1Inventor

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $200.00 from The Good Guys, Open

Summary:
I purchased this unit while browsing a local Good Guys in Walnut Creek. I have been a fan of Mini Discs ever since they came out. I was one of the first Audio Engineers to use one to play national anthem themes while traveling with Air Force Entertainment World Wide.

This unit is very solid, like the other early ES made by Sony ( I wished it had woodside panels to complement the rest of my ES system - CDP-C303ES, TA-E2000ESD).

From a Technical standpoint, you have all the inputs and outputs both coaxial and digital that you can ask for. You have endless editing posibilities ( main point to owning one ). Not to go into so much detail, its a tweakers dream.

From a sound perspective, it is quite difficult to differentiate it from a CD, except that I can tell that the MD is ever so slightly leaner. But no artifacts from the ATRAC system. It is VERY hard to tell it from a CD source. ( I have trained ears. )

For $200, talk about a great find!

Strengths:
- Wonderful ES build
- Excellent DA/AD
- Excelent sound copying/playback

Weaknesses:
- Can be picky about MD blank brand

Similar Products Used:
Other Sony minidisc recorders.

TimeCr0ss

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.40 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $400.00 from eBay

Summary:
To start off: This is undoubtedly the best MD home recorder Sony has produced. Although a few good models in the JB series followed afterward, the JA20ES still surpasses them in sound quality. This is my 3rd MD deck. I bought an MDS-JE510 in 1996 that was a great unit. Lasted until about 1999 when it then developed serious drive mechanism problems. It was out of warranty, so I purchased the MDS-JB920. The 920 was far better than the 510 and was affordable. I only parted from it because I was a poor college student. Today, I'm not so poor. Back in the late days of my 920, I discovered the JA20ES and did nothing but drool. Half a year ago I was in the midst of rebuilding my dream stereo setup and decided to finally get the JA20ES. Unfortunately, finding it new was next to impossible, so eBay came to the rescue. Lucky for me, the original owner of my unit treated it like it was his own child. Features: The MDS-JA20ES has all the features Sony could stuff into the MD format. From the digital variable coefficent filter to fine pitch control, this unit is full of MD goodies. It is built with a very sleek tray loading mechanism that will impress any audiophile. This was a HUGE plus to me as the feed-type mechanism on most other Sony MD decks are known to fail over time. There are a plethora of ins/outs on the rear of the unit. 2 optical, 1 coax, 1 coax-out, 1 optical-out. The JA20ES is built like a nuclear capable tank. Weighing in at over 16lbs, you'll note it isn't much lighter than your receiver! I have made recordings at volumes (with a ton of bass) that would cause errors on both the 510 and 920; but the JA20ES is affected very little by external vibrations. Performance: With the ATRAC TYPE-R DSP, 20 bit stream, 20 bit high-end Sony A/D converter, and current-pulse D/A converter, this unit is most likely the highest quality MD will ever aspire to. Although the later JB series came with the R-Core transformer and 20 bit system, Sony must have built this unit with higher quality hardware as it clearly sounds better. The D/A converter is top notch. My receiver (STR-DE997) has optical ins, but I prefer to use the anolog outs on the JA20ES because it sounds better! If you are a fan of the MD format, this is by far the best deck you can buy in this format. I own far more personally recorded MD's than I do CD's, and the JA20ES reminds me why.

Strengths:
Won't find better in the MiniDisc format.

Weaknesses:
None! (Price is not an issue due to age)

Similar Products Used:
MDS-JE510 MDS-JB920

Price Paid:  $800.00 from Sony Store

Summary:
While working for Sony of Canada in the mid 90's I bought an MDSJE510. The poor thing went to service three times in the first year! In a heart to heart with the Regional Sony Service Manager, I was told flat out that I was "using it too much!" So, once back from service, I flipped it, and bought the JA20ES. And it's still with me, 5 years later. While I admit that it doesn't get used as much anymore, I have put it through its paces over the years, and it has performed flawlessly. I gravitate to products that are beefy and overbuilt, and the JA20ES is nearly industrial in its build quality. And of course, all the inputs and outputs that a propeller head like me could want! It's recording and playback is as clear, full and crisp as ATRAC3 can hope to be. I have to strain to hear a difference between a track recorded on MD and the original CD played back on my CDPCA7ES CD player. Overall, it is a tremendous unit, and one I am still happy to own.

Strengths:
Built like a tank! Coax/Optical/Analog in outs, and lots of them. Great D/A converter

Weaknesses:
Alphabet keys on remote take some getting used to.

Similar Products Used:
MDSJE510, MDSJB920

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Harrods

Summary:
I love this thing. It is a virtually impossible item to justify in a world where something like a Pioneer 609 produces a better digital copy that plays on more units at half the price but I own it and love it nonetheless. Build quality is superb and the socketry count is totally over the top (although it does without a keyboard plug at the front that cheaper models have- mean) whilst the remote doubles as a mattress. Recording and playback are about the maximum that can reasonably be extracted from a minidisc. There is a definate improvement in bass weight and drive from the 940 series and if a CD signal is squirted into the DAC on playback (press record with no disc in the tray mech) It is clear that only the ATRAC compression on the discs themselves is the limiting factor on performance. Oddly the unit passes the character of the CD player that sent the information onto the disc- a copy of Cassius "Sound of Violence" from my old Arcam Alpha 7 is notably leaner than that from my Audio Note CD2. Who knows why. I love it but its a truckload of cash to spend on a unit that has vexing compatability issues and is outperformed by most good seperate CDR units. If you must have an ES MD player it is as good as the format will reasonably get- and you can watch that tray drive for hours....

Strengths:
Truck like build, massive feature count, among the best sounding MD Players likely to be built

Weaknesses:
Price, complexity (I dread any mechanical failure), is MD an obsolete format?

Similar Products Used:
Sony MDSJB940,980 333ES (a JA20 with Long Play by the way)

Price Paid:  $650.00 from Local HiFi dealer

Summary:
First i have used for about 2 jears the entry level MD from Sony, the JE510. Nice machine, but wanted something more like the rest of my audio-equipment. So I bought the 20 ES.
The 20 ES lokks very classy and feels very solid.
Compared to the JE510 this is a much more HiFi-machine.

But there are some annoyances:
The display looks already old, caracters are fading fof some parts of the display. (not with the 510)
Programming is unlogical and uneasy. No immidiate access with the numbers on the remote. (not with the 510)
Some very often used characters are missing on the remote like the : and the '. (not with the 510)
If not played on "shuffle-mode" the display does not scroll by the start of a new number. (The 510 allways scrolls)
Digtal filtering does not notacibly affect the sound.
Digital input by recordings sometimes starts of at -/- 10 dB

At the other hand:
Very easy recording with a Sony CD-player. No adjustments have to be made, everythings goes automatic. Fantastic.
The sound is just 100% perfect. No loss of any detail or what so ever. Even when tried by switching between CD and the recording just made.

For me the Minidisc-system is to be preffered for a CD-recorder, becouse the minidisc is very easy to make recordings with, without failure and can allways be edited.

Equipment used:

NAD C320 amp (*****)
Sony CDP XA 2 ES CD-player (*****)
Pioneer DV 626D DVD-player(***)
Sony ST SE 520 tuner (****)
Mission 780 standmount speakers (*****)
Monster interlink (****)
Supra 4.0 speakercable bi-wired (****)

Strengths:
Beautifull design, classy looks, sounds equal to CD

Weaknesses:
Overall ease of use, irritating details in editing

Similar Products Used:
MDS JE510 entry level MD player from Sony