Let us know! The EX2000 and EX20 have the Mega Surround option, and for that a separate IC: NJM2190(V). It is also referred to as SRS 3D Headphone sound processor (https://www.digchip.com/datasheets/parts/datasheet/330/NJM2190.php). Did Sony try to incorporate similar features as in their later MiniDisc portables, the digital Acoustic Engine / Virtual Surround settings?
My DD9 is the only Walkman that can handle my SA-X Chrome 90 tapes playing music like Queen. Even my AIWA PX101 suffers from a little WF with these tapes.
That sounds amazing. I would love to own a DD9, I prefer to keep both kidneys though. Happy to pay a fair price, within reason. Not too long ago I came across a DC2 for 3000 Euros, mint condition, no box or accessories. Absolutely bonkers.
Emiel is right. If you have a great DC2, it's pretty hard to hear the difference between it and the DD9. I love my DD9 but €2500 was a blow to my wallet, and the guy wanted €3400 but I convinced him to be more reasonable lol. When looking through Walkman.land and the frequency response of some of the heads in walkmans, you'd be kind of shocked to find there are far better heads (than what the Sony DD's have) available too in the likes of the Aiwa's and even Panasonic. It just comes down to what you want. If you have a well calibrated non-DD Aiwa with very low W&F, you can get a better experience than out of the DD models because the heads in those really aren't much to write home about. For example. The DD9 is impressive at: 20-20000 Hz, but you sure are paying for it with $$$$. The DC2 is somewhat unremarkable at 40-15000Hz, and they are still very expensive. There is somewhat noticeable "lack" of lows in the DC2. It sounds a lot more neutral. The DD33 has the same 40-15000Hz though it's not amorphous, so it'll wear faster. It's also missing the line-out and has the lower quality IC with mega bass that sounds kinda bad. Then however you have the Aiwa PX30 with 10-20000 Hz and even the crown jewel Panasonic RQ-S80 with 15-21000Hz. It really all comes down to what you want. As some of those models have very low FMax output. Gun-to-my-head I would pick the DD9. As I said, I am not "ungrateful" for my DC2 and I got it at a 'steal' at only €400 exactly, in absolute perfect mint condition and this was in Feb of 2023. Even Marian said it was one of the best condition ones he had ever seen. Yet I think it's the head that kind of lets this model down. If you could throw an HX-NG head on it, it would be no question the best model. Finally and really most importantly comes the tape type and how well the recording was. I have some tapes that sound horrible no matter what device you play them on. eg. my Type-I tapes of very old Persian music that I like but don't play much. Some of those old tapes are also not good for the cassette head in your devices either. Some would argue it's better to toss those tapes even and use a re-recording on a better tape. As I don't have anything that can remotely do good recordings, I am kind of stuck with what tapes I have. You can still (rarely) find someone willing to sell a DC2 for about €400-500. For this price I think it's absolutely worth it. By comparison some people are selling DD33's for about the same (€350 in near perfect condition). I would not pay this, especially after having listened to a recalibrated/mint one and not being impressed. The DD30 might be worth it (I don't have, but would like one) and maybe even the DD3 (I do have one, and am often blown away by how good it sounds (Thanks again Marian!)). Maybe I would even be crazy enough to say that my DD3 is really, really good. In fact, it kind of has no right to be good. So a lot of it comes down to "luck", age of components, tape et cetera. Can't wait to get my hands on my recapped EX2000 and see if 30 extra years of tech improvements did anything for sound quality. In short, I think DC2 is a little overrated. In this class, DD3/DD30 are about as good enough, just minus the line-out. The line-out is useless unless you are connecting to an amp anyway. The DD9 I love thanks to the feather touch buttons, auto-reverse and it does have a really nice head. I think I may need to beg Marian though to have a look at it and be sure it's running well.
Thanks @givemeyourwalkmans! The sound from the DD33 with D3 head I find enjoyable, when MegaBass is switched off. The serviced EX90, or 700 series, I find nicer to listen to: for me at present the Kenwood CP-E7 wins with Dolby C recorded tapes. Recently I have started to enjoy some later Panasonic models too, yet undecided though. As long as you can enjoy listening to (good quality, properly recorded0 tapes, your results may vary. In terms of playback stability, all they above might not be close to the DD9, but that is not a deal breaker to me.
I've found that as long as the W&F are low enough, so many Walkman can sound fantastic. In fact, the only reason I don't listen to my PX-587 is because the W&F is horrible on it. It has a wealth of functions and a good head but it needs a real service which I don't have time for and I need a few donors for parts. Likely I'll never get around to it. In my opinion speed and W&F are the two most important things on a Walkman. That means any Sony DD or anything with anti-rolling mechanisms etc. generally sound the best to me. Even if the heads aren't all that good. If the motor runs properly and there's no clicking or other noise coming through, they are usually golden. Despite the fact I own so many Sony's, I prefer Aiwa. If you really want an amazing cassette player, the best price-performance ratio is an HS-PC202. Any of them, Mk1, 2 or 3. They have literally no right to sound as good as they do. They're small, crammed with buttons and functions but still it is an absolutely gorgeous model that sounds as good as it looks. It is LOUD, like really loud and the DSL shakes the bones in your ears. It's one of the few Walkmans that can get so loud without distorting the sound at all. If you can get one that has good caps and a good belt, on a blindfold test you'd likely pick it over any perfect condition DC2 or DD9. I'll never forgive Sony for what they did to Aiwa.
