Victor XM-PX50
by Theo (Anemone)
I have focused my collection on the underdogs of MiniDisc history, as their approaches to competing with Sony yielded interesting features and designs. Sure, the inventor of the format will always hold an objective advantage in some areas that I consider important, but for everything else, the other players on the market often proved superior. Today I am taking a look at a product from a brand that, as far as portables go, opted to target the lower end of the spectrum, offering only the most important features and a design that appealed to teens and young adults. This is the Victor XM-PX50.
Design and build
The PX50 is a “jacket-sized” affair – same width and height as a MiniDisc, and same thickness as about 3 (or 2 in their cases). It comes in 3 colors (orange, blue and white) attributed to the translucent plastic shell. This is by far the most eye-catching feature of the unit, allowing the user a limited look into the internal workings of the player, as well as giving it a whole heap of style and whimsy. The earbuds included with the player were supposedly made from the same material; I sadly did not get them with mine.
The disc door, curiously resembling a jerry can, has a glittery plastic center surrounded by an aluminum plate that gives the player a bit of welcome weight. On the sides one can find the open slider, charging contacts, battery door and combined remote/headphone jack.
On the back there are some controls and white markings, with an ominous “Portable MD” engraving in the center. I can’t help but wonder why Victor chose to cover the PCB up with a white sheet of cardboard; seeing the intricate electronics through the back would’ve been a lot cooler. I assume it has to do with the relatively young target market, who might have found it a bit daunting.
Either way, this player won me over from the start based on appearance alone, and I’m sure that is exactly what the designers intended.
Sound
The PX50 offers just the essentials when it comes to sound settings. There’s the Train mode, which reduces mid and high frequencies so that sound will leak less out of the earbuds. (Why “Train” mode? Because the idea is that you won’t bother people around you on a crowded train – a thoroughly Japanese perspective for sure). There’s also a Manual mode which, according to the user guide, offers just two customizable EQ bands: one for bass and one for treble.
A.C.BASS deserves a special mention here. Offered as the first sound mode, it adds incredible thump and low-end presence to the audio, beyond the initial expectations set by the headphone output. It is also quite tightly coupled to the volume level, an approach used by other manufacturers as well to ensure that the resulting sound won’t distort.
The sound quality is in general satisfying, both in SP as well as LP2. It won’t sound better than other units and it definitely won’t sound worse. The built-in amplifier isn’t particularly powerful, so if you enjoy big headphones or quiet music (or both) you might find the maximum volume insufficient. A remnant of the budget build of the device creeps out whenever playback is stopped – a faint electrical whine can be heard on the left channel, on my unit at least, seemingly connected to the motor operation.
Controls
The back of the PX50 provides a few basic transport controls in a traditional Victor layout, where the track seek buttons are combined with the volume control, these functions being toggled by the Hold switch. The buttons are a bit small and not very tactile.
The remote control steals the show here. It is a minuscule pill-shaped affair, of a similar styling to the shell of the player, sporting a near-thumbnail-sized rectangular display with a green backlight. On either side of the LCD, you get (separate) transport and volume controls made of mushy yet tolerable rubber, while the top and bottom edges hold (heh) the Hold switch, and clicky plastic buttons for the sound, display and playback modes. These demonstrate an unfortunate compromise of functionality in favor of looks, as their labels are almost unreadable, at least on the blue color remote. A headphone jack and the sturdy clip on the back round out the hardware features.
The LCD shows the current playback state, sound/playback settings, LP mode, track number, and either the elapsed time or the track or disc title. Groups are not supported, so if you use them, the disc title display will mash them together. The screen will also show useful messages, as well as the state of the two other settings exposed by the PX50 – whether the button beep is enabled, and the LCD contrast value. These can only be changed using the remote.
Overall, although basic playback can be controlled adequately from the unit, the remote control adds some useful features while being a beautiful exercise in miniaturization and Y2K styling.
Usage
You can immediately tell that the PX50 is a budget affair when in use. There’s no forceful spring-loaded eject here, you’re expected to pull the lid open yourself. The transport is relatively slow to read discs, and fast-forward/rewind isn’t going to win any speed awards either. A seemingly trademark Victor quirk makes an appearance here as well: the resume function does not remember the position inside a track where the player was stopped, just the track number. Outside of these traits, there are no major impediments to MD enjoyment. The PX50 succeeds at the basic task it was made to perform, just as well as most other units.
Battery life sits squarely in the acceptable zone, at 21 hours for SP discs and up to 26 hours in the LP modes (It was still early days for MDLP back when the PX50 was launched, hence the almost imperceptible differences in power usage). This player is powered by ordinary Ni-MH gumsticks, and only those – no sidecar available here. The original package also contains a matching dock, with a red light at the front to indicate charging – supposedly the first time such an indicator was used. You cannot use the unit on the dock without a gumstick inserted, and it won’t charge during playback. Notably, for the international (JVC) version of this unit, the dock was replaced with a boring external gumstick charger.
Overall
The Victor XM-PX50 was made for a market that valued looks and price a bit more than functionality, which it doesn’t sacrifice entirely however. It is reliable without feeling particularly solid or hefty, and it checks most of the boxes without adding unnecessary fluff. A great recipe for something to show off if you’re into retro aesthetics, and to also replace more valuable units for daily driving. For me personally, it’s the former more than the latter.