Sony MZ-R501

The Sony MZ-R501 is a Superb product, never let me down, does everything it says and never had or found a fault with it

First MD player I bought and can't fault it for ease of use and size. Used with an FM transmitter its the best for in car hi fi via the glove box.

I was never much of a fan of Mini-disc, the first generation attempts sounded splashy and muddled, with obvious artifaction of the audio stream, even at modest listening levels.

This 4th generation Sony MZ-R501 Mini-disc player appears to have ironed out the wrinkle's as copies sound crisp and clear; especially when using the supplied Optical lead, that connects to CD players or PC's with suitable sockets, it will even automatically index the tracks in more or less the correct places (occasionally, mix CD's cause the odd error; understandable really). Even when using the analogue input. However this little box is amazingly capable, and can outperform the majority of "separate" MD decks that cost 4-5 times as much; and of course aren't portable, which is the whole point of MD technology; to be an ergonomic and cost effective, re-recordable (with no degradation due to re-use), easy to use, portable recording solution.

The single most important feature (which to my knowledge is a first considering the year this machine hit the streets) is the ability to override the automatic record level and set it to much higher, meaning much more personalised recordings, and the ability to keep it sounding RAW instead of lacklustre (typical auto level is 2.5-3 notches. Mine is more like 4.5-5 notches), and it saves so much time trying to normalise the volume levels in post production.

It can also double up as a very versatile studio sampler, as long as you have a means to input the signal (Mic, desk, P.C or Mac); plus an infinite resource as working tracks are developed and reviewed, being constantly updated and monitored; I would say the sound quality is easily good enough to get a good Post-production sound and an impression of the final result...(It is also quite nice to add some really hefty bass to some home-made beats courtesy of the 2-step Bass boost, come on admit it!)

The only thing keeping this product from getting straight 10's, is that surely nothing is ever quite THAT good! I would recommend this to anyone as a multi use piece of audio hardware. Mine has served me well, and I have only had it for 4 weeks!

This is a really good minidisc recorder. Excellent value for money. One of the wierd things is, though, it comes supplied with a digital fibre optical cable, so most people have to go out and buy an analogue cable. I think an analogue cable should come included instead. I dropped this minidisc recorder as well, and there's nothing wrong with it. (By the way that's no reason to go round dropping it.) I think everyone should have one, because you can record from almost any source with an output of some kind, even your computer.

Sound quality is great, especially with the digital bass on.

It is also really easy to use as well.

Excellent little machine, reasonably priced, no bad comments as yet.

It's an all round good md player/recorder. No trouble so far, good buy!

As soon as I bought my sony MZ-R501 minidisk, I didn't even need to read the manual, it's so simple to use. When I recorded a minidsic on it I was really suprised how much better it sounded than on the original cd. Of course you could spend a bit more and really top up the sound quality, but for what your spending then your really really getting value for money. The only thing I don't like about it is that on the display, there is no backlight, but Ive got used to it now. I really recommend this nice little minidisk. If you are into your good quality music and recording then I suggest getting this!

The Sony MZ-R501 is a superb minidisc recorder featuring many important features such as Mdlp- enabling 320 mins of music on one disk.Enables digital or analogue recording from many sources. Looks great, comes with optical digital lead, ac adapter, carry case, rechargeable battery. Includes remote control with almost all features controllable on it. A very good player but if recording in lp4 mode when lapelling tracks there is a limited amount of characters and they run out fairly quickly.

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