Sony TCD-D3 Walkman DAT Player from 1991. $850, these were very expensive and ongoing copywrite litigation pretty much buried them for the US Consumer Market.
Here is The TCD-D8 a later model I think which I managed to pick up on EBay but it was for much less than $850
Sony MDR 414 Earbuds from Stereo Review 1990. It looks like Radio Partners is modding the earbuds as an aftermarket purchase.
Here's a portion of an article about stereo equipment, start at the Walkman and boombox Heading. The full magazine is on www.worldradiohistory.com
The Fisher PCD7 from 1992, Stereo Review Best of CES 1992 Article. This looks like a nice player but Fisher had a bad reputation as an entry-level brand that might have made us miss some of their better offerings.
Technics SL-XP700 CD Player from 1991, even at a year before the Fisher above, it's almost 1/2 the price. It would be interesting to hear from anyone that owns the Fisher or maybe the Sanyo Version.
Seeing the Sony D-555 here prompted me to dig mine out. I bought this some years ago for £175.75 p and sent it for repair to a Sony Engineer operating out of London who repaired it for me and charged £125 so cost £300 in total which I think was quite a good buy in view of the price they are selling for these days
Hi Philip. A lovely 555. May I ask when you sent it for repair did they change the 3 capacitors that seem to always give trouble? If yes how is the volume when listening through headphones. What setting do you have it on. I have to set my volume to max's but still listenable and the balance both left and right is the same.
Hi Denis Thank you for your comment . I am sorry but I do not know if the three capacitors were changed or not but when I last used it the volume was fine through headphones and I did not from memory have to have the volume very high certainly not maximum I recall. I will test it again and check the setting that suits me . Philip
Thanks Philip. It does sound as if my 3 capacitors need replacing although as I said it is ok to listen to. Just like i have turned the volume down. And of course some CD's sound louder than others.
Denis I have played the unit again with the Album Doors. It plays well through headphones even on low volume but the level does change depending on the mode chosen. The loudest mode is in my opinion when the mode is surround sound but I really do not know which mode is best as all sound good to me. The best listening volume level is about 6 on the Volume bar lines I feel but it still plays well on lower levels
Thanks Philip. I listen to classical mostly with the dds at maximum. Oh well something else to try and rectify.
They don't have the retail price for the D-555 unit but it looks really nice, I'm glad your getting some use out of it Philip Taylor, and Derek marshall. It checks all of the boxes for me, square body, well defined but very late-80's buttons, small but still beefy looking. Models like that are definately shelf queens, one of the reasons I went for a design degree was so I could draw similar cool stuff all day long. We need to add a few more headings to the forums, portable CD, MP3, and MiniDisc are starting to really take off and I'm keeping more of an eye out for these models but they are hard to find.
The cassette tape tuner had a patent by Toshiba in 1984 https://patents.google.com/patent/USD276521S/en?oq=usd276521S and the player, you can see the tuning knob opening on the door. https://patents.google.com/patent/USD276999S/en?inventor=takeshi+arimura&oq=takeshi+arimura&page=2
Cool an aiwa MiniDisc Wrist Player. This would have been when Sony took majority ownership of aiwa in 1992. https://patents.google.com/patent/USD350351S/en?oq=usd276521S
