Philips AZ 6825 Vintage PCDP Review

[insomniac]

In light of Duncan’s recent (or maybe not so recent?) announcement that he’s retiring from the vintage PCDP hobby, I thought it a good time to start my own reviews and sort of help carry on the torch, hopefully along with others. Now I can’t hope to come anywhere close to the quality of Duncan’s outstanding reviews, especially on the judgment of sound quality. I’m still a relative newbie to this audiophile business and my ears just aren’t trained enough to discern the differences and appreciate the subtleties that Duncan so eloquently expressed. My reviews will be more geared toward a collector’s perspective as many of these players have become quite sought after. Well at least until my ears get up to speed.

So this is the first of what will be a LONG series of vintage PCDP reviews. At some point I plan to aggregate them into one post as Duncan has. However, until then, I hope these reviews will be useful as a reference for some. The usual disclaimers of course apply. All of my comments are purely subjective and the opinions of a self-admitted newbie in audiophilia. Also, please be patient with my subsequent revisions.

Many thanks to Head-fi’er ipodstudio for hosting the pics.

Equipment used: (I’m going to of course try to use this same setup for each of my reviews, but given my proclivity for gear musical chairs, there are no guarantees)

Headphone out:
Sony MDR-V6
Audio Technica ATH-A900

Line out:
Headphile Standard Copper mini to RCA
Headroom Cosmic (reference) plus Base Station One
Sennheiser HD580 w/ Oehlbach replacement cable

Primary Music:
Norah Jones, Come Away With Me
Sarah McLachlan, Mirrorball
Josh Groban, Josh Groban
Gil Shaham, Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

Reference Player:
Sony D-303 Discman


Philips AZ 6825

Quoted features:
Outdoor Anti Shock Mechanism
Bitstream conversion
Dynamic Bass Boost

Power:
AC Adapter: 6V center positive 400mA
Internal Battery: Rechargeable battery SBC 6411or 4 AA batteries via tray (which swaps out with the rechargeable)
External Battery: None
Battery life with rechargeables: unknown
Battery life with 4 AA batteries: unknown

Remote:
Stick Remote SBC 6225- volume dial, stop, play/shuffle, next, prev, hold switch, mini-jack

Chassis:
Light gray plastic
Spring-loaded, overhead clamp, push-close

LCD:
Track, time, battery bar, mode
No backlight

Buttons and Switches:
Open, Prev, Next, Mode (Shuffle, Repeat, Shuffle Repeat), stop, play/pause, resume on/off/hold, dbb, volume

Line Out: mini-jack

Bass boost: two stage DBB

Dimensions: 1.25 x 5.35 x 6.2 (inches)

Headphone out power: unknown
Line level power: unknown

I came across this rather rare (at least in the U.S.) Philips model in a European eBay auction. Unfortunately, I do not know the vintage of this player. Nowhere on the unit, manual or original box does it mention a date of any kind. If I had to guess, I'd place it around 1992.

The unit is made entirely of a light gray colored plastic. However the plastic is different than the cheap plastic found on a lot of PCDPs, including many of the older Philips models. It seems rougher in texture, slightly heavier, more rigid and generally of higher quality. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it were confused as metal upon brief examination. A more common-type plastic piece adorns the edge of the lid with the Philips logo emblazoned on it. The gray color is also quite a departure from the jet black most older Philips players. This gives it a distinctive and pleasant appearance.

This player is on the bulky side, especially by today's standards, but not eggregiously so. It's almost exactly the same size as 3 CD jewel cases stacked on top of each other. It's got a nice heft to it, especially considering the plastic chassis.

The unit accepts either a brick style proprietary rechargeable battery or four AA alkalines. To use alkalines, you must place them in a nifty tray that takes the place of the rechargeable battery. This tray system is quite common on older Philips players.

The front features a non-backlit LCD that displays only rudimentary information. It does have track time and a battery bar which a good portion of older Philips players does not have. The lid is the standard push-close, spring-loaded mechanism. There is a hold switch (always useful) and two-level DBB switch (Philips’ bass boost). Some of the more unique design decisions include the headphone jack being on the left side, as opposed to the right side on most players (the line out is on the back next to the dc jack). Also the volume dial is stiff and recessed quite a bit. This helps quite a bit in preventing accidental volume adjustments, which is a good thing since this player can get pretty loud.

One thing I really appreciate on this player is the way CD’s sit into the player. It does not have the snap-in spindle of the newer players but rather the older overhead clamp style where the CD just rests on the spindle. For some reason though, the CD feels much more secure and stable here than it does on similar designs found on Sony PCDPs.

This player features what’s called Outdoor Anti Shock Mechanism. It’s non-defeatable. Now before you get your panties in a bunch, you should know that it seems quite different than how skip protection generally works these days (or at least my limited understanding of it). It’s not some sort of digital memory buffer but rather a physical shock absorption mechanism. This was lifted from the manual:

This set is specially designed as an in-car portable CD player provided with special components for absorption and damping shocks, vibrations and resonances.

• The suspension is geometrically balanced to prevent shocks from being translated into rotational movements.
• Three precision springs supply shock absorption and are coupled to the mechanism by smoothly-contacting silicon rings.
• Proper damping of short-term shocks and long-term resonances is achieved through three oil-filled dampers.

Sound Quality

The words that come to mind when describing this player out of the headphone jack are engaging and musical. While maybe not as neutral or quite as detailed as some of Sony’s vintage players, the sound is very fun. The sound leans toward forward and bright. This is really evident with V6’s where there is a bit more sibilance than usual. But the Philips sound has a way of being punchy and forward yet smooth and dynamic. Anything but polite and laid back.

I’ve consistently found the bass on vintage Philips models to be superior to any other manufacturer’s. Coming from a portable player, the bass is surprisingly deep and impactful. The bass slam is very impressive. Add to that the two-level Dynamic Bass Boost, or DBB. Now most people regard bass boost on PCDP’s as useless and I mostly agree with them, however I find Philips’ DBB to be pretty serviceable. The bass gets muddier obviously but not as much as you might think. The bass is absolutely huge at the first level and gets ridiculous at the second level. Yet I find it listenable and even enjoyable at times. In fact, I found the first level DBB to be addictive with certain kinds of music.

The headphone out gets fairly loud. Destroys any current PCDP in volume and is a noticeable bit louder than even the D-303. The stiff, recessed volume dial is kind of useful here in that you don’t want to accidentally knock the volume up too high. Also, the stiffness of the dial helps getting to the desired volume level.

The sound out of the line out is very good but not particularly distinctive. Nothing especially notable. The sound is less forward and punchy, relatively speaking. The bass is also relatively tamer. The sound is much closer to a lot of Sony’s players. More neutral and detailed. I had a harder time distinguishing actually. If anything, I’d say it was a little bit warmer and smoother than the D-303 and thus less edgy on certain recordings. The signal is fairly loud. Louder than most but a few shades softer than the D-303.

Conclusion

All in all, I find this rare player to be a hidden gem of sorts. A very well-rounded and practical player. The headphone out sound is very musical and enjoyable. The bass is incredible for a portable player. The build quality is excellent for an all-plastic unit. There’s this feeling of ruggedness and reliability to the player that even some all-metal units can’t match. And if I’m correct about the anti-skip mechanism (albeit limited by today’s standards) not affecting sound quality, it’s even more practical for day to day use. It definitely does not skip when you just touch it, like a lot of older players are prone to do. The laser also quickly read any disc I threw at it. Despite the seemingly effusive praise, as a collector, I still prefer the D-303 overall, for various reasons. But I like the headphone-out out of this unit better and it can probably be found much cheaper than a working D-303. If you can find it, that is. If you’re lucky enough to come across this player, I’m sure you can grab it for cheap. Though it’s rare, not too many people know about it and/or are looking for it. It’s definitely worth trying out. I’m now regretting having committed this player to a sale already.