hi-md

[slab donor rot]

i love minidiscs. growing up with them is very nostalgic for me. a classmates' used to start playing loudly during our school mass (catholic school).
i cant seem to get into solid state or mp3 players, had an ipod but i just couldnt love it. sort of like there was no scars on it, this is why beauty is in the real not the made up. proly why i like sound thats been recorded on/from cassette. i can recite a painterly quote; "as if a human passed through it" very very beautiful.
even though minidisc is obviously a digital audio format, it and DAT are very beautiful for some reason i'm sure, that i dont think solid state devices can achieve with thier absolute pure quality, hence why so few new modern films impress me, their post-processing running through digital machines just strip something which is simply impossible to talk about

i love the sound of DAT and the compact-ness & stealth of minidisc, also how both are quite obviously abandoned/neglected by the mass culture, even better as they become cult tools which make you work/record/listen differently. this is also the case with vinyl.
at least DAT and MD are favored with some people in the 'underground', well I do.
sorry if you had to read my rambling random thoughts.

[braxus]

I'd get a HiMd if they made home decks, but they only made them in portables.

[slab donor rot]

just found out about the new sony PCM M10, and read someone's comment in a forum; "i predict this will be a big winner in the taper community, open and "not so open", finally it will probably put to rest the last of those holding onto those hi-md decks which are still great but lets face it solid state over discs with the same or better quality is a no brainer"
i dont think so! hi-md will always be my favorite recorder!

[R.Daneel]

I'd get a HiMd if they made home decks, but they only made them in portables.

Actually, they did! It was supposed to be the almighty MDS-JA777ES but it never saw the light of department stores. I bet It would have been an amazing machine because the 555ES was already excellent. In fact, there was very little improvement in md technology since the JA20ES. The most important was the introduction of DSP type-S which incorporated an advanced Atrac3 coding algorithm for LP2/4 modes. I guess Hi-MD just wasn't meant to be and I think they wanted to give us one last thank you of a sort. That is why they included the standard-md reformatting to hi-md standard.

There is an hi-md deck out there... try Onkyo. I am not sure about the model number but it is part of their component series which includes a cd/amp/tuner components. those are actually quite good in their price range n(esoecially the cd player imo as it has a really really good transport). So be my guest:) It doesn't have pc usb connection however, only spidf opt/coax inputs.

I still have an MZ-BH hi-md walkman in perfect condition with box and everything. It is my favourite player so far. I have had ipods (tried all the newer ones), crative zens, toshibas, cowon and other players. Some of them were good (the Cowon) and as media players some of them were really good. But i don't watch movies on them, I only listen to music and this is what all of those units failed to do. I mean come on, I hate eq and this is what they sound like. Even with eq off, they sound muffled, dull, overemphased, coloured and just well fatiguing. Cowon was different but also sounded colored. And let me say this - out of all the players I've had, IPODS WERE THE WORSTin terms of sound. Even an MS-Industrial player which cost less than those cheap and awful Ipod earphones sounded way better than the shuffle. And the new Touch is a waste of money. That player sounds so bad that even the Ultimate Ears Triple-fi sound bad on it. Nothing can compensate for a cent amp and dac.

Where was I? Ah yes, the NH1. Though not by any means perfect, it has what it needs to have - that includes clarity, definition and subtleness. It has detail though little harsh in the extremes but also posseses a degree of warmth which makes it's midrange very pleasent and enjoable. If you don't force on the volume (which enables the auto-gain), the dynamics are really good and quite frankly, better than any portable cd player I have listened to. NOTE ASIDE: it is really quite unbelievable that even a device like this has a burn-in time. I have discovered that after several months it started to sound cold and agressive, but hrs or so that changed to the ever familiar and pleasant music experience.

So yeah! Minidisc Rocks!