Question regarding Kenwood HDD based DAPs (HD30GB9, HD60GD9, HD20GA7, etc.) - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowfox42 

Unfortunately I have Windows 7 64bit, but I wonder if it would work with XP Mode (a feature exclusive to Windows 7 Pro and Ultimate).

Always worth trying XP mode. Otherwise you could do as you said and create a partition for XP. The Kenwoods are definitively worth it!

A good thing about older DAP:s is that the batteries can be replaced without (much) soldering. I wrote about replacement batteries in a thread in May. Replacement batteries for Cowon X5/M3 and for iPod 3G might work. When it comes to the iPod battery the polarity might be reversed compared to the Kenwood and Cowon batteries. The red wire should be plus/positive and the black minus/negative. In case you need to find a replacement battery it might be good to know which models work.

Thanx for great answers Danneq!!!!

I found so much info on my favourite DAP :-)

In fact, HD20GA7 is my favorite device. I use it for alway 4 years. That's strange for me, 'cause before Ken no other DAP lasted more than 6 months (I sold them).

Plz, if you like experiments & have CF card - can you try CF mod (i'd I get it right - you can put this card even without adapter - the same 50 pin interface!!!).

Thanx!!!

In fact, KMA is not so annoying. I never haven't any troubles with it. All my mp3s work fine. If you can live with Itunes - it's not big evil!

Player is great & has great EQ - even after bass bost it sounds very natural & gorgeous. Especially compairing to Cowon, Apple, Creative!

P.S. Long toime ago i bought my new Kenwood for 170$. The best audio thing ( Ety 4p also) i bought for that money 

Quote:

Originally Posted by silentmeloud 

Thanx for great answers Danneq!!!!

I found so much info on my favourite DAP :-)

In fact, HD20GA7 is my favorite device. I use it for alway 4 years. That's strange for me, 'cause before Ken no other DAP lasted more than 6 months (I sold them).

Plz, if you like experiments & have CF card - can you try CF mod (i'd I get it right - you can put this card even without adapter - the same 50 pin interface!!!).

Thanx!!!

Glad to be able to help. It feels good to know that my Japanese language studies have been useful. It is easier to find info about the Kenwood players on Japanese home pages...

Well, I do not feel the need to do a CF-mod on my Kenwood. It seems that it is more difficult than on, for example, old Creative MP3 players. According to Japanese web pages about the Kenwood HDD players, apparently this adapter works well (PhotoFast C-1000IDE):

Finding a CF card that works well might be difficult. On my Creative Zen Touch and Zen Vision:M, I just needed to buy a cheap CF-card adapter off Ebay and then put a Kingston CF card in it and install firmware and it worked perfect. It is not so easy with Kenwood's HDD players and this is why I prefer to stick to HDD...

The Kenwood is indeed great sounding. To my ears it is only beaten by my JVC XA HD 500 (another rare Japanese MP3 player). The bass on the JVC is a bit less muddy than the Kenwood. Not that the Kenwood has got really muddy bass, but compared to the JVC it seems like it. Japanese companies really made great MP3 players a few years ago!

There is a JVC XA HD 500 for sale here on Head fi. Very rare and difficult to find outside of Japan. I definitively recommend it if you have some spare money. The only negative thing about the JVC is that the HDD (microdrive) is only 6GB. For someone like me, who has got many DAP:s, that is no problem...

The JVC XA HD-500:

HI! I know about JVC, but Kenwood's SQ is better to me (INHO, of course). At least with my Ety er4p.

Well, I thought about CF modding my players just because of bad sectors on HDD. New drives are hard to find now & they are not so reliable as CF or SDD when use them hard 

You can find pretty cheap 20GB and 30GB HDD:s on Ebay. Of course the used ones might have bad sectors, but it can be a good deal anyway. CF mods on Kenwood HDD:s seem complicated since the player seems to be sensitive to the CF card. Only CF cards that truly can act as harddrives can be used. Not like the old Creative HDD players that will accept anything.

It seems like the SanDisk Ultra II and/or Extreme  (Pro) might be detected as a hard drive in the Kenwood. Ordinary CF cards usually are not.

Have you used scandisk and defrag on your Kenwood? That might be able to fix the bad sectors on the HDD, at least temporarily...

Yeah, sound of DAP:s is a bit subjective, and synergy between DAP:s and headphones are different. Some of my headphones work great with my Kenwood and some work better with other DAP:s. Even if I slightly prefer the JVC to the Kenwood, the overall difference I perceive is very small. Overall, I feel that the headphones make a bigger difference, which is why I enjoy my older Creative players and my Sansa as much as my Kenwood and JVC. With my big music library, I should perhaps get an iPod Classic, but I am not a big fan of Apple and also I want a custom EQ. Also it is nice with some variation...

Well, I decided to buy one hdd for back up. Now even with bad sectors player works well so there is no real need to experiment with that.

I also have Ipod Video for Flac, bit this two players are in the different league. I know that Kenwood isn't the best & it can't drive some phones well (even ES7 lack space & with with Kenwood, IMHO), for some models it can be too warm, but in my case - it's great synegry!

Just to make things clear.

1) Both 20 and 30GB kenwoods are using Toshiba 50-pin IDE interface (the highest capacity for such hdds is 40GB per platter, and 40GB one is hard to find); 60GB kenwood is using ZIF IDE interface (the highest capacity for such HDDs is 160GB per platter). Only 5mm thin drive will fit in any of these kenwoods; 8mm thick drive won't fit.

2) Of course, because of 1), no SATA drive will work in kenwood. It is both hardware and logically incompatible.

3) Photofast CR-1000IDE won't work in 60GB kenwood because of hardware incompatibility (unless you'll add Toshiba->ZIF adapter to it). Don't know much of 30GB kenwood; but 20GB kenwood successfully booted up from CR-1000IDE plus Silicon Power 200x 32GB; however, when trying to play any song, kenwood thinks for some seconds and then says "UNSUPPORTED DATA FORMAT". I was unable to find the root of the problem and to fix it.

4) Some ZIF hdds are somewhat "locked" by manufacturer so that they could be used only in ipod classic and zune. The most infamous example of such an HDD is single-platter thin 5mm ZIF 120GB Toshiba MK1234GAL. Although it is hardware compatible with usb enclosures, some netbooks, many players etc, only ipod classic and zune will see it. They say that toshiba put some firmware encryption on MK1234GAL.

5) There is no HDD capacity restriction on Kenwood HD60GD9 firmware (as opposed to e.g. early versions of Rockbox). I was able to replace HDD of my HD60GD9 with Toshiba MK2431GAH (dual-platter thick 8mm ZIF 240GB), and everything worked fine, including music playback; it could make use of full 240GB. The only problem was that dual-platter HDDs are to thick to fit inside the HD60GD9 - the case won't close with thick HDD inside, clearly not for portable use.

Thanks for the info.

Quote:

Originally Posted by penartur 

Just to make things clear.

1) Both 20 and 30GB kenwoods are using Toshiba 50-pin IDE interface (the highest capacity for such hdds is 40GB per platter, and 40GB one is hard to find); 60GB kenwood is using ZIF IDE interface (the highest capacity for such HDDs is 160GB per platter). Only 5mm thin drive will fit in any of these kenwoods; 8mm thick drive won't fit.

2) Of course, because of 1), no SATA drive will work in kenwood. It is both hardware and logically incompatible.

3) Photofast CR-1000IDE won't work in 60GB kenwood because of hardware incompatibility (unless you'll add Toshiba->ZIF adapter to it). Don't know much of 30GB kenwood; but 20GB kenwood successfully booted up from CR-1000IDE plus Silicon Power 200x 32GB; however, when trying to play any song, kenwood thinks for some seconds and then says "UNSUPPORTED DATA FORMAT". I was unable to find the root of the problem and to fix it.

4) Some ZIF hdds are somewhat "locked" by manufacturer so that they could be used only in ipod classic and zune. The most infamous example of such an HDD is single-platter thin 5mm ZIF 120GB Toshiba MK1234GAL. Although it is hardware compatible with usb enclosures, some netbooks, many players etc, only ipod classic and zune will see it. They say that toshiba put some firmware encryption on MK1234GAL.

5) There is no HDD capacity restriction on Kenwood HD60GD9 firmware (as opposed to e.g. early versions of Rockbox). I was able to replace HDD of my HD60GD9 with Toshiba MK2431GAH (dual-platter thick 8mm ZIF 240GB), and everything worked fine, including music playback; it could make use of full 240GB. The only problem was that dual-platter HDDs are to thick to fit inside the HD60GD9 - the case won't close with thick HDD inside, clearly not for portable use.

@penartur:

Good to get some views from someone with experience of modding their Kenwood HDD. I have only checked on Japanese home pages, and the CR-1000IDE seems to work with the 30GB version, but not all CF cards are supported.

So the safest bet would be to stick with a HDD with the same specifications as the original one...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danneq 

@penartur:

 

Good to get some views from someone with experience of modding their Kenwood HDD. I have only checked on Japanese home pages, and the CR-1000IDE seems to work with the 30GB version, but not all CF cards are supported.

So the safest bet would be to stick with a HDD with the same specifications as the original one...

My guess is that only CF cards with TrueIDE interface support will work (the same requirement as for modding an ipod mini). However, it should be possible to use such cards with any CF->Toshiba adapter, not only with CR-1000IDE.

Also, one may try to install some SSD with Toshiba interface in their 20/30GB kenwood.

However, i'm not sure that 20GB kenwood supports replacing HDD at all. It is possible that there is some sort of firmware restriction (hence cames the weird error message: i'd expected that everything would work fine, or that DAP won't boot at all with CF, but not such a strange behavior...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by penartur 
However, i'm not sure that 20GB kenwood supports replacing HDD at all. It is possible that there is some sort of firmware restriction (hence cames the weird error message: i'd expected that everything would work fine, or that DAP won't boot at all with CF, but not such a strange behavior...)

I agree that you experience with CF cards is confusing. It seems very strange if there is a firmware restriction that prevents replacing the HDD. I mean, if you use a Toshiba MK 20GB or 30GB GAL, and it does not work even if it is the same model as is used in the Kenwood originally. That seems strange...