This guy is a beast, and I’m not going to give it the full review treatment for one simple reason; it’s temperamental, to say the least. I picked it up for around 10 euros as a spares/repair unit “for hobbyists” (i.e. broken), took it apart, cleaned it and recalibrated it, but with these old Sharp units, there’s no chance on relying on it for your music fix. You can use it around the house for fun, sure, but don’t leave the house with just this in 2020 and expect it to work flawlessly.
There are two brilliant features of this unit.
its sound
it uses 2 x AA batteries
The sound really is great. Headphones and earphones in 2020 are so much more sensitive than back in 1996 it isn’t even fair to compare. The earphones that will have shipped with this unit will have been a total joke. Think iPod buds, but worse. The amp and DAC here have enough beef to power sensitive headphones, without distortion or any drop in fidelity. The bass boost is superb. It is a great unit and with some good headphones, it’s a fun way to play music.
The 2 x AA batteries should not be overlooked. MD players in an attempt to become more pocketable, used “gumstick” batteries (more on that another time), which are fun, but AA technology has now pushed the envelope such that huge rechargeable capacities are now commonplace. Further, you can be in a rainforest village, and i bet you can get some AA batteries.
I remember this device being on sale originally, at a pretty penny. It’s not the Sharp unit I remember like nothing else, that is the Sharp MD-MS722. I remember seeing it in the Argos catalogue, vividly. I wanted a recorder, because it was so cool. Being able to actually record discs on that little thing! Like a portable tape recorder, only with better sound, ability to move, edit, delete, combine, and name tracks! Amazing. A better version of a CD.
In the end, I bought a Sony E62 portable player (took a single AA battery and lasted ages), and got “into audio” with hifi separates. Technics amp, long gone (gave it to a former work colleague), MD deck (MDS-JE330) also long gone, given to a former colleague, and a Sony CD deck of which the model number I cannot remember, possibly CDP-3 series, I imagine. I had possibly about 20 MDs, but those were given away before I moved to Japan. Nothing special. My CD collection was trimmed down to “the essentials” to minimise space.
I burned almost all of my music to MP3 in about 2004, when I bought my first iPod. More on the iPod and more on the MD story, too, for that matter.