Shameless self promotion: A review of the Sony MZ-R 50 sixteen years too late

[MDietrich]

In case anyone is interested... I´ve written a review of the Sony MZ-R 50.

http://marlene-d.blogspot.de/2013/07/the-legendary-sony-mz-r-50-review.html

[SileEeles]

Thank you first of all for mentioning me

Secondly, a very interesting and informative read. Just goes to show how something so reliable and robust can be so delicate. I have dropped my MZ-N510 once or twice since I've had it. Thankfully it was on the carpet, so no damage was done, but I feel like slapping myself for doing it. The next player I'm looking at is the N710 as I've mentioned in my own post, which will cost £40-ish with postage. From what I can find out, it uses a "gumstick" battery, something I had never heard of until recently, so that should be interesting.

As far as the MZ-R 50 goes, I like to look of it, and will keep an eye out for it. As it stands, the only one(s) on eBay at the minute are just for repairs.

[MDietrich]

Thank you first of all for mentioning me

Secondly, a very interesting and informative read. Just goes to show how something so reliable and robust can be so delicate. I have dropped my MZ-N510 once or twice since I've had it. Thankfully it was on the carpet, so no damage was done, but I feel like slapping myself for doing it. The next player I'm looking at is the N710 as I've mentioned in my own post, which will cost £40-ish with postage. From what I can find out, it uses a "gumstick" battery, something I had never heard of until recently, so that should be interesting.

As far as the MZ-R 50 goes, I like to look of it, and will keep an eye out for it. As it stands, the only one(s) on eBay at the minute are just for repairs.

Thanks!

Regarding mentioning you: I needed a perfect statement why working with actual media can be rewarding and your´s came in handy

The gumstick battery looks like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/HQRP-Portable-Battery-D-NE20LS-Replacement/dp/B007Y4CK5S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1374148636&sr=8-3&keywords=gumstick+battery

The battery compartment door of the Sonys contains one teeny weeny battery terminal made out of some metal. Over time this wears out, hence no contact is possible and the recorder won´t play even with a new battery inserted. My temporary solution is a small plate of copper foil placed between contact and battery terminal. It re-establishes the connection and by that electricity flow.

[SileEeles]

Thanks!

Regarding mentioning you: I needed a perfect statement why working with actual media can be rewarding and your´s came in handy

The gumstick battery looks like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/HQRP-Portable-Battery-D-NE20LS-Replacement/dp/B007Y4CK5S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1374148636&sr=8-3&keywords=gumstick+battery

The battery compartment door of the Sonys contains one teeny weeny battery terminal made out of some metal. Over time this wears out, hence no contact is possible and the recorder won´t play even with a new battery inserted. My temporary solution is a small plate of copper foil placed between contact and battery terminal. It re-establishes the connection and by that electricity flow.

Hopefully this wont be the case for the N710 I want to get this, it looks to be in perfect condition. But thanks for the tip

[Azureal]

That's a great article Marlene. I have always loved my MZ-R50 and interestingly I have very rarely used it with a direct headphone connection, I am always using it to playback optically recorded SP via the line level output into my HeadAmp Gilmore Lite driving a pair of Sennheiser HD650 cans, it sounds pretty darned good.

Thanks for sharing the great article.

[MDietrich]

That's a great article Marlene. I have always loved my MZ-R50 and interestingly I have very rarely used it with a direct headphone connection, I am always using it to playback optically recorded SP via the line level output into my HeadAmp Gilmore Lite driving a pair of Sennheiser HD650 cans, it sounds pretty darned good.

Thanks for sharing the great article.

Thank you for the kind words! Always great to see that people seem to enjoy my posts.

Anyway, the MZ-R 50 sound signature should be a perfect match for the warm and voluptuous sounding HD-650. Very good combination indeed!

[sescoscuba]

[scarrabri]

In case anyone is interested... I´ve written a review of the Sony MZ-R 50.

http://marlene-d.blogspot.de/2013/07/the-legendary-sony-mz-r-50-review.html

Hi may I say a huge thank you for this wonderful post ,I have to keep going over it in case I missed some thing ,

I too own the MZ-R-50 I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and it oozed charm and wonderful to the touch

and I could not help thinking ,would I be lucky enough to have bought one that may work, i only had one mini disc which was my Beatles Hard days Night and a friend had done me that years ago when I had dabbled a little with MD so I quickly inserted the disc and my really really best Sony headphones and the beauty burst in to life with the full impact of the greatest band that ever graced us with there presence ,clear as a bell and a joy to listen too after listening to the appalling sound of my new Samsung galaxy 4 smartphone ,oh if Sony had only built a phone in to the MD,

I need to stop the ramble now and go enjoy my pride and joy as it will surely take centre stage over my over priced s4 ,again a big thank you my friend and best wishes to all the MD users Brian.