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Minidisc models in 2010

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netmduser

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Funny you can still buy a minidisc unit in 2010 new.

http://kromerradio.com/promo.htm

Sony MZ-S1

Wow. That's quite interesting, considering that model is almost 10 years old, and uses a technology and infrastructure totally unsupported by the manufacturer. "Regular" $299. What is a "regular" price for something 10 years old? And I highly doubt that model was ever $300. On the other hand - a collector may be willing to pay something close to that for NIB. Maybe.

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I still have one NIP that I'd sell for a steal at $250 and throw in free shipping! But seriously, those sold new for $149 at Best Buy here in SD in 2005. I'm pretty fond of that model as it was my first - and it's a great player. I bought the second one NIP on Fleabay for ~$70, I thought that was a stretch. Pretty well-rounded unit, records well both optical and analog, plays back LP2 well but not LP4, shrugs off water/abuse too.

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I have 2 of them as well bought several years ago when no one wanted them. 1 is preserved new in packaging. The other one I did use it as a sports model - dropped it so many times it still plays well. Also the manual that came with it said it was a type-s player, so I must have a later revision of this model.

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I have 2 of them as well bought several years ago when no one wanted them. 1 is preserved new in packaging. The other one I did use it as a sports model - dropped it so many times it still plays well. Also the manual that came with it said it was a type-s player, so I must have a later revision of this model.

The chip shown in the service manual (p. 40) is CXD2677-202GA. As CXD2664 was the first Type-S chip then it follows that this is Type-S. No and's if's but's or revisions.

Stephen

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I have pointed out a few times (!) that whether or not LP4 sounds good has a lot more to do with the way that the sound is mastered before transferring it (or playing it).

It may be that the headphone circuitry is inferior, or in some way "optimized" to LP2 (or better than LP2). Since Type-S is a playback technology.

Looking at your list of equipment I'd make a guess that if you did realtime recording on your JB940 (NOT the MXD-D400) from optical in, that you might get a result that sounded good even on the S1. But it's only true for some sources - the ones with a lot of hiss will never encode properly, for example, whereas they often seem quite acceptable in LP2. Having made some recordings (LP4 good, LP4 bad, LP2 good, LP2 bad as a starting point) I would be inclined to check that they are AS good or AS bad in the S1 as in another Type-S portable (the NH600D might be the fairest comparison as it has analog amplification circuitry - see the AOUTL and AOUTR pins on the main chip in both units).

Stephen

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Yes. Fair to say. I have made some excellent LP2 (and LP4) recordings with my JE640 which is Type-R. Also on my CMT-PX3 (or HCD-MD595) which uses the exact same chip as the 640, namely CXD-2662R.

Although i have observed:

1. LP2 playback always improves with Type-S (although possibly where the signal path is all digital for playback it may make no difference).

2. LP4 playback, if borderline, is always better via optical out (to some amp) than via analog out, even if the analog out is Type-S.

In addition, converting between them (LP2<->LP4) doesn't sound good in either direction (not surprising because they encode stereo differently, for starters). These are formats that, once recorded, you need to leave the bits intact.

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I've never had any music sound good on LP4 no matter what I've tried. Several times while getting used to new decks I've mistakenly recorded something in LP4 and when played back I immediately panic thinking my favorite speakers (JBL L880's) lunched both tweeters. For me it's a right-away realization. Don't get me wrong, LP4 has it's place. But I do not enjoy music in that mode. You might be on to something as far as the implementation from the chip to the ears and I should have mentioned that in my post.

Which is not to say you are wrong, far from it. Your observations on multiple conversions are quite valid, at least for MD. I have had good luck with Hi-SP to LP4 for movie dialog quite by accident. What I was recording was too long to fit on MD but I wanted a friend with MD to have a copy (two seprate discs because of length).

As a side note I find most mp3's, even at high bitrates, recorded in LP2 to sound worse than LP2 from wav but better than LP4 from wav. I'd call it LP3 :).

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I think I may be wrong about the chip revision numbers. The CXD2664 is the first Type-S chip (in the JB980). But it looks like the 2671 or 2677 is in a bunch of portables (eg R500, R900, R505 that came out before they ever mentioned Type-S). I guess there's some overlap, it looks as if the CSP packages may have been Type-R until just before the CXD2678 (the N10, which is Type-S).

Sorry for the confusion. Explains (mostly) your results. Any HiMD though, has Type-S.

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