[LTUCCI1924]

HI all:
I have a 250.00 mini disc sony mdr-r700 with a jack out only.
I also have a 100.00 sony cd portable d-ej721 with jack out and line out. Would it sound better to use the line out 100.00 cdp over the 250.00 mini jack out with my total airhead amp? If so why? Would the line out work better with the T/A. Would the 250.00 mini disc have better dac than the 100.00 cdp?

 

[Joe Bloggs]

The md is outputting compressed music out of a cheap DAC and cheap headphone amp. The pcdp (if it has uncompressed antiskip memory) is outputting uncompressed music out of a cheap DAC and into your TA headphone amp. The latter will most probably sound better... *if* it has uncompressed antiskip (or you can switch off all antiskip).

 

[LTUCCI1924]

Joe Bloggs
Hi JOE: Joe the sony says G-Protection and I cant turn it off and dont know if it can be turned off. Is this modle sony a decent one?I have read that the jack out only makes the sound louder but the line out lets the amp do more. What more does the amp do with line out over the jack out? I like my mini disc because it is so small but I want to get the best sound out of my etys er4p that I can for portable use. Do you think that this g thing is bad?
JOE I found the off slide button inside the cover and turned the G-protection off. How will this help the sound? The line out is an optical line out for recording to mini disc but I can plug me er4p into it. TOD at headroom said that it is still a line out and I can plug into it with my headphones. This was a while back when I had not intended to use the pcdp but now because of the etys I want the best sound I can get with what I have.

 

[Quincy]

Hi,

You said:
Quote:

I have read that the jack out only makes the sound louder but the line out lets the amp do more. What more does the amp do with line out over the jack out?

When they say "lets the amp do more" the amp they are talking about the is headphone amp that you use (like the Airhead or Cosmic).

When you use the jack out, they usually have a cheap headphone amp whose audio quality isn't too great. Using the line out bypasses this circuit and uses only your better quality Airhead or Cosmic to most of the amplification. The line out also has an amp, but it is a very low level amp and the quality of the signal is pretty good.

The whole chain or circuit in a portable CD player would look like this:
CD transport > preamp > lineout (---> optional crappy headphone amp > jack out ) > Airhead amp > headphones.

Avoiding the cheap portable CD player's optional headphone amp and jack out "let's your Airhead do more" of the work.


Still, many people have found some portables without line outs that apparently have pretty decent headphone level amps for the jack out. Some people in these forums are happy with some of Sony's PDCP jack outs. I have the Sony SRF-59 radio, which doesn't have a line out, and it can power my Senn HD580's without an Airhead and it sounds great to me (but no crossfeed which I prefer).



Also, the line out of portable sources is inferior to that of bigger non-portable sources. So I am buying a Sony non-portable CD/DVD player that was favorably reviewed recently in Head-fi. UPS brings it too me next week and I can't wait, if what I hear is true, it'll be a big improvement in my little audio world (just not portable).


hope I helped.

 

[LTUCCI1924]

Quincy
Thank you for responding. My mini disc jack out sounds very good. But for my main rig I put 2 DiMarzo ics from cd deck to my stereo amp cd in and 2 DiMarzo ics from my amp tape out to my supreme amp. And the sound blew me away. There is no question that a cd deck is way better than a portable source. The only thing for me is that more than half my music listening is on my portable rig with my etys and home rig the senn.580s but surpriseingly the etys on my portable rig sound so good that I dont mise my home rig till I get there. Then of course on go the 580s. Good luck with your new rig and have fun and enjoy.

 

[LTUCCI1924]

Ok I spent hours a/b the pcdp line out with my mini disc jack out. The pcdp has way better detail and more natural sound and even a better sound stage. So I put my mini disc away and am now lugging my pcdp plus many cds for my portable use. Thanks to all who responded. It took me hours to see the big difference between the two but I keep at it because of what you members had to say. Thanks again.