Sony D-35 PCDP - pics and review

[joe_seattle]

I picked up a D35 yesterday from a Craigslist posting and was really surprised at the condition. It was in the original box with every accessory still packed away in the original plastic bags. The owner never even cut open the bag containing the manual and warranty. The batteries had never been installed and the headphones still had the gray twist-tie around them. The unit itself has been very lightly used, which is interesting. Why use the unit but not put in the batteries? Oh well, a little mystery that won't be uncovered.

I let the unit warm-up to room temperature and cleaned off a bit of dust, also used a CD lens cleaner disc. I plugged in the power cord and the unit powered on with no problem. Popped in a CD and it read all the tracks correctly. The sound out of the headphone jack is pretty powerful. The quality of the sound is great, much as others have described it. The mids/vocals have a lush, laid-back and somewhat buttery quality that reminds me of the Sennheiser HD600/650s, without being less pronounced than the bass or treble. It's really a terrific sound. Strangely enough, the unit plays cds that I burned on my computer, but does not play several commercial discs that I have tried. Wondering if maybe there is a maximum number of tracks it can handle? I have a Sinatra CD with 20 tracks and the D35 couldn't handle that.

Compared to an old home Sony CD player I have (the CDP-190), the D35 has less sound-stage or spaciousness, but overall higher resolution and detail and a more balanced sound from low to high. One curious note: the Mega-bass feature doesn't sound too awful set at the mid-position and I find that with it on the whole sound-range appears to be fuller, almost as if the sound is running through a filter with the Mega-Bass off. Overall, it's a very fun new toy - and can't beat the price ($10)! Oh, and that unused Sony battery from 1991 charged up and holds a 3 hour charge. That's quality.

 

[j-dawg]

You got a killer deal, man. That player in that condition could easily fetch $200~$250 on eBay. Congrats.

 

[bubbagump]

thats just plain cool.

 

[zombieDave]

I never luck out like that in this audio game. What a steal! Good for you, good for you.

 

[warubozu]

Congrats on scoring your D-35. I have two of them and both of them are in need to have their tracking adjusted. Can't play any cds in them right now without it skipping like crazy. The D-35 is known to have the most powerful headphone out of the vintage Sony PCDPs.

 

[customNuts]

Quote:

Congrats on scoring your D-35. I have two of them and both of them are in need to have their tracking adjusted. Can't play any cds in them right now without it skipping like crazy. The D-35 is known to have the most powerful headphone out of the vintage Sony PCDPs.

 No, the sony d-25, d-250, d25s has alot more power from the Headphone out.

 

[Bomo.is.ooc]

Good thing we cleared that up.  2 years of false information.
 
/sarcasm

 

[zorin]

  Good thing we cleared that up.  2 years of false information.
 
/sarcasm

Three years and nine months have passed since your post.

 

[warubozu]

Quote:

Congrats on scoring your D-35. I have two of them and both of them are in need to have their tracking adjusted. Can't play any cds in them right now without it skipping like crazy. The D-35 is known to have the most powerful headphone out of the vintage Sony PCDPs.

   No, the sony d-25, d-250, d25s has alot more power from the Headphone out.

Nope you better check your facts. The D-35 and D-350 has a uPD6376 + BA3570F (amp + Bass Boost or Mega Bass) headphone amp that puts out 9mW + 9mW 16Ω, while the D-25, D-25s, and D-250 has a M51568 headphone amp that puts out 9mW + 9mW 32Ω. I have both the D-35 and D-350 and all of the D-25 variants and will tell you that the D-35 and D-350 can drive my pair Senn HD 650's to better levels than the D-25's with Bass Boost or Mega Bass turned off.

 

[warubozu]

  Three years and nine months have passed since your post.

Yup, some people feel the need to resurrect the dead...

 

[AUDIOBREEDER]

 
Nope you better check your facts, the D-35 and D-350 has a uPD6376 + BA3570F (amp + Bass Boost or Mega Bass) headphone amp that puts out 9mW + 9mW 16Ω, while the D-25, D-25s, and D-250 has a M51568 headphone amp that puts out 9mW + 9mW 32Ω. I have both the D-35 and D-350 and all of the D-25 variants and will tell you that the D-35 and D-350 can drive my pair Senn HD 650's to better levels than the D-25's with Bass Boost or Mega Bass turned off.

Man, I didnt know about the internals and got rid of D-35 and kept the D-25. I use MDR-V6 (easy to drive and comfortable for me to listen for a period of time) When I listened to both (Mega-Bass off
on the D-35), the D-25 sounded more neutral and the D-35 sounded bright.
 
The D-35 had far more functions than D-25.
 
I'm always looking out for a D-25 battery pack and havent seen one in ages. It looks something like the regular battery pack that attaches at the bottom but has a slot in the middle that holds 6 or 8 alkaline batteries. Are you familiar with what model no. it is?

 

[warubozu]

 
Man, I didnt know about the internals and got rid of D-35 and kept the D-25. I use MDR-V6 (easy to drive and comfortable for me to listen for a period of time) When I listened to both (Mega-Bass off
on the D-35), the D-25 sounded more neutral and the D-35 sounded bright.
 
The D-35 had far more functions than D-25.
 
I'm always looking out for a D-25 battery pack and havent seen one in ages. It looks something like the regular battery pack that attaches at the bottom but has a slot in the middle that holds 6 or 8 alkaline batteries. Are you familiar with what model no. it is?

Not sure if it's the same one you're talking about. This external battery compartment will work with the D-10, D-15, D-25, D-55, D-7S, and D-555. It needs 8 AA's to power the D-555 and the other mentioned PCDPs, the model number for the external 8 AA compartment is EBP-380. The EBP-380 attaches to the bottom of the PCDP, sort of like a sled. It has been long discontinue and is difficult to find as no one has them, but I was lucky enough to come across two of them years ago when I was actively collecting vintage PCDPs. The picture below is what the EBP-380 looks like with the battery compartment (bottom side of the sled) shown:
 

 

[AUDIOBREEDER]

  Not sure if it's the same one you're talking about. This external battery compartment will work with the D-10, D-15, D-25, D-55, D-7S, and D-555. It needs 8 AA's to power the D-555 and the other mentioned PCDPs, the model number for the external 8 AA compartment is EBP-380. The EBP-380 attaches to the bottom of the PCDP, sort of like a sled. It has been long discontinue and is difficult to find as no one has them, but I was lucky enough to come across two of them years ago when I was actively collecting vintage PCDPs. The picture below is what the EBP-380 looks like with the battery compartment (bottom side of the sled) shown:
 

Thanks for the info.
How may hours will you get with this battery pack (EBP-380)... 2-3 hours at least?

 

[warubozu]

Don't know as I've never used it but 2-3 hours would be a good assumption, may be a little longer with good lithium rechargeables.

 

[zorin]

 
Yup, some people feel the need to resurrect the dead...

 

 
Yup, some people feel the need to resurrect the dead...
 

But my D-35s are not dead, they are alive and well and well treated and happy.