up to enjoy MD for a good while and be not only good to listen to but sturdy and reliable too, what would be your choices?

Mine would be:

1. Sturdy portable to take on holiday, use for impromptu recordings and also link to a Hi-Fi: Sony MZ-R35 or MZ-R50

2. Player only to take whilst out travelling and also light weight: Sony MZ-E310

3. For archiving: MZ-RH1

So, what machines would you have?

Ian

[KJ_Palmer]

Agreed on the RH1 for archiving and uploading (as long as Sonicstage still works...).

With a slight Hi-MD bias, I'd also say:

NH900 - for playing via line out through home stereo. This is my current home Hi-MD setup, and I'm pleasantly impressed, so much so I've dropped the idea of getting an Onkyo deck (for the present).

NHF800/NH700 - for on the go. I 'need' a tuner, and the unit must take an AA battery.

MZ-B10 - for easy recording and playback. Invaluable tool for music practice and other studies.

JB-980 - deck (albeit legacy only) for timed/radio recording and high quality playback.

[sfbp]

Agreed on the RH1 for archiving and uploading (as long as Sonicstage still works...).

With a slight Hi-MD bias, I'd also say:

NH900 - for playing via line out through home stereo. This is my current home Hi-MD setup, and I'm pleasantly impressed, so much so I've dropped the idea of getting an Onkyo deck (for the present).

NHF800/NH700 - for on the go. I 'need' a tuner, and the unit must take an AA battery.

MZ-B10 - for easy recording and playback. Invaluable tool for music practice and other studies.

JB-980 - deck (albeit legacy only) for timed/radio recording and high quality playback.

Agree with all your assignments, especially the NH900 which is also good at recordings from said stereo.

I have to say that I've been won over by the ICD-SX700 and successors in combination with Sonic Forge. For me it's all about capability. Also neither of you gents mention a car changer (or head unit).

The B10 is mainly used for easy division of long performances. For example, if I could be bothered, I could divide an opera into arias. I might have to title them on the PC because lo-MD doesn't have quite enough titling space for this. But my off-radio compilations divided into songs only really worked because of the B10. Otherwise I would have pushed the buttons on some other unit to breaking, as I have seen people report here from time to time.

Stephen

[freddyjollo]

regarding portables - anything that uses AA batteries - nothing that uses propriety batteries ( ie most of the classy stuff ). My favourite legacy portable is the Sharp MDMT88/99. nice solid alu body decent volume and play back time, takes rechargeable AAs and has a mic and optical in, had a good big clear display and very reliable( I have 3 - the first one has lasted atleast 6 years so far - I stopped counting some time ago)

for HiMd the Sony NH600 - very poor display though, but decent volume, sound and battery

[sfbp]

for HiMd the Sony NH600 - very poor display though, but decent volume, sound and battery

I think I take the NH700 over the NH600. Both use AA but the NH700 can actually charge itself. It also has a mic input, and a bigger display.

There's been a problem buying the '700 in N. America, but the UK market seems to have had plenty getting resold. None at the moment, a couple 1 week ago each around 50 quid.

[md user]

If you were to recommend perhaps two or three machines (or more if needed) that would set someone up to enjoy MD for a good while and be not only good to listen to but sturdy and reliable too, what would be your choices?

So, what machines would you have?

Ian

A good question, and one that I tackled about a year ago. Deciding to use MDs as my 'final' music technology, and they being legacy items, I decided like many others to buy several whilst they are relatively cheap and available.

After starting with two R410s (cheapest Type Rs for recording), I ended up with several Sharp SR50+ (cheap yet sturdy with good bass for playback), and a Panasonic deck for digital out. Price was my motivating factor - able to buy several units for the price of one HiMD unit - a requirement for 20 years (hopefully, if I am not being presumptuous) of enjoyment. Overall, less than the price of ONE upper-market portable when new (excluding discs).

I have to say that I've been won over by the ICD-SX700 and successors in combination with Sonic Forge. For me it's all about capability.

Stephen

This last point has been key, though. Disks. At ~171MB each only - I started to look at cheap (again ) mp3 flash players for non-critical listening. The logic is now to record long-lasting HQ music with MD technology at ~

[sfbp]

This last point has been key, though. Disks. At ~171MB each only - I started to look at cheap (again ) mp3 flash players for non-critical listening. The logic is now to record long-lasting HQ music with MD technology at ~

[md user]

Thanks for the nod. I am currently "gobsmacked" by how good the LPEC 128kbps Codec that works on the toothbrush-sized ICD recorder that I now have. MP3 doesn't come close, at higher bitrates.

...

I expect I will eventually give into the flash-based world, but never to MP3.

Sorry, haven't followed the discussions on LPEC; [i've been involved with family issues of late].

What is it? Another Sony proprietory? Sounds intriguing. Is it supported on other flash players?

Totally agree with your view on MP3s - I find 256kb/s rate is needed MINIMUM to avoid all artefacts; 320kb/s is near to the original, but is relatively 'heavy' on the small flash players that I have.

It is strange that some of the higher bit rates that you mention are actually worse than this 128 mode! Must be optimisation of the sampling frequency windows ... ?

Regards,

mdmad.

[sfbp]

I don't have objective scientific data (yet). As to the underlying technology that's a bit outside my ken, at least at the moment.

But seems like this LPEC (at least in its 128k or "STHQ" incarnation) may be the latter-day successor to ATRAC. I have no clue whether any ATRAC technology went into it, what I could find on the web seemed to indicate not so. Sony's a big organization, wouldn't be surprising to me that the division that made them is separate - OTOH "ozpeter" produced this brochure listing the PCM-M10 and ICD-SXxx0 series in the same "marketspace", namely sound recording.

It records nicely (on the recorder I have), and conversions to and from it seem really good. Yes, I can go to/from WAV and to/from MP3. The only thing I cannot do is to/from OMA except with SoundForge and then it's possible, but one at a time and a wee bit slow (but the result is excellent).