Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site cmu-cs-spice.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!rochester!cmu-cs-pt!cmu-cs-spice!tdn From: tdn@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA (Thomas Newton) Newsgroups: net.audio Subject: Re: cd players Message-ID: <425@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA> Date: Mon, 12-Aug-85 03:06:36 EDT Article-I.D.: cmu-cs-s.425 Posted: Mon Aug 12 03:06:36 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 01:15:08 EDT Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 43 > I've been told by a salesperson that the Sony portable Cd player does not > produce as good a sound as some of the inexpensive <$300 non-portable units. > The reason given was that the Sony only has one laser and the non-portable > units have two. Is there any truth to this? Could this have something to > do with error-correction? I was under the impression that the Sony portable > had this feature. The Sony D-5's frequency response is 20-20,000 Hz at +1, -3 dB, as opposed to the +0.5, -0.5 dB response found on the Radio Shack and larger Sony players. The "reason" that the salesperson gave you for the difference sounds like a lot of BS. I'd recommend double-checking any advice you get in the future. According to the June 1985 Consumer Reports: The D-5 wasn't as outstanding as the other players in a few respects, but the only audible consequence was a very subtle dulling in the extreme high-frequency range. The sound quality was still top-notch. The D-5 was somewhat less tolerant of dirty or damaged discs than most of the players we tested, and its scan function was slower. But it was fast at locating tracks, and it had an unparalleled immunity to bumps. We could turn it upside down and shake it while it was playing, with no audible effect. We think it would perform well while being carried in its battery pack. (But jogging with it might be too much for the laser mechanism to handle.) Specifications from the advertising brochure for the D-5: Error Correction: Sony Super Strategy Cross Interleave Reed Solomon Code D-A Conversion : 16-bit linear Freq. Response : 20-20,000 Hz, +1,-3 dB Harmonic Dist. : Less than 0.008% Dynamic Range : More than 90 dB Signal-to-Noise : More than 85 dB Channel Sep. : More than 85 dB Wow and Flutter : Below measurable limit I have no connection with Sony, other than as an occasional consumer of their products. -- Thomas.Newton Thomas.Newton@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA