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NH1 makes my LP4 discs sound better?

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skierMD

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Ok, been playing around with my new NH1 and I'm pretty happy with it...

Although, like others have stated, the one-line LCD screen on the player itself is absolutely horrible and is virtually impossible to read, however my old LP4 recordings sound alot better on this player. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm primarily listening to drum and bass at high volumes while running on the treadmill with a pair of the token Sony Sports earphones. My old player was the S1.

Cheers

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For the case that the NH1 has a new decoder this is possible. The latest improvement for MDLP is ATRAC Type S, as i know. If your old unit had an atrac type r chip, it is possible that it has an old decoder, and thus, sounds worse.

however, i couldn't find the s1's specs... anyone else knows that?

edit: read here for further details

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hey i can relate to ya in most ways in this except for i dont have an nh1 but ive learned lots about it...from what i hear its digital amp seems to magnify drum and bass i just never hear about people liking the digital amplification people are always saying it sounds bad like yer in a big metal drum when yer listening and what nots about it but if you enjoy lp4 on it thats fine i like the bit rate myself aswell...

funny ....my first md player was the s which turned me to md forever smile.gif

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ok this will be a first for you then mutant1345

I like the new amp in the NH1. It makes things seem clearer (hard to describe)

also if you liked LP4, try re-encoding some stuff into Hi-LP and you will notice a good improvement over the old.

I will not harp on about Hi-SP becasue if you like what you have, why change. The only reason I commented on re-encoding is you gain 2kb/s more space with Hi-LP (64k) vs LP4 (66k) (and of course you gain all round with Hi-MD formatted discs) and its a newer codec so it should give better sound.

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Yeah, LP4 has pretty sounded fine for what I use my MD's....which is basically downloading MP3 dj sets and then listening to them at my gym or while travelling. However, I think it has a lot to do with the loud, fast, and high bpm music at high volumes....LP4 really is perfectly fine and I'm going to make some Hi-MD reformatted discs on Hi-LP to see how it sounds. From what I've read, you don't gain much more space by using LP4 so I'll tell you guys what I think, maybe even listen to the same files.

The other thing I like about the NH1 is how it has the Custom equalizer function much like the E10. I noticed on my wife's mini-ipod that, as far as I know, I couldn't get it to enter an equalizer mode, just a whole bunch of presets.

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ok this will be a first for you then mutant1345

I like the new amp in the NH1. It makes things seem clearer (hard to describe)

also if you liked LP4, try re-encoding some stuff into Hi-LP and you will notice a good improvement over the old.

I will not harp on about Hi-SP becasue if you like what you have, why change. The only reason I commented on re-encoding is you gain 2kb/s more space with Hi-LP (64k) vs LP4 (66k) (and of course you gain all round with Hi-MD formatted discs) and its a newer codec so it should give better sound.

Hey man im way ahead of ya i started using hi-lp as soon as i got my hi-md player i love the space and the quality is great for the kind of music i listen to and for some songs i use hi-sp because there is a noticible downsize in quality so yes i do care about quality but i believe that it depends in what kind of music it is eh?..

and skierMD about the equilizer...i dont think my music would sound as good as i have it on my hi md player without it i love that eq.

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From what I've read, you don't gain much more space by using LP4 so I'll tell you guys what I think, maybe even listen to the same files.

You actually lose available space by using LP4 as opposed to Hi-SP. LP4 is 66kbit/sec ATRAC3 while Hi-LP is 64kbit/sec ATRAC3+. Thus, Hi-LP is actually slightly smaller, and it sounds a bit better.

Damn Sony for not including a 192kbit/sec ATRAC3+. :whatever:

"]however, i couldn't find the s1's specs... anyone else knows that?

The MZ-S1 is an ATRAC Type-R DSP.

FYI, the ATRAC Type-R and Type-S DSPs are actually the encoding side for recordings done via the optical/line-in in realtime. This has no effect whatsoever on tracks encoded in SonicStage.

The reason the NH1 sounds better is that its decoding DSP is better than the S1's, as well as the HD digital amp (supposedly). If the HD digital amp is anything like Sharp's Auvi 1-bit, then it is quite possible it makes a positive difference.

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FYI, the ATRAC Type-R and Type-S DSPs are actually the encoding side for recordings done via the optical/line-in in realtime. This has no effect whatsoever on tracks encoded in SonicStage.

Not quite Aeriyn.

Type R is a recording DSP, it was made to improve the sampling accuracy of SP recordings by exploiting the fact new DSP chips can do twice the work the old ones could. It moves the encoded bits slightly to improve the quality before it is written to disc. It does not affect playback at all (except that any disc recorded with type R should sound better in any equipment)

Type S is a playback only DSP. It has been designed to improve the sound quality of LP2 and LP4 (not sure on Hi-SP/LP) playback. It should improve the quality of any Atrac3(+) encoded files.

This may explain the differences you hear between the 2 machines as the old one was Type R as stated above

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The reason the NH1 sounds better is that its decoding DSP is better than the S1's, as well as the HD digital amp (supposedly). If the HD digital amp is anything like Sharp's Auvi 1-bit, then it is quite possible it makes a positive difference.

yeah yeah... the amp. well i totally forgot that, the codec-chip was just my first thought.. :cool:

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Did some airline travel and have been to the gym while listening to mixes encoded at Hi-LP. I love the NH1's equalizer, and to listen to 10 hours of music on an old 80 minute disc is awesome. I didn't like two of the mixes and just swapped those for two new ones. Its great because now I only need one disc and I can swap files very easily and never take out the disc.

My conclusion, it sounds great for the drum and bass mixes I listen to. More clear bass and treble than the original LP4....and I'm more than happy.

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I do use Hi-LP. Its for times when I dont need to REALLY listen to the music but it is just there to help me do things.

I DO hear the difference between Hi-LP & Hi-SP and will listen to SP tracks when I am really listening to the music (quiet room, chilling out)

Hi-LP is great for fitting lots of albums on a disc, Hi-SP is great at capturing all the "Stage" of the music that is left out of Hi-LP (The stuff most people wont notice in a noisey / busy background)

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