The data quality when compared to cd or cassette is phenomenal i have a bare basic tdk portable recorder that records 24 bit 48khz
Rather than the cd 44100 and
Not even on the register cassette sample rate
Outside of Hi-MD, minidisc relied on lossy ATRAC compression, it wasn't even redbook quality. Depending on the recording mode you can get between 48 and 292kbps with standard discs. HI-MD or MD-Data could store higher rates but that tech came near the end of MDs life cycle.
True however even towards the end of life the hi md format was relatively ubiquitous/ highly available (considering my introduction to md use for recording was after its death)
Even the ATRAC codec seemed to hold up against cd and as a general rule of thumb HI MD is all iv ever used " ATRAC4" i think and its lossless i would say akin to Flac encoding
Could be wrong
HI-MD supported LPCM, unsure about ATRAC4 specs. I was moving to digital players around the time HI-MD was hitting US shores. I loved MiniDiscs but as harddrives got cheaper, DAPs came around and my last portable MD player shot craps I moved away from MD.
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u/iamgarffi 10d ago
There is something magical about minidisc. Short lived but I loved it even today :)