If even a hi-end pro cassete deck with Dolby S beat my old well-used
MZ-R3 in terms of sound quality I'd be amazed. It might be close but
no way can it have as low wow & flutter, and the S/N ratio, freq resp.,
dynamic range and THD are all probably worse than the MD too.
Why? (I'm preaching to the converted but...):
1. Wow & flutter (speed variations)- digital media crystal controlled
DAC: unmeasurably small W&F in MD
2. S/N: Dolby B provides a useful improvement, C increases it
further but adds clearly audible "artifacts" to the sound, I haven't heard
S but have got HxPro and the idea of that media acheiving S/N in
excess of 80dB on a compact cassette is laughable regardless of
clever analog audio manipulation.
3. Freq resp.: Even "metal" tapes exhibit considerable roll-off at both
ends of the frequency range. For the tape deck to compensate exactly
for this is near impossible.
4. Dynamic range: you might get 70-80dB on a metal tape, MD should be
at least 90dB
5. THD: this depends largely on the analog stages I guess and a well
designed cassette deck may well match or even exceed a MD portie.
Especially one without a dedicated line-out socket (heheheheheh! :-P)
Seems like Sound & Vision are doing what all mainstream hifi rags
do-- talk utter bollocks. And why not-- Viz is almost as expensive as
What Hi*Fi and doesn't have a voucher for cheap MDs at Richer's.
If Viz is sold out, just check the hifi rags for a laugh.
Actually I think I should probably apply for a position as a guest writer
when they're after a plausible review of things but advertising budgets
force them to write whatever pleases the ad men. I can personally say
the MZ-R50 is arguably the best portie MD going and would recommend
it, or if size is important the R55. [I've never even touched either one
but thats irrelevant as I'm a biased fanatic].
Cheers,
PrinceGaz -- "if it harms none, do what you will"
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website: http://website.lineone.net/~princegaz/
ICQ: 36892193
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Hello all. September issue of Sound&Vision (which is Stereo Review gone to
> hell) has some interesting items. First, a letter from a reader refers to
> Ken Pohlmann's review of the Philips CDR560 CD recorder (June issue). Ken
> stated that CD's provide much better sound than MD. He then went on to refer
> to a test in the March 1997 issue and said cassettes with Dolby S "sounded
> much better" than MD. Now isn't this just like this crappy magazine. The
> last look they did at MD was 2 1/2 years ago!! ATRAC has improved greatly
> since then. Second...they tell about a company called C-Dilla being recently
> acquired by Macrovision. This new technology will "prevent a computer's
> CD-ROM from playing music CDs, making it impossible to copy them with a CD-R
> drive or post them on the internet." "The system is said to also prohibit
> copies from being made in consumer CD recorders- and even to prevent a
> digital signal from being passed through a player's digital outputs." Does
> this mean no more copying a song from a CD to MD? "The system works by
> adding false codes to a music CD so that it looks like a CD-ROM to a
> computer. The codes are ignored by CD players, but the discs appear corrupt
> and unreadable on CD-ROM drives." "So although the recording industry's SDMI
> has reached the reluctant conclusion that consumers should be allowed to
> copy digital content onto storage media, your right to do so isn't yet fully
> secure." Glenn
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