Favourite Discmans

Nothing beats the convenience of magnetic clamps used on the first Discmans
Plus, they allow the use of one of my favorites "audio snake oil": CD mats
Someday I will finish this project: CD Pressing Quality. Part Two will be about the benefits of CD mats, I think I have them all in my collection! If I find no benefits, then results won't get published

 

The smallest, the thinnest and the beautiful

Sony D-J50. This is the thinnest CD player as far as I know. The thickness of this discman is almost same thickness of a CD case



This one is Technics SL- XP3 in beautiful green color


Sony D-88 , the smallest CD player

 

Sony D-J50 and D-88 are the smallest (only D-EJ01 beats D-J50, maybe?) but they have a special place in my heart for being Sony "cheaters". Without battery "gondola" attachment D-J50 is not portable, and when D-88 came out it was "a bit expensive" (to say the least) to make small CDR disks at home, so you were stuck with "CD-singles" which never quite happened
D-J50 is where the "Golden Age" ended, I should have bought one when I could, these last few years the prices are out of my sanity range (why won't everyone move onto A&K DAPs and leave Discmans alone?)

Almost forgot to ask: if anyone has Service Manual for Technics SL-XP3 or Panasonic SL-NP3, please let me know. There is a gap in my table of PCDP Components

 

Just found this one so i thought id add a pic before its stored into oblivion , needs a clean and polish . D30

 

Glad you mentioned it! Love the looks, once cleaned and polished it really shines! And heavy as Hell, can be used for self-defense instead of a brick Very solid Discman!!!

 

So far I like the D-555 and D-E01 because of the sound quality and D-88 because of the unique shape. D-777 and D-250 are also good players.

 

@colimaxp
the d555 has it's beautiful 80's design. just love it. but i prefer the sound of d777. has a "tube" sound. sounds great with grado headphones and rock music. is also portable. perhaps the d777 is my favo sony. not it's design,dj50 or d555 and its sound quality is less than a d311/d515, but it's portable and fun to listen. must admit, haven't used a d777 or other discman for 10 years or more.

 

humor
after all these years. i wish i would meet my master. it's the d777 boy..
for walkman it's the dc2..
unfortunate, you have to do it all by yourself..

 

A few years ago, I inherited my mother's old Technics SL-XP5 which she had bought new back in the 1980s. It's still one of the best sounding CD players I have heard. While it's still a CD player the sound seems more natural and seems to have more depth than many CD players.

 

@deb
a cdp is by far, by far better than a discman.

 

19lexicon78 in reply to your post:
If by "CDP" you mean CD Player, a discman IS a CD Player, abait one in a small casing.

Until I got the XP5 I might have agreed with you. There are good and bad of both. There are plenty of full sized CD players which have been designed and built to a budget so that a manufacturer can put a CD player on the market at the lowest possible price. Some of these sound pretty flat and uninteresting.

When Technics built the SL-XP5 they wanted to put a high quality CD player into a portable sized case, and in that they suceeded. While much larger and heavier than later Discmans, the XP5 did come with a rechargeable battery (a lead acid battery housed in a plate which clamps onto the base of the unit) and a carrying strap.
Anti-skip technology was still in its infancy at the time so you couldn't use the XP5 on the move or in the car in the same way you could a walkman or later discman.

When you plugged a XP5 into a system using either the line out jack or the headphone output, you soon realised that it punched well above its weight. When you plug it in to a system today, over 30 years after its launch you realise that it STILL punches way above its weight. This is why XP5s still sell for high prices on Ebay.

 

I have to agree/disagree with you both: @Deb64 is wrong about SL-XP5 price, this Discman it "the best kept secret" in Discmans community, price never goes above $300... And it is the best sounding Discman ever!!!! But once set against any Naim CD player, available off eBay for less than Sony 555, it just folds...
But overall @Deb64 said it on my behalf: most CD spinners follow the mantra that Digit is Digit and sound awful, the only way to hear that Digital can sound almost as good as vinyl/analog is to audition at hi-end store, which are dying out. Make an effort and visit one, while you still can! Oh, and do not even get me started on hi-rez!

 

@Deb64
people are nuts to pay 100s for discman. ok, to me, it's an 80's 90's sentiment and i've paid 80 euro max for a discman d515. had my d555 for 50 euro, philips 6829, 25 euro.etc
you won't use a discman for a home system. never.. unless you don't have any money. just buy a cdp with a swing arm and a 1541 dac, you' re done.

 

@19lexicon78
The prices for some discman (80's model mostly) have gone up like crazy recently.
It's getting harder and harder to get decent prices on some models.

A good standard CDP easily beats any PCDP; even if the dac is not top quality, the optical pick-up has a better SNR and, in case of worn CD, that means a lower rate on error correction; on top of that, the headphone amp is stronger too and can easily drive high quality headphones. But, to me, nothing beats watching an old PCDP spinning discs !

 

@enryfox
indeed, you pay for emotion. but to me, it isn't worth 100s of euro's.

 

I guess this one it's worth every single euro ... https://www.ebay.it/itm/323223946974?ul_noapp=true

 

Good Catch! DPC-81 is a different beast though, yours looks exactly like my DPC-61 (but its native remote is marked as RC-P81, not 61):


mine has battery compartment for 4xAA batteries:


Internally, DPC-61 is all-Sony parts, almost an exact copy of Denon DCP-50. I totally agree with @Mister X - gray/matt finish is very nice to the touch and unlike the one used on Denon DCP-100 and DCP-150 it is not gooey

 

Mr X. Nice one and Jorge thank you.