MD-DR7 Review

[me]

What you should have:

Something that gives 5v and at least 800mA to the unit.

[mdrmaniac]

I've noticed all Sharp's I've seen use 5v@800ma, so you just need to find an adaptor that goes to any Sharp unit.

[me]

Hello again, two months or so later. The MD-DR7 Review. UPDATE!

I've decided to post this update seperate, so readers (prospective buyers?) can get a 'Wow, new DR7!' and 'A while later, I think...' impression type thing going.

1. Build Quality
While i'm so far sticking to my earlier comments, something which I didn't think of turned up - The Control Pad. Tina's 'eye'. Remapping. Me is mad. What happened is I was just firing up my DR7 for the run to my parents work, and the skip forward button raised the volume. Huh?! Repeated button mashing solved the problem, however now i'm a shade concerned, as you would be if a $400, two month old piece of lovely sounding electronic equipment of yours decides to act up. Ding! Sharp now 8 of 10.

Did I ever post my thoughts regarding whether I thought the enamal finish would scratch? If not, it hasn't as of yet. However, like I thought, it is incredibly easy to get a finger print on this unit, and incredibly hard to get one off. Back to scratches: I treat this machine just like my non-enameled E900 (before breaking), and so far it's held up. I'll not worry about this if I buy another portable MiniDisc unit.

The open slider seems a bit easy to open. Which is better than impossible to open, like the MZ-N1, and the battery door is still fine as well, no problems like that loose Sony battery door.

2. Main Unit LCD

The previous part of the review was largely stating what was there and what happens when you do this or that. There's nothing to add in respect to that, except I love the two dancing music notes .

The DR7 has the coolest LCD panel. It reflects light, almost glowing. Why is this so cool? Two reasons: It makes viewing the display in low light conditions VERY easy. My E900's remote makes for difficult viewing in even slightly low light conditions, whereas the DR7 is easy to read until about a quarter of an hour before the sun goes down. (i.e, pretty low light conditions).
Secondly, it just looks funky in bright light. It goes a lovely yellow green colour, which you can't help but stare at! DR7 owners should check it out

3. Remote

I finally got sick of this stupid thing, and ditched it. It's currently residing underneath the March 17, 2003 edition of TIME, which is underneath a copy of Peanut Linux. The fact that it's underneath two pieces of trash isn't particularly reassuring to prospective buyers, so i'll add some comments in with it. I decided to give the remote a rest due to a couple of reasons: I currently have MDR-EX70LP earbuds, which have a 1.2m cord, which, coupled with a .7m remote, makes for tangles good and proper. Another reason for ditching it was the fact that it's 'upside down', meaning when I have the unit in my left pocket, and go look at the 'mote, it's upside down. The opposite of the RM-MC11EL, if that's any help. Yes, I finally got sick of it . The final reason for ditching it is fairly minor, and is related to the fact that it's 'upside down'. The buttons are confusing. I kept skipping back tracks instead of forward, pausing instead of stopping, etc. Boo hoo. Yes, told you it was minor

Those who keep the unit in their right pockets will probably like the remote and post flames to the above comments. Well, too bad, i'm not listening to you. (i.e, my comments are probably only relevent to me)

4. Sound Quality

Some of this has been covered in a thread here, which (I hope) is an interesting read in itself.

I now own a pair of MDR-D66SL headphones. The detail on the DR7 is now very tasty, and often I reach for the DR7 instead of my PC1's headphone jack. It depends if I want a stronger sound or a more detailed sound.. The DR7 resembles the PC1. I'm undecided whether the bass of the DR7 is deeper than that of the PC1. There aren't many comments on sound in this update as I find everything I stated before is relevant, however it is "brought out" more by the D66.

[D-EJ915]

Is the remote really that bad??, I mean that is a major turn off!, and sharp doesn't make a lot of remotes!! (are the 2-line ones compatible w/the DR-7??)

[Serge944]

they are somewhat complatible but from what ive heard, some of the buttons such as record dont function

im kinda getting sick of my auvi remote too...need new phones before i can ditch it though

[D-EJ915]

sounds like sharp needs to redesign their remotes, I think I'll get another sony unit in the future since I like my 915's remote, and I want to use it!

[me]

Originally posted by D-EJ915
Is the remote really that bad??, I mean that is a major turn off!, and sharp doesn't make a lot of remotes!! (are the 2-line ones compatible w/the DR-7??)

No, that wasn't the only reason. I should have made it clearer. With an MZ-E900, you have to use the remote. Sometimes it's too bulky and inconvenient, but too bad. With a recorder (LCD on the main unit, etc) you get full control over the unit without a remote. The remote is a minor convenience to me, I guess. And considering it's turned into more of a pest, then I felt I could ditch it. So I did!

[Guyj]

Hey all, my Sony MZ-R909's write laser recently bit the dust so I am looking for a new recorder. Fortunately I can still use it as a player so it is not totally worthless. I was totally happy with my 909 until the recorder quit. I am looking to replace it with a sharp recorder mainly because I am curious about the whole Sharp vs Sony situation. Anyway I was looking at the latest/greatest Sharp recorder IM-MT880 but was really turned off by the fact that the unit required the use of the remote to access the menu functions while recording. This quickly blew that unit out of the water as far as I was concerned because I mostly use mine for recording live bands. I don't want to lug around another piece of hardware just to complete the live recording package. I started looking at other Sharp recorder models and the DR7 looks pretty interesting to me. Unfortunately I have not been very succesful finding a comprehensive review of this unit that gets very deep into the capabilities of this recorder in live recording situations. I know I am asking a lot of questions but I need to make sure my next recorder is as user friendly as my 909 was in a live/stealth recording environment.

Does the Main Unit LCD display the elapsed time of a track during recording?

Can one get into the menu system on the main unit without using the remote stick?

Can one change the Bass/Treble settings on the main unit without the remote stick?

Can tracks be deleted on the main unit without the remote stick?

Is the voltage/record level meter visible on the main unit without using the remote stick.

Is there a voltage/record level meter visible on the remote stick during recording?

Is there a line out on the unit or are the recordings only output through the headphone jack.

If the recording can only be output through the headphone jack how do the recordings sound
when transfered to the hard drive? The Sony MZ-R909's live recordings sounded great
straight from MD but the output lost a bit of volume when transfered from the main unit to my
hard drive.

How does the ATRAC compression on Sharp's DR7 sound compared to Sony's ATRAC type
R?

How does the 4 pole headphone connector affect outputting a recording into the line in of a
soundcard. Will I have compatability problems between a 4 pole output and a three pole line
in input jack of a sound card?

Thanks for any help you DR7 owners can provide!!!

Guy Jackson

[me]

Originally posted by Guyj

Does the Main Unit LCD display the elapsed time of a track during recording?

You can see on the main unit, while recording: The elapsed time of the track, and the time remaining on the disc.

Can one get into the menu system on the main unit without using the remote stick?

Yes, press the 'menu' button. Very simple

Can one change the Bass/Treble settings on the main unit without the remote stick?

Yes, in fact you cannot adjust treble via the remote.

Can tracks be deleted on the main unit without the remote stick?

Yes

Is the voltage/record level meter visible on the main unit without using the remote stick?

Is there a voltage/record level meter visible on the remote stick during recording?

Yes, on the main unit. It isn't backlit. There isn't a level meter on the remote.

Is there a line out on the unit or are the recordings only output through the headphone jack.

Erm, it's in the manual as '250mV, 10K ohm', so I assume you plug it into something with an impedance greater than 10K ohm. Someone will probably argue this, though.

If the recording can only be output through the headphone jack how do the recordings sound
when transfered to the hard drive? The Sony MZ-R909's live recordings sounded great straight from MD but the output lost a bit of volume when transfered from the main unit to my
hard drive.

I'm certain it will sound better than the Sony. The pseudo line out of Sharp sounds better than the actual line out of Sony.

How does the ATRAC compression on Sharp's DR7 sound compared to Sony's ATRAC type
R?

Erm, from what i've read (I don't have Type R equipment), the Sharp would be about equal to Type-R. I think it's Sharp ATRAC 10. I can't tell the difference between ATRAC 4.5 and the DR7, heh.

How does the 4 pole headphone connector affect outputting a recording into the line in of a
soundcard. Will I have compatability problems between a 4 pole output and a three pole line
in input jack of a sound card?

Well, you just use a 3 pole cord then. .

[Skagen]

In a word, the DR7 remote - SUCKS. I didn't even use it from day one. The there are buttons everywhere and no place to hold it properly, so you end up hitting buttons bu mistake all the time.

An no you can't do any track editing from the remote as far as I can tell from expereince and from reading the manual.