[RickG]

Sounds like a killer deal, Joe. Oh, and it never stops!

 

[acidtripwow]

Ok, I'm in. I'm gonna get one too.

 

[robert]

Quote:

Originally posted by joelongwood I just had to hear (and see) for myself what everybody has been raving about regarding this portable. I went to e-bay and found only one D-25S with a Buy It Now. the two others up for auction had bids that already met the reserve price of $40. So I got the Buy It Now. I'm looking forward to it's arrival sometime soon. We'll see.

completely off the topic, but i have to ask: your picture is teeny tiny on my machine, but it sure do look like a ducati desmo. not many of those around. if it is, can i take it for a ride some warm spring morning?

in the adirondacks, of course. (in my youth i had a 350 one lunger. not sure of the model name, but i think it was called a sebring.)

toodles,
robert

 

[joelongwood]

Quote:

your picture is teeny tiny on my machine, but it sure do look like a ducati desmo. not many of those around.

And this ain't one of 'em, robert. It's a 1975 Honda CB400f SuperSport. It's only connection to Italy is that it was named Bike of the Year there in 1975. Though I do have the feeling that Honda was looking at Ducatis when they designed it.

And you're welcome to come over for a ride anytime. I even have a one lunger for you to ride......a 650 Suzuki Savage!

 

[Audio-Me]

Does the D-25s have a program play mode? What is RMS MEM? Also, could someone please email me the manual? (PDF)

 

[danieln]

It does have a program mode. Set the player to Repeat RMS Mem. Select the songs you want by going backwads/forwards until you find the song you want. Hit the Repat button again.

Say you want to choose songs 1, 3, and 5. By doing the above, the display should show:

00 01 (no song selected)

Press Forward to song 1 and you should see:

01 01

press Repeat button, then Forward to song 3 an select it:

03 02 (i.e., the third song was selected, and is second in playlist).

etc.

I am not sure if this is the exact sequence (I don't have the manual either, and this is from memory) but it should be pretty close.

 

[robert]

not to be a complete ingrate, but i've been in dilbertville most of the day with the D-25S, and i'm finding it isn't perfect

(but then neither was any of my 4 wives

). it does tick occasionally. it has dropped out twice. both discs are clean; no scratches, fingerprints, etc. that is, under direct light, perfect mirrors. oh well. it's something i'm willing to tolerate.

just so you know, if you're trying to decide whether to get one. mine is september 1991. the motor is barely audible, but you can hear it, unlike either of my panasonics: 240(1996), 360(1999). it could be that SS is releasing them youngest first. i've order another (before i heard the ticking and dropping). see what date i get.

toodles,
robert

 

[robert]

........on the other hand, i'm hearing stuff on dire straits "money for nothing' (that's the greatest hits disc, which does include the song, of course) that wasn't there before (well, it was; i just couldn't hear it). dropped out once, too. but this disc caused one of the panasonic's to melt into that wah-wah mistracking we all love to hear. waiting for telegraph road.

back to java.

toodles,
robert

 

[Russ Arcuri]

Robert, it should not drop out or skip at all, if the disc is clean and (relatively) scratch-free. Contact Silicon Salvage and arrange for a replacement. If you're not sure whether your discs are clean or not, use the cleaning method I described here:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=2

 

[Audio-Me]

danieln - excellent, works great, thanks.

robert - I get a similar issue, but it's minor short burst hiccups, doesn't bother me (happens occasionally)
As for the motor, it's very quiet. (My unit's September, 1991)

 

[meithkiller]

Quote:

Originally posted by Russ Arcuri Robert, it should not drop out or skip at all, if the disc is clean and (relatively) scratch-free. Contact Silicon Salvage and arrange for a replacement. If you're not sure whether your discs are clean or not, use the cleaning method I described here:

Russ, I hate to burst your bubble, but the error correction circuitry is not quite up to modern standards, and it doesn't mean the player is bad and needs replaced by Silicon Salvage, it just means you are playing a CD with 10 year old technology, and it isn't likely to be up to today's standards (as error-correction goes anyways).

I have two of the D-25S PCDP's, as well as about 1/2 dozen other PCDP's laying around of varying vintages (everything from a 7 year old Sony car discman, to the Panasonic 470 and 570, to a brand-new-just-imported-from-Japan Sony D-EJ1000). I have done several tests after I noticed a few minor dropouts and clicks on a couple of discs. I compared several discs with obvious problems of one sort or another, playing them in the Sony D-25S and the Panasonic SL-CT570. (Before I go any further, I will say that most, if not all normal discs played just fine in the D-25S, but I picked three different CDs with three different problems to test the error correction circuitry of both players, to see how the D-25S would do on damaged discs)

Test #1: The Lord of the Rings Soundtrack. I purchased this CD new several weeks ago, and it has absolutely no scratches or surface imperfections, but on track 1 (only) there are some problems, I assume burned into the CD itself. On the D-25S, the player will play the track, but there is a soft yet annoying clicking sound for the first 2:40 of the track, getting progressively quieter. On the 570, with no anti-skip, there are about 8 or 10 mild dropouts in the first 40 seconds, then the disc will play fine. With the 10 second or 40 second anti-shock on, there are no audible imperfections. The same CD exhibits varying levels of errors on other CDP's too on the first track. (I did try this same CD with my 2nd D-25S which is in storage, and it responded the same as the one I have been using for two or three weeks.)

Test #2: A compilation CDR that I burned last year that has a tiny piece of the top layer scratched off, about 1.5-2 mm long, and 1 mm at the widest point. The D-25S has severe dropouts for approximately 30 seconds at that point, and is unable to track through that point of the CDR. If I manually skip ahead the 30 seconds, it will play the rest of the CD flawlessly. The Panasonic tracks through the spot with no anti-shock without any audible errors (the Kenwood CD changer in my car skipped for 20-30 seconds as well).

Test#3: A Windham Hill Christmas CD I bought used a year or two ago for a buck. There are many surface scratches all over it, but none very deep. I cleaned the CD thoroughly, but didn't attempt to repair any of the scratches. I played the first 20 seconds of each track to get an idea of how the CD would track with all of the scratches. The Panasonic went through all 12 tracks with nary a hiccup. The Sony D-25S wouldn't even recognize the disc. I tried to play it four different times, waiting as long as three or four minutes, and it still wouldn't play it. On my older Sony it played the first 20 seconds of each song, but had two brief dropouts on different tracks. A 3-4 year old Philips PCDP played through with no audible errors. Addendum: Just as I was preparing to post this this, I decided to give the D-25S one more crack at the Windham Hill CD. After a brief delay, it played the first 20+ seconds of each song without error. I removed the CD, replaced it, and tried to play it again. No go (waited a minute). I'm guessing that there was a scratch in the TOC area that caused the player to not read the CD about 80% of the time.

Basically the point I am trying to make is that the Sony D-25S will track through almost all clean, scratch free discs, but apparently when there are unseen errors (imbedded in the CD data itself) the player may have a few more problems than some modern players. On scratched or damaged discs, the D-25S will usually fare worse than a newer player, like the Panasonic CT570. I still really like my D-25S(s), and the headphone out is one of the best sounding of any portable I've heard, and definitely has the most power of any of my PCDP's, it just isn't as good at reading scratched or damaged discs as my newer players.

Once again, thanks Russ for turning all of us on to this great little CD player, I just wanted to point out one of its limitations since some people are having problems with skipping and/or dropouts.

-Keith

 

[Russ Arcuri]

Keith -- the reason I posted the advice I did is because NONE of my CDs, and I have a rather large collection, suffers any skips or dropouts on either my D-25 (used, 1989 vintage) OR my D-25S. One CD I had, which had absolutely no scratches and no noticeable fingerprints, dirt, etc, did not play on the D-25S. I washed it and now it plays through no problem; clearly there was something on the disc I couldn't see by casual inspection, which prevented the D-25S from playing it correctly.

It makes absolutely no difference that the player is 10 years old. I've been playing CDs in various CD players since 1986 at least; we didn't simply accept skips and dropouts 10 years ago. It's not like it was the dark ages or anything. I had a Sony D-9 PCDP in college (same vintage as the D-25, but a much cheaper model) and it NEVER skipped or dropped out, even with scratched and/or dirty discs.

What this all boils down to is this: if the disc is clean and relatively free of scratches, the D-25S should play it properly with no dropouts and no skips, even though it was designed in the late 80s. The examples you gave are different -- the discs that are having problems in the D-25S are also having problems in other players, and two of them have obvious surface imperfections. I believe newer players are more capable of handling such flawed discs, but with discs in good condition it should never drop out or skip. It's malfunctioning if it does.

 

[meithkiller]

Russ, my main point was that if there are problems with a given CD, they are likely to be worse on the D-25S than on a more modern CD player. I have been building a rather large CD collection myself over the last 12-13 years (around 700-800 discs), and a big difference between now and 10 years ago (at least in my collection) is that I now own discs that are 13+ years old and many have some wear and scratches on them (sh!t happens, even when careful), and 10 years ago, my oldest discs were around three years old and had much less wear and tear on them. I am simply stating this to say that playing scratched or slightly damaged discs is something many people face frequently.

I agree with you that a properly working Sony D-25S won't create problems where there aren't any, it may just have a little more difficulty playing through problems when they arise. I am very happy for you if you have a rather large collection of CD's and you have managed to keep them scratch free for 15 years, that is quite a feat. I haven't been so fortunate. I also purchase used CD's on occasion (probably at least 100 so far) and most of those had varying degrees of wear on them as well.

-Keith

 

[robert]

if there are any EE's in the audience: since the RS power supply puts substantially more (milli)amps into the circuit, could this cause it to go haywire?? (my last physics course was too long ago)

toodles,
robert

 

[RickG]

Quote:

Originally posted by robert if there are any EE's in the audience: since the RS power supply puts substantially more (milli)amps into the circuit, could this cause it to go haywire?? (my last physics course was too long ago) toodles, robert

Robert, I'm no EE, but my understanding is that the unit will draw only the needed amount of current. I have the same RS supply and am having no problems with my 25S.