Midiman Posted May 17, 2003 Report Share Posted May 17, 2003 I've been through a 4 month ordeal with Sony trying to get to the bottom of this. Here's the story. I bought an MZ-N1. One day after the 30 day money back period, I did a recording trying to capture some fairly low level audio with mics (long cables... lots of isolaton between mics and MZ-N1). On playback I noticed the sound of a faint motor scooter or chainsaw or something in the background that lasted about 10 seconds and recurred about every 106 seconds. This recording was done using the internal battery. I did further testing and when the power ran out, I started using the AC power supply. With the AC power supply, the noise remains constant throughout the entire recording after it starts up about 8 seconds into the recording. The noise is predominantly in the left channel. Sony has had this unit for 3 of the 4 months I've owned it... it's been sent to them twice and 4 separate facilities have looked at it. Now they're trying to tell me the noise is "normal" and nothing is wrong with the unit. You can see a screen grab of the waveform of this noise and the conditions necessary to reproduce it and download an audio example in MP3 format at http://www.mountainlake.org/noise I have tried this over and over using several different sets of quality mics... different locations, etc. The results are absolutely repeatable and predictable. I've also found that I can record the noise with no input what-so-ever. No mics..... nothing. If any MZ-N1 owners can take a couple of minutes and visit the URL I posted and try the simple test instructions I posted at the bottom of the page, I would greatly appreciate it. If you post your results here I can point Sony in this direction and, hopefully, refute their contention that this noise is "normal". I already know that all of you will not find this noise in your machines because the noise is NOT normal... it is ludicrous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudden Posted May 21, 2003 Report Share Posted May 21, 2003 Well how about that, to top it of they say it's normal. I say "if it walks like a duck...." obviously there something wrong here. Must be, can't be normal. If they realy mean that it is normal, I would take that as a reason for returning it and demanding my money back. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) I don't own a MZ-N1 myself so I can't test it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudden Posted May 21, 2003 Report Share Posted May 21, 2003 I just read this futher down the forum, maybe it's somewhat similar to this problem. N1 - remote noise when recording When recording via a mic with the remote plugged in (RM-MC11-EL), I hear a digital squeaking kind of sound in quiet environments(ie. my living room with no noise). This is not related to how close the mic is to the machine as it seems to be recording the sound internally. The sound disappears somewhat when I hold the MD unit in my hands. All is OK when headphones are plugged in directly. Anyone know if this is a mic, md or remote issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 21, 2003 Report Share Posted May 21, 2003 Unrelated. The noise can be recorded without any input (no mic or line in) and the sound is not a squeaking... it's a gas fueled, piston motor. Thanks tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stackedsax Posted May 22, 2003 Report Share Posted May 22, 2003 Yeah, I've heard that sound on pretty much all my minidisc players from MZ-R90 up... I never tested it without the mic, tho', that is interesting. I thought it was due to the way minidiscs will store the sound in memory and only write to disc periodically. This theory at least accounts for the periodicity of the sound, but cannot account for how it gets there without a mic to pick it up. Very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted May 22, 2003 Report Share Posted May 22, 2003 Sorry that things aren't working out for you. Oh yeah, do you work for PBS? What was it that you intended to record? k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 22, 2003 Report Share Posted May 22, 2003 Sorry that things aren't working out for you. Oh yeah, do you work for PBS? What was it that you intended to record? kI intended to use it mainly as a field device recording anything from sound effects (I did all the F-16 noise in the documentary "Reach for the Sky: Inside the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds" to musical performance (in the last 4 months I've done projects with Soovin Kim, The New Hollywood String Quartet and Yanni). I find it odd that the other poster has said he has heard this in ALL his models... if I ever heard it in one it would have been my last. On another board several N1 users have actually visited the URL I posted and taken the 2 minute, 6 step test... and none of them have heard this sound. I have a bad cap in the power supply or a bad D/A convertor throwing a square wave somewhere. This is not normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted May 22, 2003 Report Share Posted May 22, 2003 Definitely. When I record with my 700DPC I hear nothing of the sort, espically in my live music recordings. I had to double check to make sure of this. I'm surprised you don't use DAT, to be quite honest. I know that the UPN tv station in Atlanta, Georgia uses the Minidisc format, however. Good luck with all this. :wink: k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.