Hello everyone, I am looking to buy my first DD walkman. I want something I can daily so I started with the wm-f5. However I found out it does not have any NR which is required for me. Are there any other DD Sports Walkmen that have dolby B that I don't know about? Anyways, I guess that leaves me with the DD line. There are the obvious dd2, dd3, dc2 dd100. However I can't find and dd2s or dd3s for sale and the dc2 and dd100 are way out of my budget like the dd9, and probably would not be a good idea to daily because of its price. I did however see a couple other models that other than pictures I just cannot find any info on! These models are the dd30, dd22, dd10, and dd11. Anybody have any info on these models and if they are worth picking up? Also are they any other DD models I am missing? Thanks,
The last good DD was the DD33 from around 1989, for what is was it’s good but not on par with a DC2 or anything like that but worth a look. I sold my last working one a while back, I do still have some lying around but the main gear are missing. If you can find one in good condition and at a low-ish price, pick it up.
Hi Skoll. Welcome to the forum. Greetings from England. I agree with TooCooL4 about the dd-33. I have the dd-33 and it works perfectly. No central gear problems. Out of all the dd's this can be found at a reasonable price compared with others from the dd line and the sound quality through a good pair of headphones is very good. Just be patient and keep looking. Good luck.
I don’t have a dd33 although I will try and find one maybe next year. I have a dd, dd11, dd1, d6c, d3, dd3 and a dx100. The dd11 has B, d6c has B and C, d3 has NR, dd3 has NR and dx100 has B and C. Also I have a WM-7 and WM-16 which both have Dolby NR. And I have a dd100 incoming but it hasn’t arrived yet I’d say the dd11 is the cheapest dd and it does feel that way. The wm-16 is the cheapest overall, I think it was £12 but I’ll need to fix it. My favourite looking is the dx100 but I can’t get the thing to play at the correct speed.
One last thing, I would say pick a Disc Drive (DD ) that is quartz locked. If stability / speed accuracy is important to you then Quartz locked is the only way to go, I don’t own a DD that is not quartz locked.
By the way speedy2.0, if a unit says Dolby NR that means it’s got Dolby B but I guess you know that already?
I think it’s just a marketing label for B... now I have to go and read up on it Edit - dd3 is quartz locked, but the dx100 which isn’t a disc drive uses PLL which is a quartz system. All the quartz is used for is a charged pulse like your basic Casio watch. When you charge the crystal it maintains its rhythmic pulse with hardly any battery draw, but in my opinion it’s a bit of a gimmick used in consumer applications. Pro applications like deneke or ambient lockit boxes are much rarer similar crystals and keep a far more solid beat/rthym.
They use Dolby NR label because to the domestic user only Dolby B was available at the time, hence Dolby NR. When Dolby C came along they had to distinguish what the unit had because now Dolby now means B or C. Before all that there was Dolby A but that was a professional affair and the general public did not know about it anyway. With regard to Quartz locked DD, the Quartz is used to lock the motor to a fixed speed so no gimmick. Quartz is fairly accurate hence the motor speed did not vary too much.
Sorry, I mean from a modern perspective. At the time using quartz to regulate motor speeds was pretty advanced, but in the intervening years there are far more advanced timekeeping/frequency keeping systems in use. So for me it’s not much of a selling point in a 80s Walkman with 100 other issues which can alter a motors speed unless you pay for a mint condition model which is pretty expensive.
Thank you for the info everyone! Speed stability is quite important to me so I guess I am limited to quartz lock ones only lol. At least that narrows down the list! I just want to make sure I know of all of the quartz lock ones. d6, d6c, d3, dd2, dc2, dd9, dd22, dd3, dd30, and dd33. Also the dd30 still has the dc2's head right? Its the same but without dolby c, no line out, and with mega bass? And the dd-33 is the same as the dd30 just looks different and one less headphone jack? Thanks,
The D3 & DD2 don’t have quartz locked servo drives. Personally but only my opinion, I would not have a D3 it’s a problematic unit. The D3 is an attempt to make the D6C smaller and cheaper, they did a bad job and it’s just crap. I have 2 in pieces, just a complete waste of time and money.
Have to disagree with you there. I have the tc-d3 and although it has the so called click of death gave me many years of good reliable service. The sound quality to me sounds very good through good headphones and is obviously more potable. It has a 20mw headphone out not like the crappy 5mw output of the over hyped dd-9. This was the main reason i never bought the dd-9- i bought the dd-33- 10mw output. I never used any of my portables for recording purposes, i always used full size decks. I think people forget that these were all portable devices-made for listening on the move so would never compete with most full sized decks. All i can say is- the tc-d3 (d3) sounds very good to me.
Like I said it’s only my opinion, but we will have to agree to disagree on that one. You are comparing the DD9’s output power to a D3’s output power, power is not the same as sound quality. I never use any of my Walkman with a headphone plugged direct to it, they all go through a headphone amp. I am not a huge fan of the DD9 even though I do own one, it’s sound quality is superior to a D3. I do agree with you the DD9 is over rated. My DD9 never see’s the light of day, for everyday use it’s the DC2 for me
Hi TooCooL4. I agree with you. I want your expert advice about headphone amps. I frequently use tape walkmans with line out, mini-disc players with optical out and discmans with a line out and optical out. Which headphone amp would you recomend to get? Do the amps come with both line in and optical in. The shops i have tried here dont stock them. Help appreciated.
Hello Sköll, I know all the models. My opinion: You need a repaired DC-2 or a repaired for a smaller budget . That's it. DD33 sounds a bit better than DD3 and DD30 is junk....
Derek marshall i don’t know about being an expert, I just know what I like and what sounds good to me. When it comes to recommendations, I can only recommend what I like and have tried. I always say to people go with your music and your units and try all the headphone amps you can find and chose what sounds best to you, just because I say something sounds good does not mean someone else will find it good. I mean we already disagree on the D3, so it’s important to try things out for yourself. One good advice I can give you is take what anyone tells you with a pinch of salt, as we all have different tastes. If you always try out for yourself, you will never make a mistake. I don’t know if many portable amps come with optical In as I only every use analogue ones, if you can find one with optical In I can see it being expensive. I guess a few companies to check out are ALO Audio, Fiio, Ray Samuels Audio Sites to look at Headphonia, Head-Fi you should be able to find loads of good pointers from there.
TooCooL4. Thanks for reply. I totally agree i listen to what my ears tell me but as i said iv'e never used headphone amps before but would like to try some but no shops round here that stock them. So you just use line in- is that correct? Thanks for help.
Wow this thread is really informative, thank you everyone! My dream is to own a DC2 but they are a bit out of my budget, and frankly I would be afraid to daily it like I want to. Especially if I manage to get one in nice condition. This is why I am considering something like the DD30 and DD33. I could buy a refurbished mint d33 with the case for $350. From what I have seen that price is not even on the radar for DC2s. However I could be wrong. (listing I am referencing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-Walkm...h=item33f7081f3e:g:4zEAAOSw2WZbwed3:rk:9:pf:0 ) I'd say that price is around my limit for anything. I guess that could mean I am being to hopeful with prices of these quartz lock walkmen. However if I wait long enough someday though a DC2 might come onto the market in my price range.
Whatever you choose, do Not go for D6 or D6C, this will be the end of your collecting... as it happened to me! Re the amps, Ray Samuels are my favorites (I have Hornet and SR-71), Fiio sounded totally flat and uninviting to my ears... I am ogling Lars & Ivan tubed amp, but w/o hearing it first somehow-somewhere I stay put! The amp which helped me thru the flights and prolonged business trips was the HeadRoom AirHead with a Discman and Sennheisers HD-25, in binaural mode it made the horrible Discman's sound more listenable! It looks ugly but can be had off eBay for just a few bucks
