Sony ICD-SX Operating Instructions Manual page 70

Symptom
Noise is heard.
Recording level is low.
Playback speed is too fast
or too slow.
"--:--" is displayed.
"--Y--M--D" or " --:--" is
displayed on the REC
DATE display.
There are fewer menu
items displayed in the
menu mode.
0
GB
Remedy
An object, such as your finger, etc., accidentally rubbed or

scratched the IC recorder during recording so that noise was
recorded.
The IC recorder was placed near an AC power source, a

fluorescent lamp or a mobile phone during recording or
playback.
Plug of the connected microphone was dirty when recording.

Clean the plug.
The  (headphones) plug is dirty. Clean the plug.

"MIC SENS" (microphone sensitivity) is set to " ".

Display the menu and set "MIC SENS" to " " (page 50).
If it is difficult to hear small sound of a recorded message, slide

the V-UP switch to "ON" (page 37).
Playback sound may become more audible.
The playback speed is adjusted in DPC. Slide the DPC switch to

"OFF" or display the menu and adjust the speed in DPC again
(pages 38, 51).
You have not set the clock (page 17).

The date of recording will not be displayed if you recorded the

message when the clock was not set.
The menu items displayed are different depending on the

operation modes (stop mode, playback mode, and recording
mode) (pages 48, 49).