Sony’s last-gen TOTL MD player is a beaut. Its magnesium, scored, matte, and slim case, is understated in the way only high-end products can be. It gets good battery life (through a crazy $$$ battery), boasts six equaliser settings - two of which are user definable along six frequency bands - and four stereo hacks that affect staging and placement. It hisses as little as a modern Hi-Res DAP, and carves an impressive stereo image. By any objective measure I have at my hands, it is the best-sounding unit out there, Hi-MD or no.
Read moreRMAA and review: Sony MZ-DH10P 16-bit
What I love about the MZ-DH10P is that, regarding audio performance, it apes most Sony Hi-MD players/recorders. Benefits abound: low hiss, low THD, high SNR, DR and the rest. Sure, stereo separation falls rapidly under load, but which MD unit has ever provided anything much beyond 11bit (66dB) of separation? The DH10P has a good sound enhancement engine, and the music comes through loud and clear. Sadly, Sony baked in a huge bass boost, forestalling a truly neutral signal. Worse, and like the MZ-NH1, the DH10P is incapable of spitting a stable signal from its output without hoisting some a load of some sort. So, if you want the best sound possible from your 2,1 system when fed by a DH10P-linked line, you’ll have to plug in a load of some sort in parallel to keep down the nasties. Also, jitter is pretty high.
Read moreRMAA: Sony MZ-RH1 16-bit
RMAA: Sony MZ-NH3D 16-bit
RMAA: Sony MZ-B100 16-bit
RMAA: Panasonic SJ-MJ500 16-bit
RMAA: Kenwood DMC-S55 16-bit
RMAA: SHARP MD-DS8/9 16-BIT
RMAA: Sony MZ-E55 16-bit
Minidisc VLOG - 03: Hiss ranking
Minidisk VLOG - 02: Sharp MD-DS8/9
Minidisk VLOG - 01: Elegant lies
Earlier today I finished final edits to the Hi-Res interview conducted at Sony's HQ in Osaki, Tokyo. I met some of the coolest engineers this side of Tesla. And now I'm tapping out words about one of Sony's most convincing portable MD units. Technically, the MZ-NH3D is a recorder. It just doesn't record on the fly or in situ. Rather, you've got to connect it to an old Mac or Windows computer, faff around with the Devil's own, SonicStage, and download into an MD. Think NetMD 2.0. And Hi-MD. Strange.
Read moreRMAA: Sony MZ-B100 16-bit
RMAA: Panasonic SJ-MJ500 16-bit
RMAA: Kenwood DMC-S55 16-bit
RMAA: SHARP MD-DS8/9 16-BIT
RMAA: Sony MZ-E55 16-bit
Minidisc VLOG - 03: Hiss ranking
Minidisk VLOG - 02: Sharp MD-DS8/9
Minidisk VLOG - 01: Elegant lies
Short review: the only thing the MZ-B100 lacks is a line out. Otherwise, it is feature packed. Sure, it hisses more than an iPod 5G, but that hiss is static; it lacks electronic peaks and beeps, and remains mostly stable at every volume level. If you've got to have hiss, this is the sort of hiss you want.
Read moreRMAA: Sony MZ-E55 16-bit
Relevant links:
RMAA: SHARP MD-DS8/9 16-BIT
Minidisk VLOG - 02: Sharp MD-DS8/9
Minidisk VLOG - 01: Elegant lies
BACK TO THE FUTURE FRIDAY: PORTABLE MINIDISC
From 2007 until about 2011, and then again from 2014 until now, I've collected personal thoughts, RMAA and square wave measurements, and more, regarding various portable and desktop/rack MD units. The MZ-E55, which came out in 1998, and which does neither MDLP, nor bears an HD digital amp, is my favourite sounding. It was my favourite sounding hours after picking it up last week, and, with a few provisos, remains my favourite. It also tests well, though its amp shows serious weakness against modern Sony DAPs as well as iPods and the like.
Read moreRMAA: Sony ZX300 24-bit
Sane-ish price, beautiful industrial design, good performance, and an interface that embarrasses most of the competition, the ZX300 is a phenomenal DAP. Like the Sony NW-WM1Z it hisses, but not horribly. And, it doesn't break the 16-bit ceiling in any meaningful way. But it nails DSD decode and playback, runs smoothly through albums/songs/artists, and with an artful UI to boot. I love this thing.
Read moreRMAA: Sony NW-WM1Z 24-bit
Outside it's gold, inside it's a mix. On high gain, the NW-WM1Z's single-ended out measures better than an iPod nano 7G, but not by much. And, it doesn't appear to get much louder than an iPhone 6. On high gain and in balanced mode, it owns the nano, sounding crisper and clearer. Either out is the sort of sound that goes really well with JVC's HA-FW02 and Astell & Kern's AKT8iE MKII and less well with mid-bright earphones like the Grado GR8/e and Beyerdynamic Xelento.
Read moreRMAA: Sony NW-ZX2 24-bit
After dinking around with poor interfaces (Onkyo DP-X1, Pioneer), massive players (Astell&Kern AK380), and exploring the gory world of staunching bandages (Astell&Kern AK Jr, Astell&Kern AK380), I was so happy to fit the ZX2 in my palm. Its interface is clearly organised. It is generally responsive. Its body doesn’t draw blood. It’s a Sony. Whatever else it means, at minimum the name suggests a decent focus on human-oriented design. Indeed, both the ZX2's hardware and software UIs are revelations among all high-end players.
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