I decided to take a little break from cable-making last night in order to re-calibrate my D3 and DD33. I thought they were both sounding like they had lost their sparkle a bit, so at the very least an azimuth adjustment is usually required. I find that this is probably the single most effective remedial action you can take in order to get your walkman sounding tiptop again. That is, if it's only azimuth-creep and nothing more serious! So out come the HPR calibration tapes and gauges and whatnot. The DD33 is first to get up onto the operating table. Forceps please nurse.... Head height spot on head penetration depth right on the minimum but no issues - sounds good and levels are fine head looks great, no spurious-looking grooves or pitting ..as does the pinch roller after a good dousing with Naptha ...but oh dear, what's this? Here's why it's lost its' sparkle. Azimuth needs adjusting The DD33 azimuth adjustment is a hair-trigger of an affair. It sort of reminds me of that 'Operation' game we played as kids 'You need a avery steady hand!' lol That's better. Nicely back in-phase and no channel disparities. Nice one. Listening test with a UX-ES and 'LTJ Bukem live at Cream '96'. A recording of a DnB night I went to and had set up my video-recorder to record from the live FM broadcast on Pete Tong's 'Essential mix' show. It has tons of bass, obvs, trippy vocals and snipey hi-hats all through it and sounds tip top. The FiiO E11 is a good match for the DD33.
Next up is the D3. Whereas the DD33 is a good PB machine and pairs really well with EDM, DnB etc, the D3 by comparison has a more 'mature' sonic presentation, perfect for acoustic and other 'grown-up' genres of music and it's also actually a great little recorder to boot! Scalpel please nurse... Head height fine Penetration depth nicely positioned between minimum and the mid-point time to tweak the azimuth a bit back in-phase speed ok I pair the D3 with a FiiO E12 and I learned to refrain from automatically using the 16dB gain switch like I used to in preference to just increasing the volume at the 0dB gain setting. The lower frequencies seem to benefit from this and sound a bit more controlled and defined. all done! It's always satisfying to do a little service on the walkmans now and again, if only to clean out dust and detritus from the cassete well and inspect the heads, rollers, capstans etc. Now back to cable-making...
