Heading for the 940 I dared to sell my 920 some weeks ago for a considerable amount of money (about 80% of what I paid nearly two years ago). Unfortunately Sony increased prices in Germany between 25-30% !!! Thanks to the weak Euro... So the 940 did cost a few bucks...

Things to whine about: It lacks the "Rec-It"-Feature in conjunction with Control-A1-equipped CD-players. No idea why they dropped it - perhaps to give their CD-MD-combos a chance. And: Even though it is equipped with pitch control, there is no way to increase speed - no more "Mickey-Mousing". I wonder what's the use in this feature, which is described as possibility to adjust playback to your instrument... What I miss very much: The resume mode of the MDS-JA50 and it's facility to switch the display off...

Complained enough! The looks: Slight changes in the layout: AMS-knob has moved below the rec-level-knob switches for input and rec-mode have been replaced by two buttons, that have forced the rewind/forward-buttons to move under the play, pause, stop buttons. All push buttons for advanced functions (filter, s.f. edit, display etc.) are a bit smaller and look less professional than before. Disc loading mechanism features a new cover which moves inwards when inserting a disc, and outwards when ejecting it. Total and track time are now displayed without "m" and "s" behind the digits...

Most important introduced feature with the 940/640-units is the Scale Factor Edit-facility. It allows you to adjust the level of whole track in steps of 2dB or fade in/out a track within 1 to 20sec. Scale Factor Editing takes some time: Fading in/out will take you about the time you've chosen for the fade. That's o.k. and works fine. But adjusting the whole track's level will take about the playtime of the track. Imagine a whole MD recorded at a low level and bringing it up will take you up to 80 minutes... MDLP-modes are a tribute to MP3 and CD-R. Especially the LP4-mode with joint-stereo compression and a maximum record/play time of 320 minutes should not be taken to serious in terms of sound quality... As those recordings aren't compatible with you're old equipment and SF Edit won't work with those tracks I don't like this feature very much. As my 920 isn't there anymore for A-B-comparison, I entrust the guys at the HiFi-magazines with evaluating the sound...

Test-Mode is accessible (push AMS-knob while plugging in), Service-Mode with those odometers (AMS+stop), too. TOC-cloning should be possible. Quick-access-by-time-trick works, too: while playing a track push the AMS-button for deviding the track, push forward/rewind button until minutes or seconds are flashing in the display, then turn AMS-button for the time you want to access and cancel with the menu-button: There you are at e.g. 3:43 and the TOC isn't touched...

Conclusion: New, useful features (SF Edit) paired with less useful ones (MDLP), reduced by some features I got used to (increase speed, Rec-It): The MDS-JB 940 causes me some doubts if I bought the best replacement for my 920. But it would have been hard for any other MD-deck to cope with the 940, if it had EVERYTHING. Who would buy an MDS-JA 555 (sound, pitch), MXD-D3 (rec-it)? Facts: Listprice: DM 999,- Streetprice DM850,- Connectors: 2xControl A1-II; analog out/in, 2x optical digital in, 1x RCA digital in, 1x optical out, 1x RCA digital out, PS/2 keyboard connector I just sold my JE520 last December to get my hands into this unit, but I have to wait 3 months till somebody brought one from Miami. They're hard to get everywhere these days; maybe because they're selling CD player-MD recorder combos like the MDX3 (?). I also had a JB 920 and I have to tell that unit is GREAT! It doesn't have the PC keyboard connector, but now that I have one with that feature, I see it's not very useful...I have a Pioneer Cd recorder with the same connector, but you can control EVERY function the machine is able to perform with the keyboard... I kind of had the same expectations with the Sony 940, but the KB is not able to do that. I just wanted to get rid of the remote control for once in a lifetime: I hate remotes like this! (No backlit keys, small letters, etc.)

About the missing "rec-it" I never used it at all in my older units. This unit has Control A1II connector, but it is not compatible with my Pioneer CD burner, or my Pioneer DVD player or my Sony 550 DVD player: they all have the same kind of connector, but all of them only work with gear of the same brand (Sony with Sony, pioneer with Pioneer only, etc). So, what's the use of that S*t?

Pitch adjustment? What do I need that for?

The distribution of controls is different from the 920. I don't really care about that since I never use the buttons on the unit. I always use the remote (or the keyboard when it's possible) to edit.

Something I like is that it has only one knob to control recording level: digital or analog. It's the same knob for both, and now you can select the "source" with the touch of a button and don't have to go to the unit's front panel to move a switch. You can do it from the remote now... hurrah!

Some buttons are smaller than before in the 920. I don't like that 'cuz I don't see very well. I wear glasses. Again, I never use the front panel, but for US$500 I have the right to complain... I like the surrounding illuminated led in the filter and Scale Factor Edit buttons on the faceplate: they let me know what adjustments are working and what the machine is doing. I like the green and red led. They're cool to me.

The Display is almost the same of the 520-920. No difference to me... they should have made it bigger, but it's ok.

Scale Factor Edit-. It allows you to adjust the volume level of a track in steps of 2dB. Fade in/out a track within 1 to 20sec. I think Scale Factor Editing it's a great feature, but it takes as much time as recording the track again. Fading in/out will take you the same time you've chosen for the fade, and sometimes a little more. That's normal and it doesn't bother me. I like this feature cuz I use this unit to record from SKY digital broadcast. It allows me to edit easily the endings of the songs.

MDLP. Mmmmm.... I don't like MDLP so much since it compresses the music so much, it begins to feel like MP3... low quality. I don't have a portable MDLP unit: I have an MZR37 I just bought about six months ago, and I don't have plans to get rid of it. So I won't be using MDLP recording capabilities of the 940 for quite a while...until I get a MZR900. The thing is, I hate MP3 and I don't want my favourite music to sound like that, even though there's people who says that "you can't tell the difference between the original and MP3 file... well... maybe I got cat's ears, but I can tell the difference!

I'm not sure if tic cloning is possible with this unit (I haven't tried yet... I got this unit two days ago) but test mode is the same of 520 - 920.

About the sound filters... is that a joke? They won't work with the digital outs, only analog, and those filters don't make a very big improvement in quality if that's what you're expecting.

Facts and ratings:

If anyone wants to talk about this (and other Sony MD units), CD recording, DVD recording, write to me now! jediknight@tutopia.com May the force be with you... always!