First of all, I've noticed that the new R90 is only out in silver so far. I ordered the black from Japan Direct awhile ago, but looks like I'll have to wait another week or so... Anyway, about the 831. I've had the blue model for about a week, and in the meantime, I have noticed a number of limitations on the 831. Noticeably in live recording aspects... the manual record level adjust doesn't go as high as the R55 (a lot of times, I need the full input level on the R55 when using the line-in for my mics, using the mic-in is okay, but the line in sounds better when using a bettery box.). If you put a new disc in and hit record on the 831, you have to wait about 8 seconds while it reads the TOC before it actually starts recording. The Sony will start storing sound immediately even while the TOC is being read. And there is no time/date stamp, but I knew this before I bought it... also the 831 doesn't do smooth music loops (this has nothing to do with live recording, and is not important to 95% of people on this board I'm sure, but I'm in that 5% minority). Being able to adjust the level **during recording** is nice, and having a seperate button for SYNC is really convenient when you want to switch in and out of SYNC mode; But the fader control is the kicker. For me the fader is the only reason I would want an 831 in addition to my (soon to be) R90. As far as playback, the sound quality is good on the 831, but isn't much better than the R55, if at all. The bass is richer on the 831 from volumes 1-25, but above 25, the bass cuts off and I listen to my music loud much of the time... thus I actually prefer the sound of the Sony. Even from 1-25, the Sharp isn't really much better than the Sony. (I'm judging this using the MDR-E888's on both units. I have to say I think the Sharp default earbuds are better than the Sony E838's... but I never use them anyway.) Anyway, just my notes. --Brian Youn --The University of Texas at Austin Electrical and Computer Engineering, 4th year ----------------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
