[engk]

After browsing through this site, I realized that players seem to matter a big deal. Before I kind of thought they are all the same. I've owned three Sony PCDPs so far, and could not tell the difference, though I never thought of comparing them.

I currently own a EJ915, I was quite pleased with it and had so far managed to repress the urge to upgrade. But with all you guys clamoring over old Sony pcdps I became curious.

I've heard the D-777 once, and it is true, it does have really impressive bass. But as I listen to mostly classical and jazz, I am more interested in accurate reproduction (I never use mega bass, and if the headphone require me to use it to get balanced sound, then it sucks).

Does anyone have any suggestions? I would like it to last about 20hrs with rechargables and have at least some antiskip.

Thanks.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Unfortunately, all of those older Sonys that many of us at Head-Fi are talking about fall short of lasting even 10 hours on the internal rechargeable batteries. And the newer Sonys that succeed the D-EJ915 are no better than your D-EJ915 itself.

I own the top-of-the-line PCDPs from current Panasonic and Sony lines (SL-CT790 and D-EJ1000, respectively). Without an amp, I much prefer the Panasonic - its headphone-out sounds tighter and more articulate than that of the Sony, which sounds congested, over-warm, and distortion-prone with rolled-off treble. With an amp, I heard little difference between the two PCDPs - but the Panasonic, lacking a line-out whatsoever in the U.S.-market edition, is more cumbersome to set up than the Sony (which has a line-out/optical-out): Its Program, Repeat and Random Play functions get cancelled when the player is turned off - and it requires its remote just to turn on those functions, use the display or turn off the EQ (the Sony also requires its remote for many of its secondary functions).

 

[engk]

Hmmm, How would the Panasonic CT790 compare with my EJ915?

Also, there is lots of noise when I plug my earphone directly into the lineout. Is that normal?

Thanks for the info Eagle Driver.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I used to own one of the siblings of the D-EJ915 - the D-EJ815. I didn't like its sound at all; its headphone-out distorts and clips at only 60% of maximum volume - and the output at that setting still can't drive many headphones to adequately loud volume. And both the D-EJ815 and D-EJ915 share the same common failing: Neither had a G-Protection On/Off switch per se (it's linked to the use of the line/optical-out jack); it's either G-Protection On but using only the headphone-out, or it's using the Line/Optical out but the G-Protection Off.

 

[engk]

What do you mean by distorts or clips? I sometimes go as high as 90%, but don't notice anything. Maybe a very slight distortion for louder music, but not much at all.
I only use earphones (E888, the etys have not arrived), that could be one reason why I never noticed it.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I had heard nasty distortion from that EJ815 at just 60% with most earbuds. And that distortion got worse as I used that PCDP more. Sometimes, the EJ815 distorts at less than 50%.

 

[Cyanide]

I have one of these units and its quite acceptable for portable use. sure its HP out is weak but your only driving buds anyway so i cant see this as too much of a potential problem. The Pana's dont really click with me and i find their HP out to be a little shril/treble happy. Comparing the 915 to say a pana ct-470 the sony is a little more smooth and warmer while the 470 has much more high end sizle. If your only using heaphone's with low power demands id go for the sony (if you could of course find one , they are a 50th aniversary model i belive ........ maybe a collectors item...... sigh i hope its worth a bit later down the track...)

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by Cyanide ...sure its HP out is weak but your only driving buds anyway so i cant see this as too much of a potential problem. The Pana's dont really click with me and i find their HP out to be a little shril/treble happy. Comparing the 915 to say a pana ct-470 the sony is a little more smooth and warmer while the 470 has much more high end sizle. If your only using heaphone's with low power demands id go for the sony...

I will have to respectfully disagree. Using the Total Airhead amp - itself a very slightly warm-sounding amp - driven from my Sony D-EJ1000's line out as a reference, the HP out of all recent Sonys are significantly rolled off in the high end, and bloated in the mid-bass and upper bass. And some of those Sonys distort at relatively low volume from the HP out even with earbuds. The HP out of my Pana CT-790 is much closer in sound to the TAH amp, although the 790's high end is a tad sizzly compared to that of the TAH.

That said, the only headphones that I've found to work well from newer Sony PCDP HP outs all come from Grado Labs; they are intentionally a bit bright.

OTOH, using the Sonys with the Senn 280 headphones is almost like using the Pana 470, 570 or 790 with (*gasp, cough*) Sony V700DJ headphones!

 

[Cyanide]

the mid and upper bass are slightly exagerated but still controlled up to certain volume points. But it is this fact that i find apealing about sonys , if you have the right HP's this acctualy compliments them. Maybe i have over bright HP's or some other contributing factor allowing my ears to be fooled buy this inherently bad sound.

I have found the Sony minidisc's to make much better use of the 5mw HP outs.

My Senn MX 500's sound ok out of the player , but it could just be that im not particularly analytical when listening on the go. Ill have a proper listen in a quiet room tonight and post my furthur thoughts.

BTW thanx for opening my eyes (dont know wether to

or

)

 

[Cyanide]

Quote:

Also, there is lots of noise when I plug my earphone directly into the lineout. Is that normal?

This is not recomended as your will probably be sending many more volts to the headphone than it is designed to handle. If i am correct i belive that the line out has much larger peak to peak voltage than the standard HP out and as such will probably be trying to move the HP drivers in and out much futher than they should be causing the clipping or distorted sounds you hear.

Hope this helps

 

[engk]

Thanks Cyanide. Would like to try E900s, but those are hard to find. I'm not sure how you guys compare the frequency spectrum, but so far, the EJ915 sounds decent enough.

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Originally posted by engk Thanks Cyanide. Would like to try E900s, but those are hard to find. I'm not sure how you guys compare the frequency spectrum, but so far, the EJ915 sounds decent enough.

Try listening to a D777 again... when you have your Etymotics

In my own thread somewhere on this page (depending on when you read THIS reply

) I am quite tempted to strip down my E905 (European version of the E900) to fix my aged D777... thats gotta tell you something!!

 

[engk]

I heard it from a friend who owns it, that was 7 years ago. I have to say I was mighty impressed with the bass, and that was with the remote. My experience is that the remotes of the older sony's severely changes the sound. I loss contact with him, but could quite easily find him. Maybe he'll be willing to sell it to me. Do you guys know where or how I can go to test out pcdps. I live in Ann Arbor Michigan in the US if it helps.

 

[pedxing]

EJ-915 always compresses the music into its 40 something second G-Protection buffer. There is no switch to turn off the G-Protection. If you listen to a newer sony player or an older one without G-protection turned on, you would notice how bubbly the EJ-915 is.

The D777 and the E905 are two very exceptional pcdp's. My friend owns a D777 and never uses it. I try to buy it from him, but he won't let go of it.

 

[engk]

Eagle Driver:
Does G-protection disable when plugged into line out? Mine doesn't disengage!

I used to have an older sony pcdp, and the sound is made worse by the activation of esp. But somehow I don't feel it with my 915.

I got mine in Singapore, so there might be a difference. I wished it did so I could hear the difference.