[lucien]

Hi there everyone -

I am building a new portable setup, and I currently have a Sony D-838K Car Discman that I bought new in about 1995 or 1996.

I haven't got any experience with headphone amps through the line out (but have some hd600s and the supreme on the way - muhahahaha), so I don't know how good it is.

I'm wondering if anyone knows if the sound is meant to be good, particularly in relation to these newer Panasonic ones you guys gush on about all the time.

I was going to just buy a new one, but it has served me well, and the only thing that's required (I think) is a bit of a service, and maybe a laser replacement. Considering the prices you pay for a good new one in Australia, it could still be good value.

Besides, I can't find a good new one with an infrared remote, and I love being able to plug it into the wall, sit back, and control it from there instead of some cheesy little wired 'remote'.

Comments anyone?

 

[gerG]

and I like it! Large backlit buttons, an internal isolation chassis, and a built in amp that will rip the ER4S right out of my ears. Well, not quite, but it will drive them louder than I ever need. The 3 level bass boost is nice when listening at very low volume levels. It boasts a 1 bit DAC, and sounds good for a portable. I prefer it over my Panasonic (SX500, I think). The only problem is that it will snort a set of batteries in about 2 CDs. I always run it with a wall wart.

 

[lucien]

yeah, i feel the same way about mine, and i wasn't sure if i was just being sentimental or what.

apart from the the lcd not being that sharp, there's nothing i don't love about it for use when plugged into the wall. and for portability, well, my mzr900 sort of craps over everything else i've found anyway.

so do you guys reckon it's worth getting the laser replaced if it turns out to need it? i'm taking it in today, and we'll see. i hope it doesn't though... i've spent so much money lately on new toys, and the credit card bills are mounting... AND i've got a trip the the US coming up in a couple of months. you know, money only sucks when there's not enough of it.

 

[lucien]

*bump*

 

[lucien]

hmm. never mind. $330 to fix. spent $430 on a marantz cd5000 instead. rest in peace discman, for you have served me well.

no more portable cd player. what the hell do i need it for anyway? that's why i cought my md player.

 

[FrostyMMB]

There's an D-838K on ebay that's got a low bid so far. Says it's got some wear but in great working condition.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1275024990

 

[DJ Core]

I bought two Sony Discmans off eBay due to Nostalgia + Guardians of the galaxy blowing up that old cassette walkman from the 70s to now $850 for one in excellent condition.

Sony Car Discman D-838K (Very good used- $35) and D-M805 (Very good used -$26) sound really audiophile for the money. I compared them to my $1250 iBasso DX240+ AMP8-MKII and Sony ZX507.

These Discmans are very musical and keep up with a deeper, wider, Cleaner 3D stage. Modern DAPs are ripping us off vs what you get sonically. (Price vs sound quality).

I believe it's the beloved Burr-Brown DAC (PCM67) and PCM63?

PCM67U combines a conventional thin-film R-2R ladder DAC, a digital offset technique with analog correction, and an advanced one-bit DAC using first-order noise shaping technique, which helps the DAC attain high resolution, minimal glitches, and low zero-crossing distortion.

The R-2R part I think explains the very musical, wide sound field, detailed yet relaxed nature of these Discmans (Later walkman when Sony decided to rebrand)

The same DAC + Dope headphone AMP is used in the Sony D-808K and heavily praised D-303.

The Builtin AMP of these two Discmans is really clean sounding + they have a good clean line out.

I Burnt some Flac files to CD and also listened to some original regular CDs I still have (Not SACD).

Turn on MEGABASS (when needed) +1 or +2 and it's a party for very little money. (I noticed selected Megabass level also ups the treble to match)

Gonna buy two more models to compare. Sony Walkman D-NE518CK and Sony Walkman D-NF430 and the latter has a radio, weather & TV tuner built-in.

Whish the ZX507 sounded as good as these 2 Discmans. It just sounds like there's very minimal noise and processing going on to make a CD sound like DSD.
Very impressed.

Listening via Original Sony MDR-V6 and ThieAudio Monarch with acoustune AET07 tips (Best sounding tips I've tried and I've tried all of them).

Monarch extracts even more details from these Discmans Wow! I say if you're on a budget, get an older quality Discman.

The Sony Car Discman D-838K and D-M805 only play Original CDs or recorded CD-R. Will not play CD-RW in my testing.

If you're on a budget, get one of these models and spend the money on a dope musical IEM like ThieAudio Monarch and you'll be amazed.
Also, don't use ESP. ESP loads onto internal memory first and plays from there which gives slightly inferior sound quality (which my very good audiophile hearing can pick up). Not using ESP plays off the CD directly.

The downside is you can't have as many tunes on one CD

Edit: Sony Walkman D-NE518CK came and yeah this one has basic consumer sound and is no audiophile device in any way.
D-NF430 being also one of the later models will probably sound just as whack.

I think I'll just stick to the two mentioned above.