Sony MDS-S40 Mini Disc Recorder

I read online that the Sony Mini Disc's were 12-bit machines. I have a chance to buy a MDS-S40 Mini Disc recorder and the owner says she doesn't know about 12-bit or not and I can't find a manual on it stating if it is 12-bit or not.

I don't know if this particular model is well known about or not. Maybe some one here has used it or know if it's 12-bit or not, because that's all I'm needing to know about it.

Maybe this could be a cheaper alternative to an old school 12-bit sampler. Just wondering, thanks ya'll!

No, that model has 20 bit AD convertors, and runs at 44.1kHz, with a frequency response of 5-20,000Hz at +/-0.3dB, and a signal to noise ratio of >94dB.

http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDS-JE330+M100+S40+41.html


MiniDiscs use proprietary Sony ATRAC data compression, and were designed to be similar to CD sound quality...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Transform_Acoustic_Coding


You are not going to get an old school 12 bit/low sample rate sound out of a MiniDisc.

Remember rocking the mini disc player back in the day. Really nice sound quality and really compact to. Use to used the playstation 2 optical port on the fat version to record cds onto my mini disc.

SimonInAustralia wrote:No, that model has 20 bit AD convertors, and runs at 44.1kHz, with a frequency response of 5-20,000Hz at +/-0.3dB, and a signal to noise ratio of >94dB.

http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDS-JE330+M100+S40+41.html


MiniDiscs use proprietary Sony ATRAC data compression, and were designed to be similar to CD sound quality...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Transform_Acoustic_Coding


You are not going to get an old school 12 bit/low sample rate sound out of a MiniDisc.

thats a strange SN value since 16 bit is already (16 x 6dB) 96dB. A 20 bit converter should get you a SN of 120dB.

peace

peterpiper wrote:

SimonInAustralia wrote:No, that model has 20 bit AD convertors, and runs at 44.1kHz, with a frequency response of 5-20,000Hz at +/-0.3dB, and a signal to noise ratio of >94dB.

thats a strange SN value since 16 bit is already (16 x 6dB) 96dB. A 20 bit converter should get you a SN of 120dB.

Yes, might be to do with the data compression, instrad of normal PCM digital, not sure, it does specify 'on playback' for the 94dB, and I have seen other comments about other MiniDisc models that mention the not up to SNR spec of the AD bit depth.