Thoughts on the 35, 33, 303 & 321...glad to.
Normally I do my initial eval of a new old Discman via line out in my home studio setup through a pair of Tannoy Reveal monitors. My reference is the first cut on a Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder CD, "Walls of Time," which offers a good range of well-recorded three- and four-part vocal harmonies and a powerful mix of solo and ensemble acoustic instruments...I know the recording well and how the vocals and instruments should sound, so it works for me. Acoustic music of this sort presents a much less subjective sound palette than electric music and happens to be my main love.
Then I move the unit into my chairside setup to check it out in the way I spend most of my listening time.
I currently use the D-303 as my main listening unit through the line out into a Meier Audio Corda Headfive amp, so I have the most time with this player. Very detailed, very clean, very precise, good separation. Initially I felt it was a little lacking in bass but part of that has been changing as some new Senn 595s have finally seemed to burn in. [Edited to add: actually, I just realized, I first noticed a slight improvement when I switched to a Radio Shack multi-volt AC adapter that had higher output than the old OEM.] Beautiful to boot. Very decent soundstage, but not to the level of something like my home studio's Alesis Masterlink, which has a better transport, better DACs and many less miles under the tires...certainly wouldn't compare it with the Masterlink in 24 bit/96kHz 'cause that would be cruel to any Redbook player
Ah, the D-35! I picked up a D-35 recently off Ebay at a decent price. Excellent cosmetically, beautiful design and a wonderfully warm and musical sound. Haven't listened to it at length yet via headphones because, unfortunately, it seemed to have some laser alignment issues, i.e. skipping during the first track, probably due to shipping knocks. From what I hear, that's not uncommon with this model. I've been tweaking pots for many hours off and on and may have the problem resolved...but I've said that before
. I've set it up on some rubber cushioning to add some dampening, which also might have helped. Sad to say, when I just feel like relaxing with some music, I sometimes have avoided using it for fear of more tracking disappointment...but I'll get over that and spend some quality time with this player soon.
The D-35s are definitely cool: I'm hoping to invest enough effort to make it completely reliable and then treat it with kid gloves. I love this player more than it maybe deserves considering the grief it's caused me but I bet eventually it will live up to the high hopes I have for it
. I like warmth and initially, it may prove to offer an interesting mix, trading of a little of detail of the D-303 for a little of the warmth of the D-33 or D-11. Lots of potential, I think.
I have 3 D-33s and they have a sound quite similar to the D-11 to my ear, with maybe a touch more detail, but none of them have the crisp detail of the D-303 through the line out. Strong line out and good sound through the headphone out as well...WAY more powerful than the D-34. The D-33 and D-11 seem to be the cream of the crop IMO for the affordable Discman, and benefit from a solid build that allows them to take a few more knocks than some of the earlier units so you're safer buying them of Ebay if you're not a tweaker. A little more plastic than units like the D-303 and D-35, but a strong metal chassis, and they more than earn the "built like a tank" references and reputation for great sound for the price.
My D-321 is definitely less solidly built than all the above, but is an excellent performer nevertheless with fine SQ. Not that terribly far behind the D-303 from the line out. This is my "take it outside" player and has a great headphone out that works well with my Senn 595s. Clean, detailed, solid, balanced and very enjoyable. I normally use it without the ESP engaged, so I can't say for sure it's affect on the sound. Initially, I was afraid this player had tracking issues as well, but some careful cleaning of the laser seems to have solved the problem. For a middle period Sony model, it has a sort of design elegance that later units like the D-171 can only dream about
One final note, I was able to buy one of the NOS D-25S yesterday and am looking forward to comparing and contrasting it with these other players, especially the D-303.
These are merely preliminary thoughts. Actually, I'm still very much in the process of sorting through my collection...and enjoying every minute of it.
