Best way to record PC to Minidisc? (also after a MZ-NH3D!)

[samd1978]

A few months ago i decided to put all my old minidiscs on ebay, about 300 of them, as i havnt used them for years.

My better half talked me out of this so i thought i would try to get my trusty old sharp MD-MT161 running and have a listen.

Amazing, they sound better than my MP3s, even the high bit rate ones, in fact they seem to sound better than the CDs, warmer.

Its nice to sit and listen to a full album instead of jumping through an seemingly endless pit of mp3s from the laptop, less is more?

Its nice to be back using minidisc.

Ive now got hold of a TEAC reference 500i minidisc deck, but only the optical input/output works, no analogue recording.

All my minidiscs were recorded either via a 3.5mm to 3.5mm jack from tapes or via toslink from CD using a PS2 and they all sound very good.

So I'm going to put some of my music off the laptop onto minidiscs and I'm not sure on the best way to get the best sound quality. The main things i want to record are some 24bit 96Khz vinyl rips.

If i record via toslink i need to set my mac to downscale the audio to 44.1khz, if i use the external dac i don't.

My options are

- PC > toslink > TEAC 500i

- PC > toslink > sharp MD-MT161

- PC > Yulong D100Mk2 (Fantastic external DAC with very good jitter control) > Analogue > sharp MD-MT161

Any opinions would be great

Im also after a sony MZ-NH3D, if anyone is selling???!

Thanks

[paperclip]

I would just use what ever is simplest. I doubt there will be any discernable difference with either method. You could always try one song through each method and review the results. With that said, maybe the "warmth" you are looking for is best achieved going through the DAC, recorded in analogue.