Great little unit...
Written: Feb 18 '01 (Updated Feb 18 '01)
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Pros: Great sound quality, small size, lots of features
Cons: Can't title discs/tracks during recording/playback
The Bottom Line: Portability, sound quality, and great features make the 821 a winner. Get one while you can.
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| wayfarer88's Full Review: Sharp MD-MT821 Personal MiniDisc Player |
Okay, okay, so I got a great deal on my Sharp MD-MT821 when I bought it second hand from a Japanese friend. That does not in any way diminish my regard for this little machine. It's a ton of fun and if you stop reading this review right here, just know that after about two weeks of research and shopping for an MD player/recorder, I decided upon the Sharp 821. The following paragraphs state why.
First, about the sound quality. Sharp uses 24-bit ATRAC encoding in their machines (whatever that means), and the result is superb. I currently use the ER4P headphones by Etymotic, which I have also reviewed. Although the great sound is certainly partially attributable to these great 'phones, a sound is only as good as its source, and the 821 provides enough power and output sound quality to produce an engaging musical experience. Unless I'm mistaken, the 821 does not include any equalizer presets, so any control of the EQ settings for your recordings must be done at the source of the recording i.e EQ settings on your CD player/computer etc. There are, however, four settings for the bass boost so you can tailor the sound to suit your taste somewhat.
The size of the 821 is quite impressive. I'm not sure how much smaller these things are gonna get, but the 821 is over a year old and it's barely larger than a minidisc in length and width and only about three minidiscs thick. This is small enough for me, and I find the portability of the 821 excellent. I take it with me to the gym, to university, on the bus, or almost anywhere and it fits in any pocket. The flipside of this is that the 821 seems a bit heavy for its size. This is due in part to the solid metal enclosure, but since durability is also a prime issue with portable MD players the tradeoff is more than welcome. I've read that pressing buttons on the face of minidisc players/recorders can eventually lead to bending of the face and malfunction of the delicate parts beneath, but the solidity of the 821 is such that it doesn't seem as though this will ever happen. Regardless, I prefer to use the remote, which leads me to the next section.
The remote that I got with my 821 is a Kenwood clone. Apparently Kenwood produces an MD player/recorder that is a clone of the Sharp for many of Sharp's models. Somewhere along the road, my Japanese friend exchanged his original remote for the Kenwood one. Having said this, the Kenwood remote works just fine and has all the features of the Sharp remote, so for all intents and purposes it is the same. The remote takes a little getting used to, but once you know which buttons do what, you can operate all the basic functions of the 821 from the remote without even looking. The backlight is a great feature. Using the remote has made it so that I have to use the buttons on the face of the 821 itself only for recording. I'm hoping this will make it last longer, as replacing the remote is much cheaper than replacing the entire unit.
Some of the features of the 821 are 40-second anti-skip protection (I've never had it skip), sync recording where the unit begins recording as soon as sound registers, an optical digital recording feature (I haven't used this yet but according to Sharp it produces very high quality recordings), and disc and track titling. My only beef about this last feature is that you can't use it while you are recording or during playback. You must sit in silence while you tediously use the jog dial to input individual characters (I can see your screw-face from here, and believe me I had it too).
Despite that only problem, the 821 is a wonderful machine and I'm very impressed with it. I haven't used the rechargeable battery to exhaustion yet, but Sharp says that you can get about 11.5 hours of use out of it before recharging. The 821 comes with a single AA battery attachment that provides extra life, although I haven't used it yet to determine the extent of it. Portability, sound quality, and great features make the 821 a winner. Get one while you can.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 120 (used)
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Epinions.com ID:
wayfarer88
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Location: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 1 member
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