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Quote:

Originally posted by PeterR Well, blame the French, not Sony - guess we'll have to buy overseas. Or somebody gets a service manual so we could see whether there's an easy way to restore it to original specs...

Yeah, the French. I hope it will not set a trend I mean in a year all the portable equipment will be crippled. Than again Sony could have bundled the EJ2000 for the French market with some crappy less sensitive phones and viola... No need to limit trhe player.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by blr Yeah, the French. I hope it will not set a trend I mean in a year all the portable equipment will be crippled. Than again Sony could have bundled the EJ2000 for the French market with some crappy less sensitive phones and viola... No need to limit trhe player.

And I hope the French doesn't c(r)ap the maximum allowable output of even a full-size home audio system to a maximum of only 60 dBA (which means an output of only 1 to 2 mW - and I mean milliwatts, not watts - per channel, with loudspeakers of average efficiency). (It isn't capped at present, but who knows what the ********* French lawmakers may do next?

)

 

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Quote:

Originally posted by Eagle_Driver And I hope the French doesn't c(r)ap the maximum allowable output of even a full-size home audio system to a maximum of only 60 dBA. (It isn't capped at present, but who knows what the ********* French may do next? )

Whoa.. This will be something. Imagine the new european regulations:

1. Maximum allowed power on any AV speaker amplifier 1W RMS
2. Maximum allowed sensitivity for speakers 85 dB@1W
3. All broadcasts should have their audio output reduced with 25 dB to ensure that owners of old equipment don't go over the limit
4. All AV software should be mastered according to 3
5. Concerts of any sort are strictly prohabitted
6. Headphones and related equipment is not allowed on EU territory

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by blr 3. All broadcasts should have their audio output reduced with 25 dB to ensure that owners of old equipment don't go over the limit 4. All AV software should be mastered according to 3

Hehehe... I agree that all digital AV software should be mastered at a slightly lower volume than what's currently done on most such software. Today's ceedees are mastered at too high of a volume - and are still being done this way - with negative results in terms of absolute sound quality. Nasty, harsh, compressed, even on high-end home equipment... BLEH!

On the other hand, I think point number 4 - in its present form - is too extreme. You see, an extremely low mastering volume on digital media would render the entire media unlistenable on anything but astronomically expensive, ultra-high-end audio systems. There are limits on both minimum AND maximum allowable mastering volume on digital audio media. If the average mastering volume is more than -12dB down from the 0dB reference volume point, you'll run into compatibility problems that I've mentioned earlier in this paragraph. But if the peak levels continually reach 0dB or clip, then nasty things will happen to the sound quality, most noticeable on high-end equipment. Ideally, the mastering volume should be high enough to sound reasonably good on cheap, crappy equipment - but not so high as to sound nasty and harsh on high-end equipment.

 

[D555]

CD's mastered too high these days? Absolutely right. CDs hover around 0db now. Back in the "old days" CD's had a peak of about -6db. There are good mastering engineers out there but not enough. If good sound is wanted, look to the independant labels that reissue "oldies type" material. There is still some good sound to be found.

Paul

 

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That's because the mastering engineers use too much compression. Old CDs still peaked at around 0dB but had much greater dynamic range. New productions have shrunk this to something like 6 dB.

 

[PeterR]

No kidding:

That's what a modern pop recording ('Fighter', C.Aguilera) looks like, average RMS level -6.5dB (And there are worse...)
Peaking at 0dB is absolutely fine, the problem is the high average level, leaving almost no dynamic range at all. And this is before the radio stations squash it even further to make sure they're louder than the rest. What remains is just a constant noise...

 

[PeterR]

For comparison, a relatively recent classical female voice/piano recording (Vesselina Kasarova singing Brahms' "Von ewiger Liebe"):

Max. peak is at -0.16dB, but the average level is -19.2dB...

 

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Exactly. On many new pp rock tittles the dynamic range is hardly exceeding 6 dB. Take a recording from the 80s and it will have 2-3 times that. Unfortunately some of the new remasters also use a lot of compression.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by blr Exactly. On many new pp rock tittles the dynamic range is hardly exceeding 6 dB. Take a recording from the 80s and it will have 2-3 times that. Unfortunately some of the new remasters also use a lot of compression.

That still doesn't explain why some of the 80s ceedees sound worse than recently remastered versions of those same album titles. The real reason for the 80s ceedees sounding like hammered sh@t is that many of them were mastered from the already compressed, frequency-limited, second- or third-generation copy masters.

The recent remasters, for the most part, have been mastered from early-generation, non-limited copy master tapes (or even the original tapes). But then again, the mastering engineers were being too generous with the mastering volume...

 

[D555]

Hello,

What a surpise! The RightMark report is for an unmodified, exported, silver, Japan "Tourist"-model D-EJ2000 using the headphone out.

I was plesantly surpised when I heard it and the measured results seem match my impressions.

Unmodified Japan "Tourist" D-EJ2000, headphone out, no EQ:

Frequency Response: +0.14, -0.55
Noise Level, dbA: -86.3
Dynamic Range, dbA: 85.8
THD, %: 0.062
Intemodulation, %: 0.062
Stereo Crosstalk, db: -69.4

Frequency response interpretation:
Essentially flat from 40hz-15khz. At 40hz there is a *slight* rolloff becomming about -.5db at 20hz. At 15khz there is a gradual rolloff becomming about -1.5db at 18kc, -3db at 20kc and then a sharp rolloff beginning at about 20.5kc. Also noted: beginning at about 1kc the frequency response begins to "ripple" by about .2db through 20khz. Probably inaudible but still noted.

Other graphs looks good as well.

Based upon these results I think, sonically, the "Tourist" D-EJ2000 is superior "out of the box" to my modified D-EJ1000. Also, I did not hear any of the low level eletrical/processor noises as with the D-EJ1000. The D-EJ2000 only exhibits only the smallest amout of hiss when "listening to silence" with 100db sensitivity rated MDR-EX71. It is essentially hiss free.

Can't say how this unit would compare or if there are any circuit differences with the USA-market D-EJ2000.

I do not have the service manual (yet) for the D-EJ2000 but I am now *really* interested in how the LPF for the headphone amp is constructed.

As an aside, it was also very nice to get the player in a useful, tasteful, organized box instead of the wicked blister packs that are prevalent in the USA.

Why the "Tourist" model?
1. Nice box
2. Worldwide voltage AC adapter with adapter plug
3. Multiple language manuals
4. No crappy headphones, just crappy earbuds
5. Available in all silver

Thanks for reading!

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by Duncan I've heard a European EJ2000, and whilst fundamentally it sounded very smooth... it was abismal that Sony had to lower the volume cap to 0.5mw

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I hope Sony doesn't lower the volume cap of the US-market models next year to only 0.01mW

Well, actually, the European models have a volume cap at about 2mW. 0.5mW is a bit of an exaggeration on your part.

 

[Duncan]

how does it sound compared to the 555?

I've heard a European EJ2000, and whilst fundamentally it sounded very smooth... it was abismal that Sony had to lower the volume cap to 0.5mw

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Originally posted by Eagle_Driver Well, actually, the European models have a volume cap at about 2mW. 0.5mW is a bit of an exaggeration on your part.

I hope Bangraman sees this thread, and can take a picture of the specs page of the player, and post it here...

Eagle... that is serious... you're right, in general the limit is now 2mw, but the EJ2000 is indeed 0.5mw

 

[PeterR]

Into what load?