New UK member here. Am in the hunt for a Sony WM-D6 or D6C and that's what brought me here. Looking forward to chatting with all of you
Yeah look for a D6 in as best condition ( as little wear) as you can afford to pay, on e-bay, then send to Deb64 for restoring the trouble areas and full calibration. Budget accordingly. You only need to buy once. (It's the only walkman worth getting in my very biased upside-down-inside-out and back-to-front opinion )
Can you elaborate on that about the d6 other than the D6C which only includes Dolby C which I don't use. All my cassettes are recorded using Dolby b and or nothing, or should I say no noise reduction. Way back when I bought two of each the d6c and the d6. Your comment to recommend the d6 makes me curious, over the d6c so please elaborate if you would please?
D6 was / is considered superior to D6C by some due to: 1.) Has the superior pointy amorphous head "Hyperbolic Laser Amorphous" 2.) Has better quality components (many have stated this around here in old posts) 3.) Audio from a properly restored and calibrated D6 is said to be richer and more detailed than D6C 4.) Has 2 headphone out jacks for 2 listeners at once potential 5.) Does not have that silly useless Dolby C See this 2019 thread at tapeheads: WM-D6 better than WM-D6C? I am another one of those who avoids all Dolby and never used it. I make all my own recordings on proper tapes at the correct levels so tape hiss is almost absent in what I listen to. So Dolby C is something I personally shun etc.,
Hello and welcome to the forum @leamspaceman ! If Dolby is never to be used or only B is to be used, then indeed a D6 might be the better option. However it is to be considered resotration on a D6 is more involved (meaning it will be more expensive) than a D6C due to the servo potted modules. D6 has 5 potted modules compared to just 3 on the D6C. Also, D6s have been only manufactured for 2 years, while D6Cs for 18 years. So while the D6C is very common the D6 is harder to find in good condition and at a good price. You really can't go wrong with any of the two. Being in good condition and serviced is more important at the end of day. As far as Dolby C goes, I know many people have never used it and think it's a technology that has never worked or was never necessary. Want to add some remarks: 1. Dolby NR (especially C) is very sensitive to correct calibration both on the recording and playback side. When correctly calibrated it won't do anything more than lower the noise floor, which is what it's designed to do. When there is tape path misalignment, incorrect levels (PB or REC) or incorrect bias it can render muffled sound and breathing (noise modulation) artifacts. One could say that's a good reason to never use it. However those problems will still be there when no Dolby is used, it's just they won't be so obvious. 2. While recording at the correct levels on good tapes will render good SNR, there is an audible difference between a SNR of 45dB, 55dB (Dolby B) and 75dB (Dolby C). In the signal to noise ratio, we can only raise the signal in a normal recording, the noise floor will remain the same. Noise floor can only be improved by using a better tape or NR. Depending on music recorded, we might be interested in the noise floor itself more than the SNR. Music with quieter passages will reveal the noise of the tape and we can't compensate by recording hotter if there are also louder passages. 3. Dolby C, apart from lowering the noise also has headroom extension and anti-saturation circuits. Meaning one can record the same tape hotter with Dolby C than with B or no Dolby. This said, of course Dolby NR isn't for every recording. On many good tapes recorded with music that doesn't have many quiet passages, no NR is required. On the other hand, I'm amazed by how much this technology can improve a tape recording, Dolby C rendering sound quality close to CD.
I'm just letting you know that I went to the link that you provided above and posted a response which is now waiting for moderator's approval in that site and I go by a different name in there which is this name ( decentman4you ) so thanks for letting me know that that was there and I haven't been in that site for quite some time but I'm now in there once again. Just my comments are waiting for approval. Woohoo. Thanks!.
