Hi guys, I have a lot of modern walkmans and want to buy a DD type walkman. Which one do you think is a good/interesting model. I've learned from reading the forums that atleast couple of models had a gear teeth breaking problem.

Did all of those walkmans suffer from this problem or was it fixed?

Hey there & welcome to the depths of the walkman section.

The Sony DD concept wasn't anything great but it did enable their designs to get smaller. DD = direct drive, i.e. the motor ran straight onto a flywheel assisted capstain thus avoiding the need for belts which required large motors to eliminate wow & flutter blah, blah, blah.

So, I'd be interested in your reasoning behind why you want a DD. Unless of course you mean you want a WM-2 derivative i.e. any unit with the angled switches on the back. Don't forget that the fine DD9 & D6C's were also Direct Drive.

So, assuming you want a WM-2 based unit then I'd suggest the WM-2 itself as it used a different main wheel design which didn't suffer from splitting. Otherwise you should go for the later DD30 or DD33 versions as most are too late to have suffered from this vile ailment.

Here are the ones you need to look for

WM-2...loads around, look shabby but easy to fix
WM-F5...Waterproof & all have click, tough to fix due to waterproof casing
WM-R2...Rare & seldom suffer from click
WM-F2...As above
DD1...Rare & are all a bit shabby, clicky
DD11...As above but slightly less so, all have click
DD111 - Quartz...bit of a lottery but nothing special about this one. lots on eBay.de
DD-100 Boodo Khan...the rarest & fetch big money, always have click
DC2...best sounding & possibly my recomendation to you, always clicky but worth the fix
DD-30...nearing the end of the era but 1991 build means you'll probably find one with no click
DD-33...same as above but from 1994, this was the last one so usually no click.

thanks for the reply agent, you are right I just wanted a walkman with those buttons. I will look for a dd33. Also, how was the music quality and reception on the sony wireless walkmans.

that is really very interesting. i am glad somebody finally put out this nice list. i have 2 wm-f5 sports in black. one is dead mint in the box and perfect except after 2 minutes of play it broke and it broke so well it is totally locked up and not playable. the other one is well used with scratches and wear about everywhere. it ticks along just fine and the sound with the headphones on is as good as they gets. go figure+++++++++++++++