Sony MXD-D40 MiniDisc deck

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by BradOlson, Feb 21, 2003.

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  1. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    It could if I went the analog route...but I do it all via the optical cable. I usually don't send analog to the MD deck, since the system it's in doesn't have a turntable. And no EQ, for that matter.
     
  2. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Minidisc is a great format. I have a few players in the house, including a Sony MXD-D3, which preceded the 'D40. The 'D3 has an internal CD deck, but lacks MDLP. The 'D3 and 'D40 obviously make dubbing from CD very convenient (internal dubbing at 4x). My main complaint about these units is that they lack a digital output. The 'D3 also has no keyboard input for disc and track naming. Still these Sony decks are very good for the money.

    I make mixes from CDs onto minidiscs. While I make mixes onto CD-Rs too, I prefer to use minidiscs since the format is so much more flexible. It really is a shame that minidisc never caught on in the US. :(
     
  3. Dan

    Dan Senior Member

    Location:
    WNY
    More and more MD units seem to be released on a regular basis. Someone must be using them!
     
  4. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Dan, actually, a number of portable units are being released, but home decks are few and far between in the US these days.
     
  5. Beagle

    Beagle Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa
    Anybody know if there are still any MD recorder decks/portables that still have analog line in option?

    My JE440 deck won't write a TOC anymore and I am sending it in for repair (fortunately I took out the extended three year warranty!)

    But just in case they try to weasel out and stick me with something else, I need that analog line in. Cannot live by optical/coax alone.
     
  6. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    I still use MD. What I don't use anymore is cassettes. How did I ever stand those things I'll never know.
     
  7. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Well, I have the Sony MDS-JB930, which has analog ins and outs, but no MDLP...I'm a purist! You might be able to find one on eBay.

    I've been a huge fan of MD since 1997 when I bought my first deck. I also have two portables, and at last count over 530 MD's covering over 10,000 tracks! I've also got a 6-MD changer in my car. In the the past year or so though I've been making more and more CDR's. Eventually I suppose the MD will go the way of the dodo but it's been a great ride at my house and I love the convenience and editing capabilities.
     
    rockindownthehighway likes this.
  8. Beagle

    Beagle Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa
    I love the convenience, flexibility and freedom from wear (and other tape flaws) that MD offers.

    I still maintain that a properly recorded analog cassette sounds better. When I A/B, I can hear what the lossy compression does to the sound. It's almost like the important 'sections' of the spectrum are sampled and stuck together. The cassette sounds full, fleshed out, the MD sounds thinned out and miniaturized.

    True, I also hear a small amount of hiss, noise, and dropouts with tape but the actual sound and music are much closer to the original source. The real test is when you just record some simple surface noise from an LP and hear what MD does to it.

    So you can't win. You can have reconstructed inaccurate sound that sounds the same first play to the 1000th. Or you can have accurate sound that deteriorates somewhat with each play.

    Maybe some fine day we will get an accurate reliable re-recordable format with MD convenience and flexibility and analog sound.

    It seems that the home decks are hard to come by these days. I think Sony has given up on replacing the cassette and is now using MD to compete or run alongside MP3.
     
  9. RetroSmith

    RetroSmith Forum Hall Of Fame<br>(Formerly Mikey5967)

    Location:
    East Coast
    I just dont like the sound quality of Mini Disks. I'm used to DAT and I own two portable DAT decks and one professional studio deck.

    Plus, "Spinning Disks" are out, man. There is a new MP3/FM player that records right onto its 20 gig HD. Will even record digitally from the FM radio!!
     
  10. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven Thread Starter

    Mikey, that's OK if you don't like the sound of MDs. I think that when recorded right they surpass the sound of cassettes.
     
  11. RetroSmith

    RetroSmith Forum Hall Of Fame<br>(Formerly Mikey5967)

    Location:
    East Coast
    Oh yea, Bradley, they are MUCH better than cassettes!!!!!
    No argument there, my friend.
     
  12. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Yup yup yup!

    By the way, anyone else have the portable Sony MZ-F40 with AM/FM tuner? Bought mine in 1998 and still use it when I run!
     
  13. RetroSmith

    RetroSmith Forum Hall Of Fame<br>(Formerly Mikey5967)

    Location:
    East Coast
    Pdpenny- Can you record directly from the am/fm radio onto the mindisks?

    Mikey
     
  14. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    I should have mentioned it's a play-only device...no recording. Still....
     
  15. RetroSmith

    RetroSmith Forum Hall Of Fame<br>(Formerly Mikey5967)

    Location:
    East Coast
    Oy Vay!! Did they MAKE an Am/FM portable MD recorder?

    The reason I say that is because to this day, I dont think there is a portable AM/FM Mp3 player /recorder which floors me. The one I mentioned does everything BUt AM which is kinda dumb...a lot of people listen to all sports shows.
     
  16. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Not that I know of. Finding a player that has AM and FM is hard enough...
     
  17. Beagle

    Beagle Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa
    Yes, in some respects, MD's clearly surpass the cassette. But you still have the compression factor which you cannot get around. You are losing some of the original source. Last night I listened to Steve's SACD Cosmos Factory transferred to MD and to cassette. Guess which one sounded more detailed and musical, and got the timbres most correct?

    I guess it's similar to the tubes/SS thing. Tubes can sometimes measure poorly but still give you more music.

    Bottom line:

    -Cassette gives you back what you put into it, if only for a short time.

    -MD gives you back most of what you tried to put into it, forever (or until the laser fries)
     
  18. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven Thread Starter

    The cassette obviously wins the "musical" part of it according to your findings but for a short time, but still, I prefer MD for the lasting quality, despite the compression applied resulting in the fact I am losing some of the original source but at least I got the music. For those CDs that are so overly compressed, you can lower the recording level on the MD deck and despite the ATRAC compression, can actually give a little bit more lifelike sound. I have found that when I load a CD that has digital compression applied in the CD player part of my CD/MD combo deck and turn the volume down on the DJ mixer but turn the volume up on the stereo, the sound is more lifelike than when I actually play the same CD on the CD changer built in to my minisystem.
     
  19. Beagle

    Beagle Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa
    I agree with you, and I could not live without my MD and the convenience/flexibility it provides. That is why I took my deck to the Sony store for repair last night, I still have extended three year warranty. You just cannot do anything to a cassette. With the MD you can shuffle order, delete tracks, add tracks, edit. Lots of fun. I can usually forgive the slight sacrifice in sound, knowing that it will always sound the same anytime I go to play it, no wear or sonic degradation.
     
  20. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven Thread Starter

    And that's what I like about MD. I can forgive the sacrifice in sound as well. I love the fact you can do anything on an MD and hate the fact you cannot do anything on a cassette.
     
  21. Graham Start

    Graham Start Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    The sound quality on MD has improved significantly over the years. It depends partially on what ATRAC revision you've got, but in any event, it's miles above your average MP3 player.

    A few months ago, I got a new Panasonic CD/MP3 player, but I quickly noticed that my 3 year-old Sony MD walkman sounded *much* better than it, even with standard audio CDs. I was rather perplexed by this, until elsewhere on this forum I discovered that many of these players with long anti-skip times actually compress and decompress the audio on the fly, which would certainly explain it.

    Anyway... I just have to say that I DON'T MISS CASSETTES. Noise, dropouts, distortion, poor frequency response, and worst of all -- the futility of trying to keep the playback heads and noise reduction systems properly calibrated! Nothing like that bright-to-muffled-and-back cycling effect you get with a tape that's out of alignment. :realmad: Cassettes would practically drive me off the edge back in the day with all these problems. The editability and portability of MD is just a bonus for me.

    I wouldn't consider them as a serious audio format, but for portable music playback, they're excellent.
     
  22. Graham Start

    Graham Start Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
  23. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven Thread Starter

    I have the Type R version of ATRAC.
     
  24. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven Thread Starter

    I have burned MP3s onto CD-R and played them on my DVD player a few times and they sounded OK, but when I recently gone back to the MP3 CD-Rs, I honestly realized that most MP3s sound like crap. My MD deck sounds better than just about any MP3.
     
  25. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    After wrestling with the cassette player in one of my cars, I can gladly say I have no use for cassettes anymore. Charter member of CA: cassetteoholics anonymous. :D Spending two minutes trying to locate a track on a cassette (even with a "scan" function) is one frustration I can gladly live without. ;)
     
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