Good Overall Machine
Written: Mar 04 '01
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Pros: Large Transport Buttons, Handy Jog Wheel, Generous Size Main Backlit LCD Display
Cons: Digital Synchro Recording Not Allowed From Non-Aiwa Unit Input, Lithium Ion Battery Optional
The Bottom Line: Overall I have to say my experience with the Aiwa AM-C80 has been very good. My MP3 player might end up in the classifieds!
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| synchro505's Full Review: Aiwa AM-C80 Personal MiniDisc Player |
Introduction and Concept
The Aiwa AM C-80 MiniDisc player is my first MiniDisc machine purchase. I have helped others set their MiniDisc units up for various purposes which I believe prompted my decision to buy one. As a musician, I hope to supplement the use of MiniDisc in addition to the DAT format. If the sound quality is acceptable, I plan to buy a professional unit and use it in place of DAT and get away from the precarious nature of tape. As I researched (online) the MD recorders out there at the time of this writing (3/2001), I kept coming back to the AM-C80 because of the included car adapter and jog wheel. I bought the Aiwa AM C-80 from Planet MiniDisc for $239 USD. I didn't worry about the optional lithium-ion battery until I really got into using this machine.
Getting Started
Within 24 hours after taking the recorder out of the box, along with doing some recordings and playbacks, I was on the phone ordering the optional battery (I paid $60 USD). I prefer to have this thing run on its own power source without being dependent on a wall wart or 12V car adapter. The included bulky battery pack was not very handy and will probably end up in my electronics junk box along with the cheesy ear bud headphones that came with this unit. I agree with the other reviewers here that Aiwa should have included the rechargeable battery but it probably would have driven up the initial price and might have deterred me from a good machine. The other included accessories however, I’ve found quite useful. The cigarette lighter power and cassette adapters are good quality. The cable length on each allow for convenient placement just about anywhere in the front area of your vehicle. The remote is very nice with its backlit screen and the controls are laid out in an easy to use fashion.
Recording
My first recording on the Aiwa AM-C80 was from an analog source. The playback from this first recording was quite good even though I had allowed a couple of peaks which shows as ‘over’ on the recording level indicator. There was no distortion in the playback despite these peaks. After some fiddling and experimentation, I was able to connect the digital out of my computer to the digital in of a DAT recorder. With the DAT recorder in record-pause mode, this allowed me to connect the optical input TOSlink cable from the optical out of the DAT for my first digital recording. There was a definite sonic improvement and a recording advantage of less peaking due to the digital source input. Perhaps my favorite feature of this little machine is the jog wheel. Its default function is volume. During recording, you can use it to name the track without disturbing the process. The jog wheel allows really fast indexing of characters. The Shift/Search button toggles you between numeric or upper and lower case in three modes. With some practice, I’ve become fairly quick at naming tracks and discs. My one beef with digital recording on the Aiwa AM-C80 is that synchronized recording can only be done from a connection made from another Aiwa product. It would be nice if unattended recordings of multiple separate tracks could be made.
Test Drive
Having made a few discs for listening, it was time to take a test spin in the car. My car stereo is the stock unit that came with my car (’96 VW Passat). I popped the cassette adapter in, plugged in the remote and 12V power and I was off and running. I find that the remote is very handy while driving. The remote can clip to your shirt or jacket so you can change tracks, adjust volume, etc. without taking your eyes off the road. The controls can be quickly memorized by feel with a little practice. Immediately I noticed that the sound quality was superior to my MP3 player. Even MP3s below 256k recorded on MD sounded excellent. Through canyon turns and bumps the AM-C80 never missed a beat. The LCD on the main display stays constantly lit whenever the AC adapter or 12V car adapter are plugged in. This is nice for night driving and late night recordings in your laboratory. The remote backlight goes out with a few seconds after any button is pressed regardless of power source. After stop has been pressed, the unit powers off a bit too fast for my liking but I guess I’ll appreciate it more when I am running on the battery for a long stretch.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 239
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Epinions.com ID:
synchro505
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Location: Topanga, CA USA
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Computer tech, PC & Mac, Composer for BMG records Killer Tracks production music library.
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