[Eagle_Driver]

I have tested three of my portable CD players - the iRiver iMP-350, the Sony D-EJ2000 and the Sony D-NE300 - along with my Sony MZ-E10 MD player, using the latest 5.3 release of RMAA.

Here are the results for my iRiver iMP-350:

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Here are the results for the Sony D-EJ2000:

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Here are the results for the D-NE300:

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Here are the comparative results for my three PCDPs:

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Here are the results for the MZ-E10:

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Here is a comparison between my two Sony PCDPs through the headphone out (on both the D-EJ2000 and the D-NE300) and the line out (on the D-EJ2000):

 

[Eagle_Driver]

And finally, here are the comparative results between CD and MD, with different impedance loads:

 

[Eagle_Driver]

As a result of these tests, I can conclude that MD cannot quite compete with CD in terms of overall sound quality.

Among the PCDPs that I tested, the clear winner in these measurements is the Sony D-NE300. Not only does the D-NE300 have a flatter frequency response with better low-end extension than the D-EJ2000 despite the D-NE300's lack of a line-out jack - but the D-NE300 also suffers less from IMD (IM distortion) than the D-EJ2000 does. In addition, the frequency response from the D-NE300's headphone out - the only audio output on that player - is virtually unaffected by the impedance load, which means that you can use low-impedance, high-efficiency headphones (such as Grados) without fear of bass roll-off.

The D-EJ2000 proved to be thin on bass response from both the line-out and the headphone out compared to the other PCDPs in this test.

The iRiver iMP-350 proved to be grainy-sounding in comparison to both of the Sonys in this comparison: Both the bass and the treble were boosted on the iMP-350, from both the line-out and the headphone out.

And my measurements on the one MD player in this roundup, the Sony MZ-E10, proved that it provides a reasonably flat response only with extremely low-impedance headphones such as the 16-Ohm Sony earbuds. Using that player with 32-Ohm headphones would only make the consequences of the compensatory bass boost all too audible.

I hope this comparison blows the myth that MD sounds better than CD on the go.

Eagle_Driver

 

[Steve999]

Beautiful. Thanks. My ears agree, but honestly, I'm surprised it measures THAT well. That's a full-blown hifi headphone out, I don't have to guess about it anymore. Great post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver Among the PCDPs that I tested, the clear winner in these measurements is the Sony D-NE300. Not only does the D-NE300 have a flatter frequency response with better low-end extension than the D-EJ2000 despite the D-NE300's lack of a line-out jack - but the D-NE300 also suffers less from IMD (IM distortion) than the D-EJ2000 does. In addition, the frequency response from the D-NE300's headphone out - the only audio output on that player - is virtually unaffected by load impedance, which means that you can use low-impedance, high-efficiency headphones (such as Grados) without fear of bass roll-off.

 

[Earwax]

The NE-300 is quite impressive. Can you post the distortion, noise and channel separation numbers for it?

 

[Eagle_Driver]

In order to come up with the results that I posted, the volume control was turned to the maximum setting that isn't reported as "distorted" by the RMAA program, the EQ was turned off on all of the players, and the PCDPs' anti-shock circuits were switched to their minimum settings (however, all three PCDPs proved highly skip-resistant even in that mode).

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earwax The NE-300 is quite impressive. Can you post the distortion, noise and channel separation numbers for it?

Here are other numbers, from the headphone out on all three PCDPs:

[size=medium]Headphone Out Used As Line Out[/size]
Sony D-NE300
Noise level: -88.2 dBA
Dynamic range: 87.6 dBA
THD: 0.035%
Intermodulation: 0.045%
Stereo crosstalk: -75.5 dB

Sony D-EJ2000
Noise level: -89.9 dBA
Dynamic range: 89.6 dBA
THD: 0.077%
Intermodulation: 0.202%
Stereo crosstalk: -66.5 dB

iRiver SlimX iMP-350
Noise level: -87.2 dBA
Dynamic range: 87.1 dBA
THD: 0.045%
Intermodulation: 0.059%
Stereo crosstalk: -80.8 dB

[size=medium]Headphone Out Used With 32-Ohm Headphones (Grado SR-60)[/size]
Sony D-NE300
Noise level: -88.3 dBA
Dynamic range: 87.9 dBA
THD: 0.051%
Intermodulation: 0.064%
Stereo crosstalk: -44.3 dB

Sony D-EJ2000
Noise level: -88.3 dBA
Dynamic range: 88.0 dBA
THD: 0.090%
Intermodulation: 0.214%
Stereo crosstalk: -36.3 dB

iRiver SlimX iMP-350
Noise level: -86.9 dBA
Dynamic range: 86.8 dBA
THD: 0.053%
Intermodulation: 0.126%
Stereo crosstalk: -48.9 dB

 

[adhoc]

eagle driver, do you have any figures for the typical battery life of the d-ne300 with REDBOOK cds?

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Right now, I'm still on my first set of batteries (a pair of the new Energizer 2300mAh NiMH AA rechargeables), so the battery life test is inconclusive. However, expect about 50 hours of run time, playing Redbook CDs, on a pair of "regular" alkaline AA batteries.

 

[adhoc]

hmm, it's interesting then to note that this mp3/redbook player is completely unlike the iriver players - their 50hr+ battery life with mp3 drops dramatically to ~4hrs for redbook.