Sony MZ-R55 Personal MiniDisc Player

Most relevant reviews

• 4 out of 5 stars

  by 7s3mp0d228 Jun, 2016Verified purchase: Yes

  Most favourable review

  Sony MZ R55 Classic Early Personal Mini Disc Recorded

  The Sony MZ R55 was pr...obably a good seller in its day. I bought one nearly 20 years ago and it was excellent until dropped a foot or two onto the end which holds the internal gumstick battery. Since then it has only worked with the additional AA battery bow attached. This latest MZ R55 acquisition has a similar internal battery problem but the overall condition and SOUND quality are excellent on AA batteries and it still plays as a portable in a jacket pocket. You can listen via earphones, in ear and on ear types OR run a mini stereo plug lead out to a portable amp or to the car players jack socket or to a Hi Fi amp etc. The sound quality is sufficient to see-off cassette players and MP3 players. There are plenty of other Sony and competitors portable mini disc players but the R55 is perhaps my favourite pre-Hi MD machine.

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  Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned

• 3 out of 5 stars

  by 5833ashley10 May, 2016Verified purchase: Yes

  Most critical review

  good features but mediocre build quality

  It's as though Sony dropped the qua...lity from the previous model for this model. The silver finish on the buttons wears off eventually and the top casing feels slightly flimsy. On the plus side, it is the last model with a separate line out.

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  Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned

• 5 out of 5 stars

  by timbo345-77digital08 Aug, 2011

  Probably the best portable MD Recorder Sony ever made!

  A brilliant little MD... Recorder/Player. IMHO probably the best portable MD recorder Sony made, although its a close call with the R50. Compact, sturdy metal construction, logical front panel button placement and it still has a separate Line Out. Excellent audio quality and long battery life add to the appeal of this classic MD Recorder. Later MD Recorders went downhill in the ongoing effort to reduce cost and were often rushed out to market resulting in flawed units. Not so with the R50 and R55 which Sony built in 1998 and incorporated lessons learnt from the preceding R3, R30 and R35 units. Only downside I can think of is the plastic battery cover is not very sturdy and can often get loose or break off with repeated use. You really can't go wrong if you can find a good quality example of this classic.

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• 2 out of 5 stars

  by noftjerr07 May, 2011

  It's a good recorder, but...

  The Sony MZ-R55 MiniDisc Walkman is an older mo...del. This particular item makes my third MZ-R55. I bought it for parts. Albiet a good model, good batteries are near impossible to find now. I've bought NH-14WM-compatable batteries from three different websites lately, and have yet to find consistently good, rechargeable batteries. Sony evidently still has a few NH-14WM batteries, but they're now charging $50 plus for each one. Wonderful sales strategy: Stick it to those that stuck with them. So I suggest if you're wanting on-the-go MiniDisc music/ audio, buy a much later model that uses the LIP-4WM batteries,or a model that uses AA batteries. MiniDisc is still the best audio recording/storage format, even though it's been discontinued by all manufacturers. It certainly is heads above the mp3 format when played back through decent audio equipment. mp3... Not so much.

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• 5 out of 5 stars

  by commoditee05 Apr, 2018Verified purchase: Yes

  Just what I wanted

  I'm a retrohead so getting this minidisc player is someth...ing that has been on the cards for a while. The sound is really decent and just how I remembered it from back in the day. The feel of the unit is nice. It is easy to use and the long cable with the adjustments on the cable is really useful. I use Vmoda headphones with the unit and love the fact that it is 74 minutes of fun. I use it with rechargeable batteries and they last for ages. It has a 90s sound and feel to it and I love it. This particular champagne colour model is set to go up in price due to it being featured on current platforms incl. a sci-fi film.

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  Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned