Hi Steve,
The following is what I know...mostly correct, some may be wrong. Bear with
me.
For a definitive guide, read the MDCP FAQ.
Sony hasn't named ATRAC versions for a lot of its recent portables. It used
to be possible to track down ATRAC versions by looking at the DSP, because
the DSP chips were used in both decks and portables. By the time the R90
came out, however, Sony was inclined to creating dedicated portable-only DSP
chips.
The highest Sony ATRAC version available is type-R. Virtually all Sony home
equipments sold in Japan uses type-R right now. However, type-R capacility
is not used during MD-LP encoding.
The new R900 portable is capable of MD-LP, but not type-R. Maybe we can
assume that R900 is equal to version 4 or 4.5 in capability.
Sony's portable players seem to follow their recorders in ATRAC version. I
opened up my MZ-E80, and the chip is CXD2663GA. Seems to be the same series
as the R90 chips.
Sharp's most advanced ATRAC is version 6. Advancement has been stalled at
version 6 back in 1998, but it seems that new DSP chips with version 6 were
developed for lower power consumption.
Most Sharp portable players up to 1998 had the same ATRAC version as the
recorders. Last year, however, they started saying that they used
decode-only ATRAC on the 531 and everything after.
Matsushita (Panasonic) only has two ATRAC versions of their own. The one
seen on SJ-MR100, and the H.D.E.S. version that's now featured on all their
MD recording equipments.
Panasonic players use Sanyo's decoder chip, which Sanyo sold together with a
playback control microcomputer. There has been at least 3 evolutions taking
place since 1997. Sanyo also makes an encode/decode ATRAC DSP for its MD
boombox.
Kenwood's portable players - those that are not Sharp clones - use Sony's
version 4.5. This has been declared on many Kenwood websites around the
world. Kenwood may start using "Supreme D.R.I.V.E", a technology that
patches up missing info from compressed audio, in the future.
All the new technologies, as seen in type-R, Sharp 6, H.D.E.S., focus on
changing the perceived outcome upon the playback of encoded data. The
original ATRAC principle was created to be true to the human hearing
threshold, while the latest versions tend to add emphasis on the 15kHz+
band, as much as possible.
There's no site that offers clip examples, I don't think? :)
Leon
From: Steve Corey [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 18:35:40 -0600
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: MD: What version ATRAC?
What version of ATRAC does the Sony MZ-R90 use? And what version is
Sony ATRAC up to?
Is there a site somewhere that lists versions of ATRACs and that has
examples of music encoded in the various versions?
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