Recording LP2 Line In vs SS/SB

[chiefchimpy]

Hello,

I usually record to MD's with my type R deck optical in direct from CD.

I am curious and would like to hear feedback:

If recording in LP2 Mode, is it better to record line in with a Type R/S deck or just transfer to NetMD?

For instance, will I get better audio recording wav files from sonicstage to an NE410 or even and NH600D or would I better off recording optical/analog in with an N510.

[walkdude]

Hello,

I usually record to MD's with my type R deck optical in direct from CD.

I am curious and would like to hear feedback:

If recording in LP2 Mode, is it better to record line in with a Type R/S deck or just transfer to NetMD?

For instance, will I get better audio recording wav files from sonicstage to an NE410 or even and NH600D or would I better off recording optical/analog in with an N510.

I have an NE410 and a N510 and a G750 and a R500, each one has their own unique feel when recording, due to the different ATRAC DSPs, but this only affects the recording I find, as a prerecorded MD sounds exactly the same to me no matter what machine I put it in.

In my opinion, use the MZ-510 in NETMD to record your stuff, also have it plugged in through AC, it won't introduce hum because its recording from your PC as binary audio instead of analog.

Using the NE410 is just asking for eaten batteries, although its pretty much the same machine technology wise to the 510, it doesn't have a AC plug and'll give you the same results as your 510, they record binary, so they don't introduce analog noise in recording, and'll yield good results.

In todays day and age, Optical recording isn't that useful anymore with the advent of buffering and CD ripping you can rip 2 CDs to a WAV format with sonicstage and burn and play it in LP2 in your older units that support MDLP, with the same quality of digital, the only difference is Optical is realtime, and Digital is buffered, its your choice really how long you want to wait .

Analog recording is an entirely different animal for me though.

I prefer to record with my G750 for Mic or my R500 or my N510 for line, because if the source material is live audio from a mic or the radio, there's no fidelity to be lost from compression because there's no data of which to chop off, and these players introduce an analog warmth much like a record player or a good punchy boom box, recording from a CD player live is kind of a off-put for me, because why would I spend my time sitting there recording this, when I could just listen to the source on my computer or my CD walkman?

In my opinion, Analog recording is best reserved for chance happenings like concerts, new radio songs and important historical events, otherwise sitting down with sonicstage for the day ripping CD's or even dragging in your favorite 128kbps+ MP3s to LP2 MDLP is a good way to go.

[chiefchimpy]

Hey thanks for the insight, Walkdude!Makes perfect sense to me, digital is digital, just depends how long you want to wait. Thanks again!

[Azureal]

Hey thanks for the insight, Walkdude!Makes perfect sense to me, digital is digital, just depends how long you want to wait. Thanks again!

This is just my opinion, but there may be more to it than that. The act of recording in real-time via an optical input to a portable or a deck for that matter produces a much different sound to me. The encoding is done in real time by a dedicated ASIC designed solely for the purpose of compressing an audio signal into the ATRAC format. There is no question about the speed factor, using a PC with SonicStage or Simple Burner produces faster results, but I have many recordings made in real-time LP2 that just sound better. I am not sure why, I don't do them all this way, but the recordings I have made in LP2 real-time sound fantastic.

[sfbp]

Just butting in here to offer a new thought:

Yesterday I recovered an old cassette to SP, using Type-R (CXD-2662), and uploaded to WAV with RH1. This is not the first time I have done this.

After making perfectly decent CD, I transcoded a bunch of stuff including the stuff from the Cassette from SS to LP2 MD, with an NH600 as the encoding device.

Here's the odd part - playback. The resulting LP2 MD sounded not-good on the MXD-D400 (Type-S), but when I put it in the MDS-JE640 (Type-R) it sounded great. Optical to amplifier in both cases.

Was I imagining it? Or is there some other explanation about why the earlier deck performs better?

[walkdude]

Just butting in here to offer a new thought:

Yesterday I recovered an old cassette to SP, using Type-R (CXD-2662), and uploaded to WAV with RH1. This is not the first time I have done this.

After making perfectly decent CD, I transcoded a bunch of stuff including the stuff from the Cassette from SS to LP2 MD, with an NH600 as the encoding device.

Here's the odd part - playback. The resulting LP2 MD sounded not-good on the MXD-D400 (Type-S), but when I put it in the MDS-JE640 (Type-R) it sounded great. Optical to amplifier in both cases.

Was I imagining it? Or is there some other explanation about why the earlier deck performs better?

The earlier deck has its Digital output directly hooked up to the ATRAC DSP through a dedicated chip. as per the service manual

the newer one appears to be hooked up to Digital audio out through some sort of multipurpose en/decoder that takes care of the CD/MD/MP3 and converts it to Digital out, my best guess is they had to compensate for all the features they had to cram into it.

[sfbp]

I previously noted that the D400 actually plays most things better, particularly LP4. Weird.

[sfbp]

the newer one appears to be hooked up to Digital audio out through some sort of multipurpose en/decoder that takes care of the CD/MD/MP3 and converts it to Digital out, my best guess is they had to compensate for all the features they had to cram into it.

That's the A->D GP chip (24-bit to boot). If it turns out that it transforms it twice then you are absolutely on the money.

But I am surprised that sending it through (D in, D out) would have that effect.

First I need to see if I can reproduce this observation. In the past the D400 always sounded better, into the same optical input of the same amplifier.

Stephen