Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Korg MR-1000 / 1bit-5.8MHz DSD portable recorder

5point1 · 25th November 2006

Hi from London (U.K.)

Korg's MR-1000 1-bit recorder is a fascinating concept, but one that is possibly just a little too late.
Call me a cynic if you wish, but way back in the early 1980's when music C.D.'s first hit the retailers shelves, many of you may vaguely recall Philips evangelical marketing boast, proudly claiming ”Perfect sound forever”. Well personally I'd insist on a partial refund, because 'forever' certainly proved to be short-lived !
But seriously, judging by the vast numbers of consumers who have readily adopted either Mp3 or similar compression formats for the convenience of cramming large portions of their collection of C.D.'s or downloads onto portable devices, my main question is.....how many of them are genuinely concerned by the recorded quality of the music that they listen to? Answers on a USB flash drive !
In addition, I'd dearly love to know what percentage of these consumers either a) already have or b) are seriously intent on spending serious amounts of money on a really good domestic 5.1 surround system, even assuming that they have sufficient space in which to install and set it up correctly in a home environment ?
I'm sure that the majority of modern professional recording studios are probably run by extremely talented engineers who care passionately about what they do. Their facilities are invariably equipped with incredible amounts of esoteric equipment and good acoustics in which to faithfully capture performances of music. Their prime objective is sound quality.
In my opinion, what has thus-far held back mass acceptance of SACD or DVDA in the recording industry is the sheer cost of the investment involved, with the exception of those with bottomless-pockets.
The uncomfortable reality of the situation is that the market is almost totally driven by the need of those giant manufacturing corporations to recoup the huge financial investments that they have made in researching, producing and promoting their product, whilst attempting to drive their immediate competitors out of business.
However, if C.D.'s and Mp3's are generally accepted as good enough by vast swathes of the population, what on earth is the point of the rest of us mere mortals sinking so much money into a format which is at best a minority interest. I believe that the success of SACD and DVD-A in Europe is fatally sealed, with Blu-ray and HD-DVD literally almost upon us. Somehow, I feel yet another Betamax vs VHS war looming, but bear in mind that although Betamax was technically superior to VHS, it didn't win out in the end !
If the MR-1000 were a multichannel device, it would undoubtedly hold more interest to a wider professional audience, but with a niggardly 20Gb hard drive on board, I can't quite see it reaching it's anticipated potential. I seriously wish it every success, but somehow I have my doubts.

25th November 2006	#40
5point1 Gear interested Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: LONDON Posts: 1	Korg MR-1000 Hi from London (U.K.) Korg's MR-1000 1-bit recorder is a fascinating concept, but one that is possibly just a little too late. Call me a cynic if you wish, but way back in the early 1980's when music C.D.'s first hit the retailers shelves, many of you may vaguely recall Philips evangelical marketing boast, proudly claiming ”Perfect sound forever”. Well personally I'd insist on a partial refund, because 'forever' certainly proved to be short-lived ! But seriously, judging by the vast numbers of consumers who have readily adopted either Mp3 or similar compression formats for the convenience of cramming large portions of their collection of C.D.'s or downloads onto portable devices, my main question is.....how many of them are genuinely concerned by the recorded quality of the music that they listen to? Answers on a USB flash drive ! In addition, I'd dearly love to know what percentage of these consumers either a) already have or b) are seriously intent on spending serious amounts of money on a really good domestic 5.1 surround system, even assuming that they have sufficient space in which to install and set it up correctly in a home environment ? I'm sure that the majority of modern professional recording studios are probably run by extremely talented engineers who care passionately about what they do. Their facilities are invariably equipped with incredible amounts of esoteric equipment and good acoustics in which to faithfully capture performances of music. Their prime objective is sound quality. In my opinion, what has thus-far held back mass acceptance of SACD or DVDA in the recording industry is the sheer cost of the investment involved, with the exception of those with bottomless-pockets. The uncomfortable reality of the situation is that the market is almost totally driven by the need of those giant manufacturing corporations to recoup the huge financial investments that they have made in researching, producing and promoting their product, whilst attempting to drive their immediate competitors out of business. However, if C.D.'s and Mp3's are generally accepted as good enough by vast swathes of the population, what on earth is the point of the rest of us mere mortals sinking so much money into a format which is at best a minority interest. I believe that the success of SACD and DVD-A in Europe is fatally sealed, with Blu-ray and HD-DVD literally almost upon us. Somehow, I feel yet another Betamax vs VHS war looming, but bear in mind that although Betamax was technically superior to VHS, it didn't win out in the end ! If the MR-1000 were a multichannel device, it would undoubtedly hold more interest to a wider professional audience, but with a niggardly 20Gb hard drive on board, I can't quite see it reaching it's anticipated potential. I seriously wish it every success, but somehow I have my doubts.