a solid choice for your personal audio needs
Written: Jul 01 '02 (Updated Jul 01 '02)
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Pros: Size, Battery Life, Stylish, Features
Cons: Buttons are small, Jog dial learning curve, headphones, Seek time, small screen
The Bottom Line: A great MD player, but it takes a little to get used to and lacks the latest features. Still, I'd definitely recommend it.
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| folken9's Full Review: Sony Walkman MZ-R900DPC Personal MiniDisc Player |
I am what you would call an aspiring audiophile. When I am in need of A/V equipment, I'll scour the web for the best quality product available at my price point. Hours upon hours of research later, I'll decide on a product and purchase it.
So when it came time to upgrade my personal audio equipment last year, I once again fired up my web browser and went at it. My unit at the time was a Sony MZ-R90, which was an admirable unit, but it lacked the latest features (G-shock protection, LP2/LP4 mode). After using MDs, I knew I could never go back to CDs so I automatically ruled any CD players out. However, it was very painful to decide between a MP3 player and another MD player. I finally decided on an MD player because I already had a collection of MDs and I traveled quite a bit and didn't want to listen to the same 64/128MB of songs over and over again.
So after looking around I decided on a Sony MZ-R900 and picked one up while on vacation in Hong Kong. I got the European version, which I've heard is the same as the North American unit. There were a lot of vendors selling the 'outdated' Japanese version which lacked 2nd generation G-Shock so if you're buying online, you might want to watch out for that. Anyways, on to the actual unit itself.
Pros:
- Size. This unit is barely bigger than a minidisc and about the thickness of 2.5 minidiscs stacked on top of each other. I have no idea how they crammed so much technology into a unit this small, but it's amazing. After carrying around this unit for a while I can't even imagine going back to even a 'slim' CD player.
- Features. There are only two things the R900 lacks: ATRAC-R and NetMD. If you're unfamiliar with ATRAC-R, then don't worry about it (or just look it up on the 'net). NetMD is a standard that allows you to record minidiscs at 2x - 32x, a tremendous improvement over the normal 1x recording speed. Other than that, the R900 has everything imaginable. End search, 2 programmable bass/treble settings, MDLP, recording level settings, optical input, the works. Everything works flawlessly and can be accessed quickly through the jog-dial menu (more on that later).
- Remote. The remote that comes with this player is excellent. It has every feature that you'd want a remote to have. The layout takes a little to get used to, but once you learn how to use it, it's both easy and efficient to use both in ample light and in complete darkness. Plus, the remote is fully backlit so you can fully control your MD player, even in the dark. I have yet to see a MD remote that matches the functionality and 'cool factor' of this one.
- Battery Life. The batteries on this unit simply do not die. It came with a AA battery adapter, but I've never used it. The single NiMH gum stick battery lasts forever. Even when the battery indicator only shows a fraction of the battery left, it is still good for at least another hour or two. A full charge will easily last you 20 hours of playback. If combined with a AA battery, I'm sure the claimed life of 50 hours will not be a problem.
Cons:
- Buttons on the unit. This is the most annoying part of the R900, although it's not a big problem after you get used to it. The player has 7 very small, round, metal buttons that provide the 'most used' features of the unit if you don't happen to have your remote with you. However, the buttons are really small and, especially in the case of the pause and stop buttons, have only small icons that you can barely see for identification. This makes for quite an annoyance when you are trying to operate the player while connected to anything besides the supplied remote.
- Jog dial learning curve. The jog dial itself is a great idea, but learning how to use it proves to be difficult. The most annoying part is realizing that to play a track, you need to push the right-side jog dial in. This is a little odd, considering there are dedicated buttons for pause and stop. It seems to me that putting in a dedicated button for play would be a logical idea. This complaint is a minor one though because anybody who picks up this unit will undoubtedly use it often and pick up the intricacies of the jog dial in no time.
- Supplied headphones. I'm not expecting any manufacturer to give you good cans with a portable player, but at the price point Sony has put the R900 at, you'd expect at least decent ones. The ear buds that came with my unit were completely unacceptable; I'd definitely recommend a separate headphone purchase.
- Seek time. When searching through tracks or even switching tracks, the unit has to wind up its mini-power-saving motor and seek through the minidisc. Although the response time is greatly improved over my old R90, it is still slow. Sometimes it takes up to 3 seconds to start seeking through a track. Switching tracks can take up to 2-3 seconds.
- Screen Size. The R900's screen is a simple one line display with a few other symbolic icons. While this is acceptable for CD players and the like, MDs have so much extra information that the screen is simply too small. The unit doesn't have enough space to display your track number, track name and disc name at the same time. It has to scroll through this information. If the screen were just slightly larger with full dot-matrix display, it would make the unit much more user friendly.
Now that I've talked about the outside appearances and usability, the question on your mind is probably: well, that's all good, but how does it sound? In one word: Great. This unit has great recording and playback sound quality. If you use the optical input to record, the recording quality is awesome. However, if you are a discriminating audiophile, I would recommend only recording in SP mode. LP2 makes the sound a little muddy but acceptable. LP4 is completely unacceptable. The sound quality is terrible and is in 'joint stereo' which means both left and right channels are matrixed into a mono channel.
Last but not least, the build quality on the R900 is superb. The metallic casing gives the unit a solid feeling. I expected the blue color to scratch and fade over time, but it is still unblemished. There is no doubt in my mind that this unit will last for years to come.
Overall, I must say my few negative comments about the unit are minor when compared with the features and usefulness of the R900. It's a great unit that I've used for over a year and it has performed flawlessly every day.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 225.00
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Epinions.com ID:
folken9
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Member: Mark
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
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