Minidisc play quality (1 Viewer)

[Reid K]

Okay I got a birthday coming up and iam either going to get a CD deck for my home theater or a mini disc player. I was just wondering how does hooking up a mini disc player to my system with an optical cable compare to an equally priced CD deck? (talking around 200-300 canadian) Also assuming the mini disc are burnt to CD quality.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Lots of great information about MiniDisc at www.minidisc.org . Minidisc to my ears sounds the same as CD. Some people think CD sounds better. I'm not one of them. If you're recording mixes and favorite songs, the editing power of MiniDisc is awesome. Complete freedom to be able to erase , move, join, split, and name tracks is friggin' fantastic.

 

[Jeremy Little]

They are close, although I can hear some minor differences mainly in the higher frequencies. Most of the newer ones only have an optical input, no out. Keep that in mind.

 

[Reid K]

Can anyone recomened a good mini disc player that has an optical out, and is terrible expensive?

 

[Reid K]

oops sorry I meant are there any portable ones that have an optical out? I have seen them with optical ports but wasnt sure if they were "ins" or "outs"

 

[Jeremy Little]

I don't know of any except the ORIGINAL portable MD, The MZ-1 that Sony put out.

 

[Reid K]

okay thanks iam guessing that wouldnt be out on the market anymore would it?

 

[KeithH]

Reid, I have minidisc in two systems and absolutely agree with Philip in that the editing flexibility of minidisc makes it the best choice for recording. That said, I feel that minidisc sounds very good, but in a revealing system, CD is definitely better. A comparison that surprised me a couple of years ago was one where I pitted a $250 Denon DCM-370 CD changer against an $1100 Sony MDS-JA555ES minidisc deck that I used to own. I had recorded Steely Dan's "What A Shame About Me" from the CD onto a minidisc using the '370/'JA555ES combo. As you may know, "What A Shame About Me" comes from Two Against Nature, which is a very well-recorded album. In playing the minidisc first, I was very pleased with the sound. Everything sounded great. I felt as though I was hearing all the detail. However, I then played the CD and came to realize that I was missing a sense of space or air around the instruments with the minidisc. The CD just provided more detail. I was rather impressed considering that the Denon '370 was, and still is, the lowest-quality CD player in the system.

You didn't state the system you own, but my feeling is that you can do better with CD in terms of sound quality. Still, I wouldn't ignore the recording flexibility of minidisc. Fortunately, you can have your cake and eat it too. Sony just released the MXD-D400 CD/minidisc deck for $300. It has an optical digital output. The 'D400 has a CD deck and a minidisc deck, which allows for internal dubbing of CD to minidisc at up to 4x speed. I started a thread on the 'D400 here recently, so do a search. Also check out www.crutchfield.com for more information.

 

[Philip Hamm]

TO my knowledge there has been one portable MiniDisc machine with an optical out ever manufactured (not including professional stuff used by the news and print media). You're out of luck there.

Most of the newer ones only have an optical input, no out.

That may have been true a year ago, but the newest Sony budget deck that I've seen mentioned here on the HTF (there's a thread in the last couple weeks) has an optical out. I think this will be a trend with all Sony MD decks (what few there are).

 

[Rachael B]

Reid, I'd give that new Sony model that Keith is recommending a shot. You can pick up a portable later. It's a lot easier using the bigger decks. Don't let any talk about sound quality scare you off from the format. I have both CD and MD recorders and I infinitely prefer MD recording. It's not easy to hear the difference. You may not be able to? Best wishes!