Sony MZRH1B.EU8 Hi-MD Digital Audio Player and Recorder

This is a great bit of kit without question! Sony has obviously decided to aim this unit at the field recorder or amateur enthusiast rather than as an ipod alternative. However, if you do want to use it as that, it does remarkably well. I have managed to store about 600 tracks on a 1GB disc in very good quality. In fact, when I play a disc through my Hi-Fi it is leagues ahead of my other MP3 player sound quality wise. There are loads of other features on this unit too like the date stamp, CD quality PCM recording and the ability to upload recordings made on previous MD recorders in WAVE format without any kind of restrictions to your PC. I can't recommend it highly enough, it's great!

If you want to make very high quality audio recordings this is definitely for you. Build quality is superb with an excellent display, long battery life and loads of features. Buy it, you won't regret it.

As you can see from the photograph, the Sony MZ-RH1 is a beautiful little piece of kit. I've seen it described elsewhere as being like a miniature separates unit, and that's quite accurate as it has the display on the front, rather than on top like most players out there, and has four tiny little rubber feet on the underside, and it is made almost entirely of metal. It does, unfortunately, feel a little fragile - you really wouldn't want to drop it on a hard floor.

Sound quality is the best I have heard from any compressed music player, whether playing MP3 or oma files (ATRAC). The oma tracks have just a slight edge over MP3s - but this is down to the superiority of the ATRAC codec, rather than any limitation of the player. The same phenomenon can be experienced if comparing tracks on a PC or on a Sony hard disc Walkman. Overall, the sound is much helped by the player's integrated digital amplifier, which has given a subtle but very noticeable improvement over previous players in terms of clarity. The AVLS volume limiter is also easily disabled via a menu option and forgotten about, meaning you can enjoy your dynamic pumping tunes as they were intended (previous recent players had an AVLS system that could only be disabled by pressing buttons in a secret combination, obtainable from various unofficial websites). Limiters on personal media players are included by necessity of EU law to prevent us listening too loudly and hurting our poor wittle ears. However, they do make the music sound flat and lifeless, so disabling them is a must.

Being a 'Hi-MD', this baby takes 1GB discs, which hold just a little under 8 hours of music when recorded at the player's default recording bit rate of 256kbps. Whilst this quality is excellent (easily comparable to the best MP3s at 320kbps), I find that copying a CD to the maximum 352kbps is just perfect, and barely discernible from a CD, especially when out and about, which of course is the whole point of a Walkman.

The SonicStage software is a joy to use too. After famously suffering from some bad early versions that limited the number of times you could convert a particular track, and was not without the odd bug, the latest version is fantastic, and much preferable to the bloated substandard iTunes. It's beauty is in its simplicity. Just set a few preferences when you first use it (e.g. what bitrate to convert your CDs to (I use 352kbps), what bitrate to transfer to your minidisc at (I use the 'as is' option, which means no further conversions take place, preserving quality) and that's about it (what more do you need?). Of course, MP3 files can be imported to the software too. CD track information is automatically downloaded if connected to the net. Songs can be displayed alphabetically by album or artist or just by song title, and album artwork can be uploaded. Playback quality using the software is second to none, and MP3 playback is FAR superior to the best MP3s on iTunes (I'm not sure what codec iTunes uses, but it is truly dreadful even at 320kbps, not that your average chav really cares!).

The MZ-RH1 itself also records extremely admirably in real time (always at either 256kbps or uncompressed PCM) via an optical cable from your CD player. It also has an analogue line input which can be switched to mic sensitivity if using a little non-powered microphone to capture your live performances.

The supplied earphones are nothing to shout about, as with all standard supply earphones. Replacements are a must, and for an affordable quality pair I would suggest checking out the Sennheiser CX-300 in-ear phones for good frequency range and isolation (although beware cheap inferior fakes - but genuine ones cost just around thirty pounds or so). Get these (or other decent phones), then set your player's EQ to flat (or off) as it will not be needed.

The battery is a super-slim little LIP-4WM. Such a battery is bound to have its limits, but you will still get nine or 10 hours of playback from a fully charged battery. My old minidisc (MZ-NH600), which takes a single AA battery, lasts probably twice as long, but the player itself needs to be more chunky to accommodate it. Spare LIP-4WM batteries can be purchased for twenty pounds on various sites, and it is recommended to keep a charged spare in your pocket for continuous enjoyment.

The remote control is nice to use, but the clip is not very strong so it doesn't cling to your coat very well.
The supplied charger connects and charges via the player's USB port. The player will also automatically start charging the battery if it is connected to a PC, so it is a good idea to just slip the battery out before connecting (charging a battery unnecessarily too many times will shorten its life).

Bottom line: the MZ-RH1 looks sexy, and sounds fantastic.

I've had a few minidisc recorders and while they've all been really good they have some limitations; the MZ-RH1 has removed those limitations and this is one classy piece of hardware. I've stopped listening to my iPod for music as the sound quality on this device with good headphones (HD600) is just so much better. The size is nice and small and the looks really are great, a bit retro, and it is very quiet when spinning the disc. Being made of metal it looks and feels well made. The major limitations of not allowing uploads to PC of old Minidiscs has been removed - a major benefit, plus it now supports 48khz MP3s, which the others didn't. The sound quality of MP3s which was slightly crippled on previous players has been fixed on this model.

Only criticism I have is that the MD/MP3 titles only appear on the remote not the main unit.

Possibly the last Minidisc recorder to be released but Sony have produced a cracker.