Sony MXD-D3-My Complete Review (LONG)

[Who @noyb.com Guess Who]

The following is a very long synopsis of the Sony MXD-D3 in case anyone is
considering this unit. I figured I'd save you some of the surprises that all
the spec sheets DON'T mention.

I was excited upon receiving my Sony MXD-D3 CD/MD combo unit because I
couldn't wait to take advantage of the 4X dubbing. Since most of my
recorder material was done on ATRAC 3 and prior, I was eager to redo my
collection using a later ATRAC version. Following is my experiences with
the unit.

First off, Here are the specs:

ATRAC 4.5
CD Player & MD Player/Recorder
Pitch Control on MD playback (This is really neat)
High Speed 4X copying from CD to MD
Dual line display, can show 1 line each for CD and MD, or both lines for CD
or MD
CD Text capable (I have yet to see a CD with track names)
Internal digital dubbing from CD to MD, normal speed or High Speed (4X)
Digital level control for the CD, or the Optical In
Of course, Analog level control
Full set of menu commands in line with the later Sony MD decks
One remote control, controls both the CD and the MD, but not at the same
time. You have to flip a switch on the remote.
Only 1 Digital Optical Input, 1 Analog Input and 1 Analog Output

Now comes my personal critique:
The 4X dubbing mode is truly amazing. You can record a 74 min Disc in less
than 20 minutes. I really like this, but I have been somewhat disappointed
to learn that the time you save in recording is made up for doing other
tasks.

First off, there's that stupid remote control. Why did Sony decide to use 3
letters per key? This makes adding titles with the remote very frustrating.
Trying to title songs during 4X recording proves to be a losing battle. You
have to enter up to 4 keystrokes for each letter you enter, since each key
contains 3 letters, then you have to press the right advance key to advance
to the next space. For tracks with very short names, I can usually get the
names in with no problems. However, when the title is completed, I am
usually surprised to see what the title actually contains. My fingers are
rather large, and it's difficult for me to press the tiny keys once, let
alone 3 times. I usually screw up on the letters that are third on the key,
meaning I have to press the key three times. Mind you, I'm trying to get
this done before the track finishes so I am hurrying in hopes that I won't
lose everything I've done so far because the track finished. Also, you can
only operate one deck at a time, either the CD or the MD. You must flip a
switch to choose between either. I don't know why Sony couldn't just
provide a larger remote that could operate both units simultaneously.

I have to correct about 70% of the titles because of this, so this takes up
a good deal of time. I've also noticed that when you are copying several
songs off of a CD that do not follow each other on the CD, the unit
sometimes copies a tiny piece of the next track on to the MD track before it
ends. It's only a millisecond of material, but it disturbs the flow of
music, and is very annoying. Also, sometimes there is up to 5 extra seconds
added to the end of the MD track, but I guess this actually depends on the
CD music file that's being copied. So, then, I have to go through the whole
MD when I am done recording, check between each track to see if there are
any extra long silence periods or bits of other tracks. I like no more than
2 seconds between tracks, especially when listening on my md walkman.

Also, it seems that when you insert a CD, it takes a bit longer to read the
TOC than on a normal CD player. Also, if dubbing in 4X mode, there is quite
a noticeable delay waiting for the CD to spin-up and do what it's gotta do
before you can actually record. You can record a whole CD, or program 1 or
more tracks to record, then press the High or Normal dubbing buttons, either
on the remote or in the deck. The CD spins rapidly, then comes to a
screeching halt, while the MD is in pause mode. Then you must press pause or
play on either the CD, MD or remote, to start recording. The actual
recording process is surprisingly quick, however.

There are a few features which are nice, such as the "record-it" feature.
There is a Record-It button on the remote and the deck, and what this does
is allow you to record a song you're listening to. If you are playing a CD
and hear a track you like, you can press the record-it button and the track
will restart and be recorded to the MD. When the track is finished, the CD
will continue to play from the next track. Normal speed copying allows you
to hear the music as it's recording, but of course, recording is done in
real-time.

I was deeply disappointed to find there is only 1 optical input and no
optical outputs. I guess this makes a digital connection to a digital
receiver impossible. I have my former MD deck, the JES-520 connected via the
optical cable. To my surprise, when I copied songs from MD to MD via the
optical cable, the titles were NOT copied along with the music. Track
titles are supposed to be copied automatically from CD Text discs to the MD,
but I cannot verify this since I have no CD Text discs, nor have I ever seen
one.

Now, I'll talk about the digital level control. There are 2 digital level
controls-1 for the optical input, and one for the CD. If you are dubbing
from CD to MD, the digital level control is useless. You can not adjust the
level if you are dubbing in high speed or normal speed, and you can't use
the digital level control with the record-it feature. Recording using any
of these three methods will use the standard 0db setting. The only way to
adjust the CD digital level is to record manually from CD to MD, and Sony
didn't make this easy. You have to first select the track you want to
record, or the track you want to start at, and pause at the beginning of
that track, then put the MD into record mode, it will naturally pause. Then
you have to un-pause the MD and start playing the CD, but this will create
an empty track before the actual recorded material. You can go back and
delete the empty track later. This is the only way I have found to manually
record from CD to MD to take advantage of the CD Level control. There seem
to be no other way to do this. I've tried pausing both the CD and MD, and
unpausing at the same time, but this just makes the CD start playing. If I
unpause only the CD, the CD plays and the MD remains in record-pause.
Likewise, if I just unpause the MD, the MD starts recording, but the CD
remains paused. The manual doesn't explain how to manually record from CD
to MD. I had to figure this out for myself.

As for the display, it's a shared display with CD info on top and MD info on
the bottom. There is no Music Calendar, which I have become accustomed to.
You can change the display, however, to include both lines for the CD or MD.
With the dual line display for MD, the track name appears on the top line at
all times, and the track number and time are on the bottom line. In single
line display, the track title scrolls through once, then the track number
and time remain visible.

Although there have been several disappointments I've discovered, I must
express an overall satisfaction with the unit. The actual recording process
is extremely simple and can be fast. But for a perfectionist like myself,
there's a lot of wasted time doing other things. After having recorded
about 17 discs so far, I'm getting a little bit used to titling via the
remote, but it still proves to be frustrating many times.

[Shawn B. Wikle]

Good review, right on target. I've had my MXD-D3 for several months
and have recorded about 30 MD's, both mixes and entire CD's. My
biggest complaint is the titling. Why didn't Sony provide the PS/2
keyboard input for titling like on their 930?

One other issue: I have one CD with text information. It's a new
Tony Bennett. My complaint, and maybe I did something wrong here:
when I recorded a single track onto a mix MD from that CD (using the
Rec-it feature) it did copy the track name just fine. However, it
also copied the CD name as the MD name! That doesn't seem like a good
feature. The unit should distinguish between an entire CD record and
a Rec-it since the Rec-it is specifically designed for single track
recording. I'll admit this is a minor complaint because in my several
hundred CD collection, I only have 1 with CD text :)

Overall, like the reviewer, I am pleased with the unit as a whole. I
am considering adding one of the Sony MDS-PC2 units specificality for
titling on my PC. However, the MSRP of $480 is a steep price to pay
for convenient titling capability.

Shawn