[hifiboom]

just bought a Sony D-211 with Remote and and original Headphones on ebay.

Nice price

It does work fine!!!!!

only thing, it does not work with the included AC-Adpator.....

But sound is (what could I say) stunning......

I am very happy for 5 bucks I dont care if it does not play connected to ac.

And as I have a defective D-211 lying around here maybe I open both and look if I can repair. Maybe its just one missing connection?


GREAT SOUND!!!!

I connected it to my HIFI-SYSTEM it does sound even better than my CD and my DVD Player. It has more punchy bass.

Which CD-Player do I have to buy to get that punch and clarity from a rack CD-player? NAD ? Marantz ? Sony ?


Cheers.

A very happy Sony costumer. hehehe

 

[D-EJ915]

Dude, congrats. That is one sick deal!!

 

[hifiboom]

jeah it is, the auction ended at 2 o`clock in the morning, so I was the only one awake..... ehehe

Although the Ac doesnt work it is in a nearly new condition.....

 

[Ubijza]

How does it compare to your DNE20 then

 

[D-EJ915]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza How does it compare to your DNE20 then

It's probably about 5 times louder...

 

[hifiboom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza How does it compare to your DNE20 then

jeah it is louder but it is not the factor 5.....

5 mW compared to 16mW is not to much more, because volume rising is exponential or soemthing like that. Enough volume for me.... I hear at 4-5 out of 10, and quiet recordings maybe 8/10 ---> never 10

doesn`t matter... as the sound is superb.

That was the sound I expected from a discman I bought from the new Sony line.

It has real analog sound feeling!!! who was the person that said " I am missing all that transients and... on the new sonys products headphone output." TRUE

While my old minidisc was a little bit more brilliant at the high frequencys it looses against the D-211 in the bass segment. But that may also be the better headphones that where included with the minidisc unit. The sound in general is the same league. It is very very good.

But at least the headphones that came with the D-211 also produce nice sound quality. I like the sound more than with the Fontopia 888 LP, at least they are on par with them. They produce this room ambience ( 3d sound ) I loved when listening to my MZ-1 minidisc unit.

The included Model number is MDR-E551. Little question: is it possible to deattach the headphones from the Remote? I am afraid to damage something.

Okay now to the Sony D-NE20 vs D-211 :

As I had no reference to compare I was not sure if the feeling that the d_NE20 does sound very bad was a psycholigical thing and maybe it were just my ears that have gone bad during all that disco and party times I had.

LOL

But no. If you compare the two and switch the headphone between the D-NE20 and the D-211 you ll `hear the difference that the D-NE20 sound like every music instrument is made of plastic and also sound like.

If you A/B the two you ll maybe not hear it at the first seconds.

But if I listen one hour to the D-NE20, you need to put out the earphones because you are stressed from the sound.

And with the D-211 after one hour : YOU SCREEM FOR 20 HOURS MORE LISTENING.
Listening to this thing is on par with slepping with your girlfriend. hehehe

It is really fun, when I listen to some ambient tracks where you hear some birds singing etc......If you close your eyes you think these birds are beside you.

Snares on Phil Collins "in the airt tonight" sound fantastic and I can hear the Gate reverb(studio fx) they used on this instrument in full FLAVOUR!!! heheh

Sounds with pressure like on electronic / techno / trance tracks pump into my ear with hard impulse. Oh yes and OST/film music -> fantastic.

D-211 sound characteristics

pad/strings -> a harm to you ear
guitars -> a killer in your ear
drums -> nice pressure and with much room ambience ( i love this !!!! )
vocals -> super present

There is some background noise at higher volume, but who does care about? Its analog.

D-NE20 sound characteristics


pad/strings -> sound like plastic
guitars -> sound like plastic
drums -> sound like plastic ( i do not love this )
vocals -> sound like plastic

no backround noise, but the music on this thing sound worse than the noise that comes out from the D-211.
Maybe its the Sony engineers that had to much disco / party and build a digital amp that sounds that bad!

At least I have to say that I dismissed the Fontopia 888 LP to fast as I listen to them with the D-NE20. But it is not there fault.

They are quite a good performer.

Now I am very interessed at how long the D-211 will last with my newly bought battery packs ( NiMH) The included pack has 650mA and the manual says they will last for 2 hours.

Now I bought 4 2300mA NiMh batteries so hopefully the sony will last over 6 hours with 2 packs.

FINAL THOUGHT:

I prefer 1 hour on the D-211 more than 85 hours on the D-NE20

the D-NE20 should be the one on eBay for 5€ and the Sony D-211 the one sold for 200€ from local dealers. It would be much better deal for the customers.......

THEY DON`T KNOW WHAT THEY MISS!

But don`t expect to much from a D-211, when you buy one from ebay. Its only a walkman and not the next world wonder.

( for me it is one / hehe )

Here is the auction.

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1

I think I have to buy 2 or 3 of these, because on the day this one dies I need a replacement.

 

[Ubijza]

Quote:

It has real analog sound feeling!!! who was the person that said " I am missing all that transients and... on the new sonys products headphone output." TRUE

-
It was ME

And you were VERY sceptical about this at the time!

So much more then just "a louder discman" D211 is... I LOVE it too! It's a thing of engineering beauty, make no mistake about it... And a true wolf in a sheep's clothing - it does not look anything special, but boy... does it sound GREAT or what...

 

[hifiboom]

Quote:

And you were VERY sceptical about this at the time!

Hey Ubijza,

can you forgive me one more time?

can you recommend me a standalone DVD Player with nice audio capabilities?

I have a Sony NS305 and am not convinced with its audioquality. It does the same on my hifi system as the D-NE20 does on walkman headphone outs.

The bass performance is clinical and thin. And the transients also are not the best.

Should I go with a higher class Pioneer, Denon, NAD, HK, Marantz?

I have Canton LE109 speakers and these have a little boost in high frequencys.

Any recommendation?

 

[Ubijza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by D-EJ915 It's probably about 5 times louder...

Are you being sarcastic?

(ie belong to the camp "famous vintages only sound LOUDER and not better" - what rubbish!

)

Hifiboom before:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...9&page=1&pp=20
Quote:

I don`t think the old players are "sooo" much better than the new ones..... Maybe you get used to the not-linear frequency response of your old PDCD player that you found the new players sound too "cold". But I think they are quite good.

Quote:

okay you are right! Its like CD vs vinyl ... vinyl just sounds better..... where to buy this stoneage sonys ? with the high-end analog output? nowhere? that answers the question and i am 26 .... hehehehehe For the noise levels they dramatically reduced with the newer generation players.... If I am on the way I don`t care some missing transiens and the overall sound quality is quite good.

Hifiboom now:
Quote:

as the sound [of the D211] is superb. That was the sound I expected from a discman I bought from the new Sony line. It has real analog sound feeling!!! who was the person that said " I am missing all that transients and... on the new sonys products headphone output." TRUE

Quote:

That was the sound I expected from a discman I bought from the new Sony line.

Quote:

I prefer 1 hour on the D-211 more than 85 hours on the D-NE20 the D-NE20 should be the one on eBay for 5€ and the Sony D-211 the one sold for 200€ from local dealers. It would be much better deal for the customers..... THEY DON`T KNOW WHAT THEY MISS!

current top of the range DNE20 in comparison with the 211:
Quote:

D-NE20 sound characteristics pad/strings -> sound like plastic guitars -> sound like plastic drums -> sound like plastic ( i do not love this ) vocals -> sound like plastic

True!

 

[hifiboom]

I have to say I that I found the sound quality from the D-NE700(same line as the D-NE10) much more convincing than the D-NE20, so I am quite sure the digital amp is nearly crap.

My personal ratings with stars

soundquality:
D-211 8-9/10
D-NE10 D-NE700 5/10
D-NE20 line 1/10

 

[Ubijza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifiboom Hey Ubijza, can you forgive me one more time? can you recommend me a standalone DVD Player with nice audio capabilities? I have a Sony NS305 and am not convinced with its audioquality. It does the same on my hifi system as the D-NE20 does on walkman headphone outs. The bass performance is clinical and thin. And the transients also are not the best. Should I go with a higher class Pioneer, Denon, NAD, HK, Marantz? I have Canton LE109 speakers and these have a little boost in high frequencys. Any recommendation?

Hi!

To be honest with you, I myself was following this thread and and would like an answer to your question (about a full size CDP/DVDP that will give a D211 performance +++) myself...

But really, it's probably a matter of getting a good non portable amp (too many to mention), good phones (almost certainly will be Beyer DT880s for me)
and then taking that stuff to a good Hi-fi store and listening to different CDPs for an hour and a half... It's the only way I think

 

[Ubijza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifiboom I have to say I that I found the sound quality from the D-NE700(same line as the D-NE10) much more convincing than the D-NE20, so I am quite sure the digital amp is nearly crap. My personal ratings with stars soundquality: D-211 8-9/10 D-NE10 D-NE700 5/10 D-NE20 line 1/10

OK, thanks for that as well. I might swap my useless DNE920 for a DNE10 or something (with 5mW of course).

PS I've got Sony MDR888 phones today, can't wait to try them with both 920 and 211... I've read that these formely $80 earbuds give almost Ety ER4 like detail but ever so slightly slightly richer/fuller in tone... Just what I need for strings/classical

 

[hifiboom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza Hi! To be honest with you, I myself was following this thread and and would like an answer to your question (about a full size CDP/DVDP that will give a D211 performance +++) myself... But really, it's probably a matter of getting a good non portable amp (too many to mention), good phones (almost certainly will be Beyer DT880s for me) and then taking that stuff to a good Hi-fi store and listening to different CDPs for an hour and a half... It's the only way I think

I got a behringer mixing board and the pre outs/monitor out is connected to the power amplifier which is connected to my Canton LE 109 speaker set.

First I thought the Cantons sound bad, but after connecting the Sony with the line out to my mixing console, I found the sound to have more pressure and more alive. ( I have to say I even returned two pairs of speaker sets back to dealer, as I was not connvinced)

So it seems to be the source of sound that does influence the final performamce of my home system. The Sony NS305 is a cheap DVD/CD Player with Mp3 function, there are Pioneer players that range between 300€ and 1000€.

I need a recommendation of a stand unit CD-Player/DVD Player ( i want a combi player), that is on par or better with the Sony D-211.

Maybe I should go with an old Sony CD-Player from the ES line?

Ahhh this sucks, I don`t like this searching. Sometimes it needs two days to recognize a player is crap.....


When I bought the Cantons, I was convinced the sound coming out of these was the best in this price range. The dealer connected a Denon amp and I`m sure with a denon CD/DVD player.

Maybe a Denon?

Maybe there is no solution for audio-freaks like us, as the whole Hifi world gets more and more digital.

Maybe I should save the money for an expensive CD/DVD and buy instead a high quality amp, and then connect a cheap player via optical out.

I have a very good offer for this one:
http://www.pioneer.de/de/product_det...omy_id=367-395


But I am afraid that the internal D/A converter will not give the performance of the D-211, but maybe its even better.

 

[dvw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza OK, thanks for that as well. I might swap my useless DNE920 for a DNE10 or something (with 5mW of course).

I think the DNE920 and the DNE10 both have the same audio circuit.

 

[hifiboom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvw I think the DNE920 and the DNE10 both have the same audio circuit.

i am not totally sure but I think this isnot right....

All x20 are the newer line with digital amp? or just the D-NE20 ?

while the x00 and NE10 are the older line.....