Best On The Market? (Sony MDS JE530)

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Product:	Sony MDS JE530
Date:	16/09/00 (693 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Extremly Versitle

Disadvantages: Let down by casing and accessories

Having used my '530 for a few months now (and using some other decks) I have come to the conclusion that this must rank as one of (if not) the best MD on the market. Certainly of the several I've tried [the replacement model for this is a "640", which is more or less the same with one important new feature which is a stroke of genius - a "PS2" connector on the front, which enables one's PC keyboard to be plugged into the front to make titling even easier].

The machine is extremely versitile; having both coaxial and optical digital conections (many other machines have only one or the other) making it more universal for adding to any decent system of seperates, although it would have benefited of a coaxial output as well. It can even be connected to a DVD player if one wanted to copy CD's, for instance - perhaps use the DVD's audio amplifier saving having to by a seperate amplifier. Just a thought, though.

Anyone with seperates will have ended up with a multitude of remote control units. The remote with this piece of kit will do all the functions of a Sony CD player (the '220 in my case and I suspect the higher spec models, so you can put at lest one of your remotes away!)

Basic functions aside, there are some extremely useful features on board the '530, such as the pitch control, so when one is backing up your old stretched concert bootleg tapes that one bought from a record fair, if need be you can re-record them to a more bearable speed. Or you can use it to slow down a guitar riff so that you can learn to play it, then mark the piece and play the marked section of track over and over to get the piece right.

Audio reproduction cannot be faulted, however, manufactureurs should be including better quality interconnects with the decks as opposed to those flimsy and naff ones that are shoved in the box to make the system "operational". Also, a nice touch would be to incl
ude a couple of blank discs in the box. These would not cost too much to include, pennies in their case

What lets the unit down is the casing - the poor fitting, wrap 'round tin plate has gaps between the facia and the casing, which is very poor. Although not a top of the range machine, Sony could have at least machined the parts correctly.

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