Sony MZ-NHF800 Personal MiniDisc Player

[Note: The following is a review I wrote on the new Sony MZ-NHF800 Hi-MD Recorder on 2004/09/01. I have had a chance to do some more testing on this unit and there have been additional developments in support of Hi-MD file conversion, so I modified the review slightly and added some additional comments to my original review on 2004/10/11.]


SONY MZ-NHF800

INTRODUCTION

I agree with the detailed review provided by sector001 on 8/3/04; therefore, I will not repeat details in my review. I am a live music recorder, so I will provide my epinions with respect to recording, and embellish on the details provided in the previous review. [2004/10/11 update; please note that there is now public access freeware that performs digital rendering of Hi-MD audio files. Details provided below.]

It should be noted that the majority of this review is related more to the general subject of Hi-MD versus other recording methods. I do have some specific comments on the Sony MZ-NHF800 unit though.

As stated, my recording needs revolve around live music recording. I am a former owner of a Sony D7 DAT deck. I got out of recording several years ago and sold my stuff when I moved to a low population location. Upon re-entry into the market two years ago, I was drawn to the mini-disc format for its compactness and media type. A major priority for me was having the option to stealth record if needed, so mini-disc units fit that need because they are so tiny and, with the shock protection features, was not prone to skipping while hidden in a fanny pack or pants pocket. I love the size and durability of mini-disc media, their ability to be reused over and over, and generally worry-free operability of discs. This freed my mind of the problems I'd had with the finicky nature of DAT tapes where I missed some good shows due to issues related to tape repacking, flaking, and binding during recording. Sure, if you do it right, you should have no problems with DAT tapes, but sometimes I didn't do it perfectly and it was SO frustrating to lose a show or a portion of a show because of tape binding or some other issue. [2004/10/11 update; Coincidently, I was just at a show last week and a fellow taper with a D8 deck missed a recording after discovering half way through the show that the tape had bound up in his machine. Too bad for him, but it just confirmed to me that this is a real problem with DAT that you don't have to worry about with MD and Hi-MD.]

Also factoring into my decision to go MD was the feedback from MD users related to unit reliability and maintenance compared to the DAT decks. I understand that the D8's have better maintenance records than the D7, but the general impression I had going in was that MD has less maintenance issues than DAT, where the general recommendation is to have decks factory maintained annually at a cost of over $100. Back in my D7 days, because of all the feedback from others, I was always waiting for the day for my DAT deck to break down, and just KNEW it would happen like, during a show when Jerry came back from the dead or something. Since DAT decks are so dang expensive, I couldn't afford a backup.

So, the final major plus factor in favor of MD for me was cost. The initial cost of the portable DAT deck is currently, at best, double to triple that of MD. High-end DAT decks are five or six or more than MD units. As mentioned, average annual maintenance costs are much higher with DAT.

However, naturally, there was a flip side. The biggest negative to MD also was probably the most important issue for the live music recorder; sound quality. Simply stated, MD recordings didn't sound as good as non-compressed DAT recordings.

The good news though is that the recent introduction to the market by Sony of the Hi-MD format has changed everything. I'll get into the details of Hi-MD performance later in my review, but suffice it to say that the introduction of Hi-MD has eliminated or at least minimized the last major issue that I had with using the mini-disc format for live recording.

First, let me recap a little bit about the 'old' MD format, which I'll refer to as non-Hi-MD. Non-Hi-MD units used an ATRAC compression scheme (see numerous web pages for technical details). Sonically, my ears didn't have any issue at all with the mid and high frequencies. While I never did an A/B test against DAT, I thought the mids and highs of my non-Hi-MD recorded shows sounded great. However, lows were a different story. Lows were simply too muddy. My experience was that the stronger the bass in the mix, the worse the end result. Being a male, I like my bass, so muddy bass is VERY unacceptable!!! The poor bass sound could have been due in part to my recording techniques (location at the venue, skill with using my bass roll-off device, etc.); however, my results were consistent enough that I am confident that ATRAC compression was the main cause of the distortion. I also read plenty of others that had the same issue, so that reinforced my conclusions.

I don't want to paint too bad a picture about non-Hi-MD though. I found the results from ATRAC compression to be OK, but just not good enough to make me as happy as I could have been and the key is that all of these conclusions are based on the need to record good quality music where bass is a major factor in the quality of the music. In most cases, the 'muddiness' wasn't enough that you couldn't listen to the recording and enjoy it immensely. It's not like you're listening though blown speakers or something, the bass was just not as clean and smooth as it could have been. Also, if your recording needs don't involve heavy bass, then you might have good success with the non-Hi-MD recording modes.

One final point. Many have reasoned that if you go to the expense of getting good equipment to get live recordings, why ruin it by capturing it on a device that degrades the sound quality potential from your rig, even if only slightly? It's hard to argue that reasoning, unless your budget didn't allow it. So, while MD clearly met my needs for compactness, reliability, convenience, and cost, it fell short on what most live music recorders consider the most important factor of all. It's for these same reasons that the majority of live tapers have discounted MD as not for the hard-core live recording aficionado.

For all of these reasons, I was very excited when Hi-MD units started shipping in August 2004 and eager to check them out.


SOUND QUALITY

Let's get right to business with this review because I think the majority of people that have read this far will want to know the bottom line on sound quality with the new units. Well, I'm happy to report that as of this writing, I have recorded a grand total of over 20 hours (not bad for 2 ? weeks of ownership!) of music ranging from Phish's Coventry (in a theater that was carrying the simulcast), to the Acoustic Planet Tour (in a pavilion), to a loud reggae show by John Browns Body (in a small club). The sonic results are wonderful and the Hi-MD units do, in fact, solve what I considered to be the shortcomings of the non-Hi-MD format. [2004/10/11 update; I've done many more recordings since the original writing of this review and my conclusions have not changed.]

The Hi-MD units have three new Hi-MD modes of recording; Linear PCM, Hi-SP, and Hi-LP. The product literature says that the unit has a 44.1 kHz sampling rate, which is CD quality. For obvious reasons I have used only the highest quality linear PCM mode for recording so far, so I can't address the sound quality resulting from the Hi-SP or Hi-LP modes. (Sometime in the future, I'll append this review after getting some more time with the unit.) [2004/10/11 update; some fairly detailed and scientific testing has been done by Hi-MD users. Refer to the Hi-MD forum at forums.minidisc.org for details.]

In PCM mode, the sound that I get through the unit is, to my ears, an accurate capturing of the sound stream produced from my rig. The bass is rich and saturated, at least as much as I can get with my relatively inexpensive mics.

The best testament that I can give regarding sound quality is to refer the reader to some shows that I have made with the new unit. Please visit the live music archive website at www.archive.org and perform a search for my name, 'steve toney'. (If you've never visited, you also might find some GREAT music to download! Please support live music!!!!) My recordings from August 2004 or later have been done with my new unit. You can download a single song if you just want a sample. I am using a $200 pair of Sound Professionals mics running through a battery box with bass roll-off, so there is no doubt that my rig is mid-range quality at best. As good as these shows sound, I'm confident that a high end set of DPA-4011's would sound like pure crystal magic run through the Hi-MD unit.


GENERAL OBSERVATIONS/COMMENTS ON THE SONY MZ-NHF800

The linear PCM recording mode provides 94 minutes on a Hi-MD disc. That's about exactly what I got from my discs. The MD unit itself fits easily in the palm of my hand and is not much bigger than the smallest non-Hi-MD units. Really, the only noticeable difference between the old units and the hi-MD units is the text on the outside of the unit that declares it to be Hi-MD. Same with the disc media which is the same size as the non-Hi-MD discs. As stated in all of the published media information, Hi-MD can't be used in non-Hi-MD units, but non-Hi-MD will work in the Hi-MD units.

Like the previous reviewer, I really like the use of AA batteries in this Sony MZ-NHF800 unit. Easy to find, easy to change, fifty cents each at most. I get 2 to 2 ? hours of recording time out of each Energizer alkaline. However, for live music recorders, I recommend battery change-out every set. Two hours simply isn't enough to get you through the second set and I can guarantee that you'll run out of juice just about every time if you don't change after set one. You definitely can't stretch the batteries, so don't try. You'll save much frustration of lost second sets if you observe my recommendation. It happened to me 2-for-2 during the second set of both of the first two shows that I recorded, so trust me here. One battery per set is now a rule for me.

On the Sony MZ-NHF800 unit, the buttons and controls are pretty intuitive and simple to use. There is a button that, when pressed and held for a couple seconds, enacts the general menu selection. A pushbutton and jog wheel are used to navigate the menu. As with any new product, read the directions for a primer on control functions. Yes, I know...how naive of me to expect people to actually read the instructions! Oh well, I did so and had no trouble with the controls ? hour out of the box.

During normal playback, the pushbutton also functions in a joystick sort of fashion as a volume control and the tracking control. Pushing the button up or down controls volume level. Pushing right and left moves forward or back a track. Pushing right or left and holding enables FF and REW navigation within a track.

The default mode of recording for the Sony MZ-NHF800 is automatic level control. In order to manually control the recording level, one must go through a number of menus to set the manual level control. From there, the user rotates the jog wheel to adjust recording level. Depending on your perspective on life as a live music recorder, you will either love or hate this feature. Read on for details.


THE GOOD AND THE LESS-GOOD

I've already highlighted most of the pluses of Hi-MD above; good sound quality, low cost (relative to other CD-quality devices), small stealthy unit and media size, low relative maintenance cost, and reliability of operability of media.

The automatic level control is a specific feature of the Sony that, quite frankly, almost led me to wait for a competing product. Man, was I pleasantly surprised with the results after I received and tested the unit. In fact, I was SO surprised by the results that, I have to say that the automatic level control feature is now actually HUGE plus for this unit. I'm so happy with the performance of this feature. I need to explain:

As I mentioned at the very beginning of this review, I'm a former DAT user. The Sony D7 DAT deck I used had a level limiting feature. The general concept of level limiting is that the deck does some internal magic that keeps your levels centered automatically to prevent peaking as the sound pressure changes during a show. A great concept, for sure, but my experience in using this feature was bad bad bad. In general discussion with others, their experiences were the same. With the level limiting feature switched on, the resulting sound was very inconsistent. There were distinct changes in the dynamics of the recording as the level limiting function 'did its thing'. The change in dynamics wasn't subtle; it was a very distinct and noticeable flaw in the recording. As a result, I've avoided this feature on ANY recording device like the plague, preferring instead to manually set levels and then monitor and adjust the level during the show to keep the levels set correctly.

For those people that have experience with MD, you know many people preferred the Sharp models over the Sony models because the Sharp models are so much easier to control levels manually. In performing my research a couple of years ago, I opted for Sharp for that very reason. The Sony non-Hi-MD units that I tried out had manual control, but its functionality was cumbersome at best.

The bad news with the MZ-NHF800 is that Sony hasn't changed accessibility to manual control. As mentioned previously, it's cumbersome to get to because you have to wade through a number of menus, which takes precious seconds of time that can cause you to maybe miss the start of a show or a song. Another really bad thing about the manual control is that, for some strange reason, you have to pause recording in order to change the levels. Finally, when you're finished recording a disc and change-out to a new disc, the unit again defaults to automatic and you have to go through the whole she-bang over again…IF you remember to do it. All of that is frustrating and, until you become very experienced at using the manual setting, will cause you to miss precious seconds of a show. It will also cause you to potentially have inconsistent levels in your recording. In general, for those that must use the manual setting, the end result will be a generally lower overall quality of your end product just because there's just so much that can go wrong because of the design and accessibility of this feature on the Sony units. [2004/10/11 update; I've been using the unit more in manual mode lately so that I can A/B test the unit against the automatic level control. The manual mode isn't all that bad to navigate to…it only takes a couple of seconds.]

Now the good news. I found the functionality of the automatic level control function on this Sony Hi-MD deck to be excellent. In fact, in the 20 plus hours of recording that I've done, I have yet to hear a noticeable glitch, artifact, or whatever you want to call it, caused by auto level control. What this means is that since automatic level control works so well, you won't need to worry about using manual level control.

Since the automatic level control is the default, all I have to do now is start recording and I know that the levels will be center-cut for the entire show.

…and since this function works so well, I don't expect to ever have to use manual control with this deck.

- No more worrying about peaking.
- No more having to check my levels every minute during a show.
- No more having to re-adjust when Mr. Soundman does a master volume tweak here and there.
- No more start of show level tweaking for the first ten seconds

To me, what all of this means is that manual level setting is a thing of the past. Personally, that's a WONDERFUL thing because one of the rubs behind live taping (as enjoyable as it can be) is that it detracts from the live music experience. Now that I don't need to monitor levels, I can enjoy the show SO much more because I don't need to be constantly mindful of tweaking my manual levels so that they're dead center at all times. The deck does it for me.

I would expect experienced users to be skeptical of this information. Again, if you're like me, my experiences going on auto-pilot were really bad. I guess Sony has been working on this though, because the proof is in the pudding. Again, I would suggest that you download a song/show or two and judge for yourself. All of the recordings that I've done so far have been completely on auto-pilot. If you're a skeptic like I was, I think you'll be surprised.

[2004/10/11 update; since the original writing of this review, I have been challenged several times by people on my auto level control assertions…they simply don't believe it and without hearing the results for themselves have made claims that it wasn't worth using. Obviously, this paradigm is based on the same observations that I had made in my experiences using other products on the market. Therefore, just to make doubly sure of my statements, I did some A/B comparisons of the dynamics of recordings made in automatic level control with those that were done in manual control. Sonically, I simply couldn't hear anything that would cause me to say that there is a difference. Granted my test was unscientific since it also was done by the method that has proven most reliably to me and my listening pleasures…my ears. But after doing much A vs. B testing of both loud and soft music, I stand behind the results that I received with this unit. Again, I know people are skeptical about this, but all I can suggest is that if you haven't heard the unit for yourself, then don't judge its capabilities. This particular piece of news was one of the main reasons why I bothered to write this review. I stress once again to potential users that are skeptical, you should go to the archive that I have mentioned and download a song or two so that you can reach your own conclusions, but don't judge the capability of this feature before you have heard it for yourself.]


THE BAD AND THE UGLY

First off, I must say that I'm nit-picking with this section. I can't really say that the things I point out below are really bad because they are more nuisances than anything.

My first mini-gripe is that I wish the mini-disc media could hold more information. For live recording, 1? hours isn't long enough. Of the bands that I record about half of the sets run longer. First set is generally less than 1? hours, second set longer than 1? hours. For now, that means that I have to change-out discs before the end of a set, which can mean missing parts of a song.

Obviously, the best solution is to change discs between sets or during breaks between songs, but therein lies the source of gripe number two. If you've ever used MD before, you know that change-out of discs is not exactly an instantaneous operation. If you're recording, once you hit the stop button, the MD unit has to write the data onto disc. While it's writing, you're waiting and the music's playing. It takes only 30 seconds or so to write a disc, but it seems like eternity if the band starts the next song before you get the old disc out and a new one inserted. Plus as I mentioned above, you also want to change your battery during this time, so at best you're probably looking at a minute for disc change-out.

However, there IS a simple solution to this dilemma. I haven't used this technique yet, but all you need is a backup deck and some extra cable accessories for your mics. If you daisy chain two decks in series with each other, you won't have to worry about missing anything. Just start recording into the second deck before the first deck stops and then fix it in the mastering process. A lot of people use a backup deck anyway (regardless of media type) just to make sure that they don't miss any of the show in case of equipment malfunction.

As I mentioned earlier, the battery life for one AA alkaline in the MZ-NHF800 is about 2 hours. You are better off using manual timing as your basis for changing the battery in recording situations. DON'T RELY ON THE BATTERY LIFE INDICATOR ON THE UNIT.

What I found is that while recording it was only 5-10 minutes or so from the time that my unit had all of the battery life bars indicated to the time that the battery went dead. So, for 2 hours you see all of the bars, then for about 5-10 minutes, all but one of the bars is black, then the battery goes dead. I lost significant chunks of two shows due to a dead battery, even though I had just checked the unit and there was all but one bar showing. It is noteworthy that the manual states that recording in linear PCM mode is the largest current draw from the batteries, so if you intend to use the unit in other modes, this may not be an issue.

The Sony MZ-NHF800 has no backlight. In a perfect world, it would be nice to have a backlight with an on/off switch. However, a backlight would result in lower battery life, so all things being equal; I wouldn't want to sacrifice recording time for a backlight. My penlight works just fine.

The multi-function button/joystick that I mentioned before is really tiny. It's easy to operate as a button, but since it doubles as a joystick, the tiny nub of a button is too small and oftentimes, when I'm meaning to move it up/down/left/right in joystick fashion, I end up pressing it as a button instead, which leads to navigation mistakes. Basically, the only way to operate the nub as a joystick is to use your fingernail and delicately move it in whatever direction you want. If you've got fat stubby fingers and chew your fingernails, then you're not going to like this button. The good news is that I don't really need to use the joystick functions too much in my usage.

A final mini-gripe is that we cannot currently make pure digital archives in open source file format (e.g. WAV or MP3) for burning to disc, or for backing up. Although I haven't tried it, apparently the current software allows the music to be downloaded onto your machine for listening via your computer, but the files are not in open source format for you to master to a 'usable' format for burning CDs for use in your commercial CD player.

Sony apparently is promising some free software later on in 2004 that will overcome this limitation. That is the reason I am calling this a mini-gripe. However, if this does not happen, my mini-gripe will turn bigger.

[2004/10/11 update; as of 2004/10/11, Sony still hasn't published any free software; however, there is now some new freeware available that solves the above issue for Hi-MD users. The software converts the files from the resident file format to .wav format.

Go to the following link and download:

http://www.marcnetsystem.co.uk/himdrenderer010.zip

Instructions for using the software are located at the following link:

http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=6087

For the Hi-MD live music recorder, this software is a revelation. The files that are recorded directly onto the Hi-MD disc are made in a resident file format that allows them to only be played back using Sony's software that comes pre-packaged with the unit. After recording a show, the user connects the Hi-MD player to the computer via a USB cable. The contents of the Hi-MD disc are downloaded onto the computer hard-drive using Sony's Sonicstage software. The downloaded files are saved in a resident file format (.oma) that is only recognizable by Sony developed software. To convert these files, the .oma format files are then loaded into the himemrenderer software in either single file or batch mode. The software very quickly converts the .oma files to .wav format files. The .wav files are then available for downloading onto a CDR or convertible to any other audio file format you may wish.

I have used this software and it works very quickly and, in spite of the disclaimer the author provides at the above link, I have had no issues with the software. It perfectly converts my files to .wav…no fuss, no mess.

A couple of worthwhile notes on the above. First, the new software currently only works with Hi-MD files. Also, the new user is advised to browse the forums in the second link referenced above for tips on file conversion. Some users have had problems with the later versions of the Sonicsense software which has resulted in non-recoverable files. For a live recorder that's mastering a 'can't live without' show, that could be disastrous. Some tips are provided in the forum that will help prevent this from happening. Finally, the himemrenderer software should resolve the 'Cannot create a CD because of copyright restrictions' error that sector001 mentioned in his review on 8/3/04.

An alternate method to preserve your recordings is to record in real-time through a sound card and then into the computer. To do this, connect one end of a 1/8 inch to 1/8 inch mini-plug cable into the MZ-NHF800's headphone jack and connect the other end into the 'line-in' jack on the soundcard. You could also use the computers 'line in' connection, but the general consensus is that the pre-packaged computer sound cards are very low quality, so most people recommend the purchase of higher quality sound card for music mastering. For my setup, I then use Cool Edit 2000 software (configured for my setup) for audio recording and mastering. Although this software is no longer available, you can use any other commercially available software. Hit the 'record' function on your computer software to start recording the data stream from the soundcard, then start playing back your recorded show from the MD unit. You should be able to see your software recording the music onto your hard drive. Stop recording 1? hours later or whenever your recording is finished, save the file, master it, and then burn it to CD. Since you are using the soundcard 'line-in' jack, your recordings by this method are not pure digital recordings.

End of 2004/10/11 update.]

One of the nice things about the NHF800 is that it has a built in radio. However, you can't record from the radio onto the MD. If I were to make a wish-list, that would be another thing to add. However, since my main purpose for the unit is live music recording, this isn't a big deal for me.

At the time of this writing, MD media costs about the same as DAT media; about $7 a disc. Discs are reusable indefinitely. Since the MD media currently is only available from Sony, I had an issue finding merchants that stocked it although I just had to keep searching the web until I found someone. I believe this was primarily due to the newness of the format though. As soon as aftermarket manufacturers start making competing discs, I'm sure Hi-MD media will come down in price just like virtually all other media.


[2004/10/11 update; the following section has been added in the new review.]

SONIC REALITY OF THE HI-MD RECORDER

Ever since I first entered the live recording scene, I've had a basic difference in opinion with the logic that some people apply to this subject. One of my live music recording goals is to capture the recording with the best possible sound reproduction. However, my ultimate goal is to capture the feel and the groove of the live music experience so that it can be enjoyed over and over. Based on this, my philosophy when approaching the live music recording subject is that my ears are the final judge when it comes to analyzing the results of my recording efforts. I realize that my opinions may not be the majority opinion. I'm also not trying to claim that I am right and others are wrong. However, after posting the original review on this Hi-MD unit, I had several emails from people challenging some of the claims that I've made in this review. I mentioned earlier that several people simply didn't trust my results on automatic level control mode versus manual. I also had someone claim that using the headphone jack as a source for mastering was just a 'horrible' way to go. He claimed that for analog recording you needed, at minimum, a 'line out' on the machine for the recordings to be acceptable. Given this feedback and my desire to make this review as accurate as possible, I conducted another unscientific A/B/C test, with my ears being the judge.

Attending a recent live show, I recorded the first half of the show using manual level control. The manual scale of the unit ranges from 0 to 30, so I set the unit at 19 and didn't change the setting while in manual mode. Then about halfway through the show, I stopped the unit and switched to automatic level control. When I got home, I first mastered the show in real-time through my soundcard $150 Sound Blaster Extigy), using the headphone jack as the 'line out' of the unit. I then downloaded the files onto my hard-drive and used the himdrenderer software to convert the files digitally to .wav format. Using Audition 1.0, I then mastered all of the files, but the only mastering done was to adjust output levels to the same relative level so that the volume of the music was the same from sample-to-sample. This enabled me to do a direct sonic comparison for an A/B/C test. First I did a side-by-side sonic comparison of the files that were done in manual level control mode versus those done in automatic level control mode. Then I conducted a sonic comparison of the files that were made through my soundcard versus the pure digital files.

I specifically compared the lows, mids, and highs of all of these files through a set of Sony MDR-V500DJ Studio DJ Headphones at fairly high volume levels. The bottom line was that sonically, my ears could not tell any difference between any of the files. So, based on my analysis criteria, there really is no difference in the sonic quality of the files.

Audiophiles will probably want more scientific proof or better data than my ears can provide, and scientifically analyzed data may show that there is a slight difference in results from my ears, but the bottom line is that the only way a person will be able to tell that a difference exists is on paper.

Based on my unscientific research methods, I stand behind my original claims regarding automatic level control. It does indeed function great and yields results that stand toe-to-toe with manual level control. I can also conclude that I am not going to worry too much about whether or not the recording is a pure digital rendering or if it has an analog element in it. I just don't hear a difference, although I will probably use the digital mode of rendering because it's quicker than real-time analog recording. Finally, I can state without reservation that, for people purchasing the Sony MZ-NHF800, the headphone jack works just fine for mastering your live recordings. I'm not sure that I would be inclined to take a step up to the 900 unit (which does have a line-out) and pay an additional $40 if all you are after is the 'line-out' jack.


FINAL THOUGHTS

I love this unit. In my world of live music recording, it marks a breakthrough in the digital recording medium by providing a low cost, stealthy recorder that uses changeable media. The linear PCM mode of data streaming resolved my major gripe with the ATRAC-based non-Hi-MD format predecessor. With the availability of the new software that enables pure digital rendering of Hi-MD files, this is a product that is hard to beat for the live music recorder.