Soundbox Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 As seems to be the way at the moment I am homing unwanted MD recorders from 'upgraders' to I-Pods. My latest is the MZ-R90, and the sample I have been given is in near new condition and fully working (apart from faulty internal battery). I purchaced a battery holder from Jim H and now all working as it should. After trying it I find it very similar to the MZ-R35 and MZ-R50 with the display and functions but I can find little about it online. Is it a decent machine or is it 'lesser' than the preceding models? Any user info appreciated and I can perhaps put it to good use. Cheers, ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hungerdunger Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 Have a look at this in-depth article which among other things compares it with the Sharp MT831. He's also done some excellent reviews of the N1, N10, R909 and R900, as well as several Sharp models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 The MZ-R91 is almost more common, but AFAIK they are essentially the same machine. Same generation, certainly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundbox Posted March 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 Thanks for the comments - interesting review too. Anyone here still use the R90/91 though? I must say the sound is different to my later MD recorders and the ATRAC is 4.5 which is the same as the R50 I think. Interesting machine to use though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim.hoggarth Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 Excellent machine, although I do prefer the styling of the R91. I find the R90 to be a quite ugly beast. The R90 and R91 are electronically identical. The only major difference is that the R90 has a magnesium alloy front casing, which is a hell of a lot stronger than the R91's thin metal front case. Maybe that's why I rarely get to see the R90, whereas I have a box full of R91s that are bent and broken! I actually like the sound of the R90/91, but then my ability to differentiate between good and not so good is, well, not so good! These recorders can be bought quite cheaply now, although you have to be careful as there are a lot of badly damaged units out there. As already stated, the cases bend easily. The machine also does not like having batteries left in it for any length of time - most R91s I see have badly corroded battery contacts. But it doesn't suffer from the sled gear warping like the R700/R900 etc. The good points of the recorder are a microphone input and a switchable headphone/line output. The fact that it doesn't do MDLP is no problem for me. I recently managed to pick up a red R91 in mint condition, which is now carefully stored away with two more mint condition R91s - a blue one and a white one. If anyone thinks they are getting these, they will have to tear them from my cold, dead hands! Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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