It actually is very enjoyable, in recording I feed it with a 16bit 44100 pcm through optical in and its internal dsp converts into atrac1v4, which is a compressed format but very pleasant, it has a ratio of 1:5 so it is a good compromise between quality and portability, way much better than mp3 imho. Atrac became a mature format with v4 and with v4.5 and Type-R was further enhanced. I won’t recommend earlier versions though. Dyn range is also very good with 105dB. MiniDisc really is a fascinating format for me and I find it super cool from an aesthetic point of view as well. =)