My New Daily Driver? MZ-N710 - Unexpected pre-modded headphone amp

[cgi_]

TL;DR: Picked up a MZ-N710 that has already been modified for high headpone output. How common was that mod back in the day?

 

Since 2002 I've had an MZ-N707 that I purchased (or rather, my mother did for me) while I was on holiday in Canada that's remained my daily driver ever since (if you exclude the ~15 year gap where I didn't really use Minidisc much at all, but like many people, some years ago I craved the tactile nature and limits of physical media again and started using it again). Before that I had a Sharp unit that I killed by crushing in my school bag.

 

However, it's always been concerning that I only had the one working portable unit (I have a Sony MDS-B5 deck also), and also only one unit that supports Type R encoding and NetMD. The reality is if I'm rocking the MD out and about just as I was as a young guy in 2002 there's a risk it will get broken or lost in some way, so I've always been on the look out for some spare units.

 

The used prices in Europe are insane, as many people are aware. MD portables were almost free even 10 years ago. Recently I found one guy selling an MZ-N710 and a MZ-NH700 locally in good external condition for an OK price, considering one is a Type S NetMD unit and the other is a HiMD unit. Seemed like a typical retired guy spending his time buying and selling random stuff he comes across, as he was surprised (and also worried) when I turned up to meet him with a selection of discs and accessories to check they worked. The sigh of relief he gave when they did was quite telling.

 

As fully expected, both showed signs of battery corrosion - the MZ-N710 more so, but confirmed the units were working at least from external power and I knocked the price down a bit after explaining as best as I could in Finnish that I have no way of telling how f*cked they are until I spend time taking them apart and repairing them.

 

I knew the European MZ-N710 had a very low power headphone amp, but I figured I'd just keep it as a backup unit. However, when I tested it, it had been left at max volume and it nearly blew my ears off (AT ATH-M60x headphones), so I wondered what all the complaining about low output was about. Maybe others like to use very high impedence headphones, I thought.

 

When home I opened the MZ-N710 to begin the tedious task of cleaning up the battery contacts (vinegar, baking soda, IPA and plenty of scraping). Imagine my surprise to see mod wires staring back up at me. It seems that my unit has been already modified for high power output, and it also seems like a reasonably decent job (with the exception of one wire being trapped on a pad) has been done. This is pretty interesting to me, because I've no clue how common it was for the modification to be performed back in the early 2000s. Either it was somewhat commonplace or I've gotten extremely lucky to end up with an ex-enthusiasts unit. Does anyone have any insight into that?

 

It sounds clear and powerful with no noise or distortion on the output, I couldn't wish for any more really.

 

Considering this, I think I'll swap to using the MZ-N710 as a daily, as it's slightly slimmer and more robust feeling than the MZ-N707. I ordered some cheap gumstick batteries which seem to work OK but time will tell if their capacity is anywhere what it should be. Having the MZ-N707 as my spare is also appealing as it works from AA batteries.

 

The MZ-NH700 unit is going to become my dedicated NetMD writing and ripping machine as it's really fast with Web Minidisc Pro for both operations and can be powered from the USB bus. The unit itself is rather too ugly and plastic for using out and about for my taste even if the internals are excellent.

 

The next spare I need to obtain is a remote. I've already had to glue and put contact cleaner in my RM-MC11EL once to keep it going. Peril of a cheap accessory now asking for premium prices.

 

Anyway just wanted to share my musings for fun. I'm not sure how active this forum really is these days - I perhaps see more activity on other platforms - but I already have an account here.

 

 

[BearBoy]

Nice find!

 

I don't know how common such mods were tbh. Back in the day, I wasn't aware of anyone who had modded their player and I never felt the need to. I wasn't a member of a place like this back then though so maybe those "in the know" were doing it to all their MiniDisc players?

[BearBoy]

Just did a quick test with my MZ-N710 and a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pros (250 ohms) and it was loud enough for me (although I did have the volume a fair way up). 

 

I suspect I don't blast things quite as loud as some people prefer though. That or my player has also been modified 🤔