Legendary Portable Cassette Players Gallery - Page 4

Hi all! What a great thread! Years ago, I used to try and collect all the unusual Sony cassette Walkman's that came around. I even had the very first Walkman that I bought in early 1979, ($200.00, ouch!). Man did that thing blow people away in those days when I would put those headphones on their ears! "That sound is coming out of that tiny thing!" I used that thing daily and finally wore it out after about 5 years.

I've only managed to keep two models through the years, which I still have. I didn't see them listed in this thread and was wondering if anyone remembers them. First is the 10th Anniversary "Special Editon", the WM-701S. It is solid metal construction and actually STERLING SILVER plated! I believe there were only 50 of them made. It's as tiny as they ever came and superior sound and build quality. Came in a hard felt box, (embossed with "10th Anniversary Special Edition"), with remote headphones and silver suede leather bag to carry it in. Still looks and works like new though that silver needs polishing a lot!.

The other one is the Sony "Boodo Khan", Model DD-100. Complete solid black metal construction and direct disc drive, (no silly rubber bands driving the capstains to break). It was Sony's first attempt at a "audiophile's" Walkman and came with huge over-the- ears headphones. The headphones were a joke because of their size but they did deliver good base. It sounds much better though with today's quality headphones.

Sorry, I have no way of posting pictures at this time and will try and do so but I just wanted to add to this great, memory jogging thread! I have to say though that these Walkmans still sound better than a lot of PCDP's that I've tried!

Gene,

I've seen referenve to the Bodo Khan before...

The headphones were, iirc the Japanese equivilant to the MDR-V6

Seriously expensive, and seriously cool

All these players make my Panasonic RQ-S60 look pretty lame in comparison

Duncan,
You're probably right about the phones. The Boodo Khan advertised that they were made for bass and volume. They were great sounding for their time but were pretty cheaply made except for the cord which was about 1/4" of an inch thick! I wore the phones out, (they literally disintegrated after about 2 years). The Boodo Khan came out around 1985-86 and sold for an astounding $299.99! I couldn't afford one at the time but found a like new one advertised in the local paper later on for $150.00. I still have it and use it frequently, (as I have over 400 old albums saved on cassettes), and it's sound is still amazing! It's still in perfect condition cosmetically because it came with a nice leather case, (whatever happened to those?), which even has a quality clear vinyl window built in over the operating buttons which has protected it all these years.

hey krayzie, sorry about your head misalignment. my EX2 developed that syndrome as well after, ummm... prolly 2 or 3 years of faithful service. mow some tapes sound as great as when the unit was new, others just sound horrible.

well... think of it this way. at least you're prolly the only one on the forum that can brag about having all HG versions of Sony Walkmans! just keep this one until you find a better replacement on ebay. hmmm... is that good advice or bad?

how's about adding me to "team sony retro?" cheers.

hey gene, can you enlighten me about the boodo khan? can you post some pics?

cheers.

Hi,
I would love to see the picture of this mysterious "boodoo Khan" as well.


Krayzie,
Got the 484? How's it?

Just got a boodo khan for under $40 dollars! I'll talk more tomorrow!!

krayzie,
You stole my thunder! Your pics are way better than mine though. Look at that price in your pic! 38,000 Yen is $317.00! Here's a LOUSY scan of the BOODO KHAN and the silver plated WM-701S 10th Anniversary Special Edition Walkman. The WM-701S is just too dang shiny to capture on my antique flatbed scanner. By the way krazie, (and I'm sure it's off a Japanese site), where did you get these neat pics of the BOODO KHAN? Any info there on the WM-701S? I forget how much I paid for it but I'm sure it was a small fortune!

Andrew,
You scored and congratulations!

Gene or krazie,
would the WM-701C be similiar to the WM-701S? Also, what is the sound quality of all these hi-fi cassette players compared to the Boodo Khan? Are any of them better?

Krayzie,
You are a Walkman history book! I am impressed! I thought there were only 200 WM-701S's worldwide but you may right, (I AIN'T gonna argue with you!). You are also correct in that I remembered I bought it through J&R Music World in NYC. I went into hock to get one at the time! This might be the best sounding Walkman of all time though the BOODO KHAN is not too far behind. In the literature, it states that all the important contact points of this player are 24K gold plated to prevent corrosion! It has very crisp highs and nice bass. You are correct in that it came with upscale, remote folding headphones.

The BOODO KHAN is also a fantastic sounding machine! krayzie, to me, it actually has MORE bass than the "Mega Bass"! This is the one I still use regularly. Like I said earlier I wore out the original BOODO KHAN headphones. They really were cheaply made and the only thing I can say about them is that they had decent base and a quality cord. The rest was POS plastic. I'm using it now with an old pair of Sony MDR-W10's and the bass is better than with the old stock BOODO KHAN's and the high's are MUCH better!

As I stated earlier, both the WM-701S and the BOODO KHAN will rival just about any PCDP there is as far as sound quality as long as premium cassettes are used. I would imagine that with modern phones with maybe an amplifier, these two would be lacking NOTHING as far as sound quality goes!

Krayzie, since you are so knowledgeable, what portable, (not full size), modern phones would you recommend that might bring out even more in these? I have a pair of the Koss Portapro's and the stock phones that came with the WM-701 and the MDR-W10's sound much better.

One last thing. I may have to sell the WM-701S because I just can't bring myself to use it much. The thought of dropping it makes me crazy!