Guest Anonymous Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 Hi, I've been craving a minidisc player/recorder for some time now, but the broadness of selection and lack of comprehension of the technical basics of minidisc systems have entrammeled my attempts to find a device that would be the most suitable for my needs. That's why I turn to this list in attempt to narrow down the range of choice into a more comprehensible selection. I would have two main usages for the device: 1.) recording environmental sounds and different instruments with it and 2.) listening to some music with it. As a recording device, I would mostly do some field recordings (environmental ambient, all kinds of snaps and clicks...) and record samples of instruments (guitar, piano, timpani etc) with it. In addition I would like to use it to record sound passages from TV and radio pragrams. Perhaps I'd also use it to record some occassional live performances as well. I've heard Sony's ECM-MS907 (http://snurl.com/2ptx) praised quite a lot, so that'll probably be my microphone of choice. As a player, I would convert CD's and MP3's to minidiscs and listen to them while skiing, in the bus etc. Some of the music I listen to is quite sound-quality demanding (ie IDM, glitch) so that would be one quite important factor. The first question would be: which manufacturer produces the most high-quality pieces? Or rather: should I go with a Sony or a Sharp? After that, any suggestions of models you could give would be very helpful. A good price-to-quality is what I'm after; I don't really have a rigid price limit, but I wouldn't want to spent money on insignificant features either. I don't have a decent pair of small, light and relatively inconspicuous headphones/earbuds, so if the earbuds provided with the minidisc were good, that would definately be a plus. That's not crucial, tho, since those can always be bought separately. Sorry for appearing so helpless, but again, the broadness of selection appears a bit baffling for the uninitiated. All suggestions you could give would be very helpful. :?: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted October 19, 2003 Report Share Posted October 19, 2003 IMO Sharp has better recording functionality when you're recording...simple things such as being able to adjust recording levels on the fly help a lot...coupling that with the new 1-Bit amp then you have one fine unit...for good price to quality i would suggest that you get the DR7 model which right now would be a bargain because the newer DR420 and models of that range are beginning to emerge...the DR7 is more or less adequate to your needs and does not lose out to the newer units by much (the newer units have NetMD functionality which is useless other than if you want to download music from your PC -> MD, but they have no LCD which is a minus on those units)...the earbuds that come with basically all the newer Sharp units are rebadged OEM Sennheiser MX500's (i think) and these earbuds already are praised for their price and sound quality so that's another advantage Sharp has over Sony... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 20, 2003 Report Share Posted October 20, 2003 Thanks a lot for the tips. The more I browse through these forums, the more assured I get of the choice of getting a Sharp. It seems to be a sort of consensus around these boards that Sharps beat Sonys in almost all respects. One thing has to be cleared before that, tho: (1.) if i'm using a Sony microphone (ECM-MS907), will there be compatibility etc. issues if I do not have a Sony MD? Indeed, DR7 (=DR470/DR480?) seems to be getting a whole lot of praise here. Nevertheless, I stumbled upon one harsh critique of this unit in these forums: “This particular unit skips *waay* to easily for a portable unit! If it's not sitting perfectly flat or on its side, it won't play or record very well. In fact, I am listening to a recording I made just an hour ago where the unit was at a slight angle at it's giving me little glitches every 10-20 seconds. (I'm playing back on a Sony deck.)”. (2.) Has anyone else had these kind of experiences? Am I able to listen to it while skiing or running? I'm hoping he just had a defective product... One other thing about the DR7. You mentioned that most new Sharps come with Sennheiser's earbuds, but I got the impression somewhere that because of the 1-bit digital amplifier system (which I don't really understand), the DR7 uses Sharp's own earbuds (about which I already read some complaints on these forums). (3.) Have I just misunderstood? But the one thing I'm really uncertain now is (4.) Whether or not to get a NetMD. Some people seem to think they suck ass, but I've yet to understand why. What's wrong with them? The ability to transfer for example MP3s much faster than real-time certainly seems very compelling (and I'd probably be doing quite a lot of that). And they don't all seem so much more expensive: at my-minidisc.de DR7 costs 219 € and DR420 costs 229 €. If I went the NetMD route, I'd probably pick either the aforementioned IM-DR420 or IM-MT880/MT899. (5.) Any word on these? Especially the former is intrigueing, as it's only 10 euros more expensive than the DR7. When you said that it has no lcd display, did you mean that its remote has no lcd? Since the unit itself seems to have one: ]http://www.minidisc.org/images/sharp_imdr4...r_big.jpg. (6.) Are there any other advantages DR7 has over DR420? The ability to quickly (50x, it seems) and easily transfer MP3s into MD format certainly seems useful... If I choose to go 2nd hand, I guess I should have a wide selection to look for. I compiled a list of Sharp's MD-players with mic-in (2001-2003) {prices: my-minidisc.de | audiocubes.com | teamdigital.net}: IM-DR420 (9/2003) {229 € | - | -} IM-DR580/DR80 (9/2003) {- | 339 $ | -} MD-MT290 (2/2003) {249 € | - | -} MD-DR470/DR480/DR7 (12/2002) {219 € | 239 $| 239 $} MD-MT190/MT200 (1/2002) {179 € | - | 160 $} IM-MT880/MT899 (12/2001) {- | 299 $ | -} MD-MT770/MT888 (8/2001) {- | - | 188 $} MD-MT88/MT99 (5/2001) {- | - | -} MD-MT80/MT90 (3/2001) {- | - | -} (7.) Is any of these models (apart from DR7) highly recommended, or is any of these models of such poor quality that I should stay away? Any other models I should keep my eye on? Uh-huh, sorry for the long posts. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted October 21, 2003 Report Share Posted October 21, 2003 Quote One thing has to be cleared before that, tho: (1.) if i'm using a Sony microphone (ECM-MS907), will there be compatibility etc. issues if I do not have a Sony MD?yeh this should be fine even if you don't have a sony md unit to record to... Quote Indeed, DR7 (=DR470/DR480?) seems to be getting a whole lot of praise here. Nevertheless, I stumbled upon one harsh critique of this unit in these forums: “This particular unit skips *waay* to easily for a portable unit! If it's not sitting perfectly flat or on its side, it won't play or record very well. In fact, I am listening to a recording I made just an hour ago where the unit was at a slight angle at it's giving me little glitches every 10-20 seconds. (I'm playing back on a Sony deck.)”. (2.) Has anyone else had these kind of experiences? Am I able to listen to it while skiing or running? I'm hoping he just had a defective product...i own a DS8 unit (which is the player equivalent to these models and i hav'n run into any such problems such as these... Quote One other thing about the DR7. You mentioned that most new Sharps come with Sennheiser's earbuds, but I got the impression somewhere that because of the 1-bit digital amplifier system (which I don't really understand), the DR7 uses Sharp's own earbuds (about which I already read some complaints on these forums). (3.) Have I just misunderstood?i think they're like modified versions of the OEM sennheisers...not exactly sure but they look similar to the MX500's but with a 4 pole connector... Quote ="wissa]But the one thing I'm really uncertain now is (4.) Whether or not to get a NetMD. Some people seem to think they suck ass, but I've yet to understand why. What's wrong with them? The ability to transfer for example MP3s much faster than real-time certainly seems very compelling (and I'd probably be doing quite a lot of that). And they don't all seem so much more expensive: at my-minidisc.de DR7 costs 219 € and DR420 costs 229 €. [/wuote] well the software could be better and less restrictive and they should allow uploads on NetMD capable units...they're the only gripes ppl have with the NetMD format atm...it is indeed a convenience to have nonetheless... sorry i meant the remote had no LCD...which is kinda bad for me since i use it most of the time, but it may not be a big deal to you...(though the 580 doesn't have an LCD on the unit i think)...there's not much in it between the two models so it's up to you whether you want NetMD capability or not... well besides the DR7, DR420 and DR580 + MT880 i don't think there are any other's that i can mention... sorry thisanswer may seem a little rushed since i'm on the uni computers and they have a time limit...if you have any other questions that you want me to explain more in detail then feel free to post it up and i'll reply to it asap...hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Thanks. If I don't go 2nd hand it seems to be a choice between LCD on the remote vs. NetMD; that is, between DR7 vs. DR420. Gotta ponder the other factors... They both seem to have that 1-bit digital amp, and probably the same earbuds as well. Hmm... DR7 seems to have a bit shorter battery life when playing, but longer when recording but unlike DR420 it can use both NiMH and AA batteries at the same time with very long battery time... But does DR420 have that 'trace-back recording' -function, where the unit stores some audio to the memory before rec is played? Not listed in the minidisc.org equipment browser at least... Neither are playback speed or treble control for DR420, but I quess those aren't essential. LCD in the remote and NetMD indeed seem to be the key differences. So: Quote the [NetMD] software could be better and less restrictiveWhat do yo mean by this? Is the software unstable or something (I use XP myself)? How is it restrictive? Is it true that it only allows LP4 and LP2 transfer rather than full SP? But doesn't LP2 equal roughly 192kbps MP3 in sound quality, so I quess that would be good enough for 192kbps MP3s... So without NetMD, transferring an MP3 album into MD-format works by connecting a cable from the line out of a soundcard to the MD and just pressing play in, say, Winamp? Does the sound quality deteriorate, if I record it from the line-out of a shitty soundcard (SB Live)? How does it "know" when the track changes (if the music is a seamless mix)? Well, what sort of information does the LCD display in the remote show? I'd be doing a lot of microphone recording, so it might be useful (hard to tell in advance, tho). How do you use the LCD display of the remote, or in what situations do you fin it most useful? Does anyone here own a DR420, or someone who has one? Are there any reviews of it online? One more thing: I read that you can't access the editing menu of DR7 in playback mode. Is this true? Is it annoying (I really don't know how the MD editing works)? I guess this is all... thanks for taking the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Quote What do yo mean by this? Is the software unstable or something (I use XP myself)? How is it restrictive?wot i mean by "restrictive" is that the software will only allow you to transfer a song over to MD 3 times max (though this can be by-passed quite easily) so it's not my main concern...there are tales of many users having unstable versions of the NetMD transfer software such as SonicStage/OpenMG...but wot i am complaining about is the fact we cannot upload song that we have recorded on the MD through other means than that of PC->MD transfer, faster than realtime... Quote Is it true that it only allows LP4 and LP2 transfer rather than full SP?yes the only options to transfer to MD thru these programs are only LP2/4...SP is just a higher bitrate ATRAC track in these programs plus not much faster than real-time so i tend to avoid it... Quote But doesn't LP2 equal roughly 192kbps MP3 in sound quality, so I quess that would be good enough for 192kbps MP3s...yes LP2 does sound like a 192kbps mp3 track...kinda...and it is good to have higher quality mp3's to encode into LP2 before transfering across... Quote So without NetMD, transferring an MP3 album into MD-format works by connecting a cable from the line out of a soundcard to the MD and just pressing play in, say, Winamp? Does the sound quality deteriorate, if I record it from the line-out of a shitty soundcard (SB Live)? How does it "know" when the track changes (if the music is a seamless mix)? yep that's basically it just connect either an optic or analogue cable from the output on ur PC's s/c and in2 the inputs on the MD unit...u can use winamp or using a different program such as mp32md to transfer the songs across since they add a pause inbetween tracks and when the MD picks that up it auto adds a trackmark...and the SB Live isn't a "shitty" s/c...it works relatively well tho mayb not up to the std of the newer cards, it still can hold its own... Quote Well, what sort of information does the LCD display in the remote show? I'd be doing a lot of microphone recording, so it might be useful (hard to tell in advance, tho). How do you use the LCD display of the remote, or in what situations do you fin it most useful? well the LCD display in the remote just shows the basic info such as track/disc title, elapsed/remain time, mode of recording etc etc...but i tend to use it to just monitor the elapsed track time and just glance at my unit occasionally to monitor the levels...if you want to monitor the levels you need the actual LCD on the unit itself...the remote is handy so u can stop/pause the recording without having to touch the recorder... Quote Does anyone here own a DR420, or someone who has one? Are there any reviews of it online?not too sure about this one...but if someone does i'm sure they'll post something up here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 25, 2003 Report Share Posted October 25, 2003 Thanks a lot for the help. I guess the IM-DR420 is such a brand new unit that it hasn't really established a position in the MD community yet. That might actually be one reason to go with the DR7, as it's so well established and in that sense a safe solution. NetMD and LCD-remote are both attributes that are useful but not absolutely necessary, so I'm still a bit uncertain about which model I'll pick. If DR420 doesn't have the trace-back recording function (at least I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere), then that's an important factor to take into account. I'll post a topic about the DR420 to 'The World of non-Sony Minidisc Gear' later, in case it would get more answers there. Thanks again for taking the time to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted October 25, 2003 Report Share Posted October 25, 2003 np, i would have been able to help u more if i could get my hands on one of these newer Sharp units but no one seems to have one in my circle of friends as most of them use Sony... :? otherwise i wish best of luck with the new MD that u decide 2 buy and hopefully a lot of satisfaction will come about by buying it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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