h-man
100+ Head-Fier
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- Apr 19, 2004
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So, I became curious about the whole vintage PCDP business, and have been scouring ebay for a suitable model. I managed to get my hands on a D20, which I believe was released in 1988, and for only £4 (less than $10), for a fully functional unit in good condition, I thought I couldn't go wrong. Here are my impressions of the unit after a days of use (hopefully avoiding "new toy syndrome"). I will post pics when I can get round to it.
Build quality: This is the first thing that struck me about the unit. It has obviously been put together very solidly indeed, and there are no loose bits rattling around, 17 years after it was built! It is obviously a lot larger and heavier than my Sony DEJ-2000, but as it is going to spend its life sitting on my computer desk, portability is not going to be an issue. Unfortunately, I did not get the mains adapter, so with 4AA batteries locked and loaded, the weight is even greater. Still, like Saab cars and Sherman tanks, it has a reassuring heft about it.
Controls/ layout: The main control buttons are all arranged along the top of the player and are all easily accessed (unlike the fiddly controls on the DEJ2000). The volume control is a wonderfully quaint analogue wheel and there is even a hold switch (as well as a lid-locking lever). The display LCD is tiny and difficult to read, but hey, who needs anything other than the track number anyway! The headphone socket is to the right of the unit and there is a lineout and DC-in on the back. As far as I can tell, the unit takes 9V DC.
Sound quality: Now we get into the nitty gritty. I tested the headphone-out of the unit (haven't got round to hooking the line-out to my Emmeline SR71 yet). Headphones used were Grado SR-225.
Music used included:
Timo Maas - Pictures ( a wonderful electronica album with plenty of low end impact and trebley electronic tinkling, vocal midrange by Brian Molko, Kelis et al).
Radiohead - OK Computer (no introduction needed, I'm sure)
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (as above)
Schubert - Impromptus (Piano impromptus - wonder fully airy with a large dynamic range)
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy (A hard rocking beast of an album with some quieter moments interspersed)
Nirvana-Unplugged (Beautiful, acoustic live set)
Jeff Buckley - Grace (the ultimate vocalist of the 90's masterpiece record)
Again, I started off with a sceptical mindset. How would this 17-year old (I can't belive I was only 13 when this thing was built!) fossil fair against my spanking new DEJ-2000 or lossless on ipod? For reference, I used my home hi-fi setup which is a cyrus CD6 connected to a cyrus DAC-X run through a cyrus 8 amplifier into SR225s (this, to me, is audio nirvana, well, until I can afford a cyrus cd8x).
I was shocked at how easily the D20 bested the DEJ-2000! Every sonic characteristic I could define was better on the older model. The soundstage, limited though it is through Grado phones, was breathtakingly widescreen, especially when listening to some of the more complex passages of OK Computer, revealing the shortcomings of the DEJ2000. The sound was overall far less compressed, with excellent separation between the instruments. The midrange really grabs you, with Kurt's vocals seeming incredibly real on Unplugged. Every subtle nuance of this emotional performance is conveyed with real clarity. The strength of the D20 with vocals in particular was really demonstrated very well on Grace. Jeff Buckley has been described as sounding like a lovesick nightingale on the track "Lover You Should have come over", but on the wrong system, he sounds overly harsh and screechy. No such trouble on the D20. To test rhythmic drive and bass performance, I span up Timo Maas' latest offering. Again, the D20 reveals itself to be a masterful performer in the mid and low bass department. There is perhaps a little too much bass with this kind of music, as it slightly overwhelms the midrange, but then again, you are meant to feel the beat! The bass is not bloated, though and the D20 keeps a firm hold of the timing. It performs equally well with the classical record, Schubert's impromptus. I can't wait to listen to the whole of Bach's Mass in B Minor on it to see if it can handle a full scale choral and orchestral work. I can't comment on performance with Jazz, as I don't know anything about this music.
So a definite resounding victory over the DEJ2000, but how did it fare against the ipod? Well, there was no competition over the headphone output, as the D20 is a lot more powerful, exhibiting not even a hint of the bass roll-off which pagues the Apple unit. However, through the line-out through an Emmeline SR-71, the Apple compares extremely favourably with the D20 when playing ALAC files. Both units pale in comparison with the cyrus set up, but then, you would expect them to!
Well, I have not regretted my first foray into the world of vintage PDCPs, and I would love to hear some of the other highly-rated units. My main impression from the testing I have done is how superior the unit is to its modern-day brethren. To my ears, Sony has de-evolved rather than progressed sound quality-wise. Yes, the DEJ2000 is a lot "sexier", portable and comes with a huge battery life (the D20's is about 6hrs!), and I can see that all these features would appeal to the mass market, but it is a shame that SQ (IMHO) has been compromised. I was also surpised at how well the ipod held up (through the lineout, at least).
I would be really interested to hear what other D20 owners think about the unit and how it compares to other vinatge PDCPs. For now, I'm off to "rediscover" some of my other old cds!
HLR August 2005
Build quality: This is the first thing that struck me about the unit. It has obviously been put together very solidly indeed, and there are no loose bits rattling around, 17 years after it was built! It is obviously a lot larger and heavier than my Sony DEJ-2000, but as it is going to spend its life sitting on my computer desk, portability is not going to be an issue. Unfortunately, I did not get the mains adapter, so with 4AA batteries locked and loaded, the weight is even greater. Still, like Saab cars and Sherman tanks, it has a reassuring heft about it.
Controls/ layout: The main control buttons are all arranged along the top of the player and are all easily accessed (unlike the fiddly controls on the DEJ2000). The volume control is a wonderfully quaint analogue wheel and there is even a hold switch (as well as a lid-locking lever). The display LCD is tiny and difficult to read, but hey, who needs anything other than the track number anyway! The headphone socket is to the right of the unit and there is a lineout and DC-in on the back. As far as I can tell, the unit takes 9V DC.
Sound quality: Now we get into the nitty gritty. I tested the headphone-out of the unit (haven't got round to hooking the line-out to my Emmeline SR71 yet). Headphones used were Grado SR-225.
Music used included:
Timo Maas - Pictures ( a wonderful electronica album with plenty of low end impact and trebley electronic tinkling, vocal midrange by Brian Molko, Kelis et al).
Radiohead - OK Computer (no introduction needed, I'm sure)
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (as above)
Schubert - Impromptus (Piano impromptus - wonder fully airy with a large dynamic range)
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy (A hard rocking beast of an album with some quieter moments interspersed)
Nirvana-Unplugged (Beautiful, acoustic live set)
Jeff Buckley - Grace (the ultimate vocalist of the 90's masterpiece record)
Again, I started off with a sceptical mindset. How would this 17-year old (I can't belive I was only 13 when this thing was built!) fossil fair against my spanking new DEJ-2000 or lossless on ipod? For reference, I used my home hi-fi setup which is a cyrus CD6 connected to a cyrus DAC-X run through a cyrus 8 amplifier into SR225s (this, to me, is audio nirvana, well, until I can afford a cyrus cd8x).
I was shocked at how easily the D20 bested the DEJ-2000! Every sonic characteristic I could define was better on the older model. The soundstage, limited though it is through Grado phones, was breathtakingly widescreen, especially when listening to some of the more complex passages of OK Computer, revealing the shortcomings of the DEJ2000. The sound was overall far less compressed, with excellent separation between the instruments. The midrange really grabs you, with Kurt's vocals seeming incredibly real on Unplugged. Every subtle nuance of this emotional performance is conveyed with real clarity. The strength of the D20 with vocals in particular was really demonstrated very well on Grace. Jeff Buckley has been described as sounding like a lovesick nightingale on the track "Lover You Should have come over", but on the wrong system, he sounds overly harsh and screechy. No such trouble on the D20. To test rhythmic drive and bass performance, I span up Timo Maas' latest offering. Again, the D20 reveals itself to be a masterful performer in the mid and low bass department. There is perhaps a little too much bass with this kind of music, as it slightly overwhelms the midrange, but then again, you are meant to feel the beat! The bass is not bloated, though and the D20 keeps a firm hold of the timing. It performs equally well with the classical record, Schubert's impromptus. I can't wait to listen to the whole of Bach's Mass in B Minor on it to see if it can handle a full scale choral and orchestral work. I can't comment on performance with Jazz, as I don't know anything about this music.
So a definite resounding victory over the DEJ2000, but how did it fare against the ipod? Well, there was no competition over the headphone output, as the D20 is a lot more powerful, exhibiting not even a hint of the bass roll-off which pagues the Apple unit. However, through the line-out through an Emmeline SR-71, the Apple compares extremely favourably with the D20 when playing ALAC files. Both units pale in comparison with the cyrus set up, but then, you would expect them to!
Well, I have not regretted my first foray into the world of vintage PDCPs, and I would love to hear some of the other highly-rated units. My main impression from the testing I have done is how superior the unit is to its modern-day brethren. To my ears, Sony has de-evolved rather than progressed sound quality-wise. Yes, the DEJ2000 is a lot "sexier", portable and comes with a huge battery life (the D20's is about 6hrs!), and I can see that all these features would appeal to the mass market, but it is a shame that SQ (IMHO) has been compromised. I was also surpised at how well the ipod held up (through the lineout, at least).
I would be really interested to hear what other D20 owners think about the unit and how it compares to other vinatge PDCPs. For now, I'm off to "rediscover" some of my other old cds!
HLR August 2005
