Hi everyone. If iv'e posted this thread in the work place I apologise. O have a question. I have both the Sony d-z555 a d 350 discmans. I bought the 555 back in 1989 and the 350 3 or 4 months later. I love the sound from both units- all personal preferences of course. The volume on my 555 is perfectly listenable. The left and right balance is fine a d the volume can be better depending on the CD being played. I know about the 3 capacitors in the 555 often have to be replaced because of low volume or low volume on 1 side. I cannot remember how loud the 555 was when I first bought it. Now with the 350 it is certainly a lot louder than the 555 a d I know the 350 does have a very powerful headphone out. But they are both rated at 9mw per Chanel. My question is- did they use better quality caps in the 350 than the 555? Or have I just been lucky. Does anyone have any information regarding the caps?
The volume controls are different, one is push button and one is rotary, these are way above my skill level but they both probably have the same basic parts since they were TOTL at the time. Maybe the service manuals can help with figuring out what's going on. I don't own either but does the digital display show the volume going up but the output is not loud? https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/d-350.shtml https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/d-z555.shtml
Hi Mr X. Thanks for reply a d information. Yes the volume push button on the 555 is on maximum but is no way as loud as the 350. Maybe the caps donned replacing but as I have said balance perfect but not so loud. I find it strange that one seems to suffer from this capacitor issue but the 350 does not. Have not heard of anyone replacing caps in the 350. Both top of the line in 1989 and both 9mw out. Thanks for help. Always enjoy your threads. You have a vast knowledge.
They're both dream machines for me, I've always looked for the old square CD players and have only found two in the wild. Compared to everything else I've found it's pretty interesting, I think a lot of people just threw them in a box and they're still there. The D-Z555 was so advanced and had all of the digital sound enhancements, I wonder if there's a way to "reset" them, does the unit have a watch battery to back up the settings, if not the capacitor that holds the settings might have gone bad.
Only the 350 has the extra clock battery. I a absolutely love using these two units. I love the sound from both. Each one slightly different but I love them. It's all a out how everybody evaluates. Every bodies ears are different. Have just been listening to my wm-4 tape Walkman from1982. One of the loudest made a d apart from my brother-in-law replacing the belts its output is just the same. Very strange. Thanks again for your help.
Correction: D-350 puts out 9mW into 16Ohm and D-555 is 9mW into 32Ohm (double-power). They did this trick to make it look good on paper. My minty D-350 with its gondola and clam-shell was a real Beauty, but in terms of sound... nothing special. Way above 1-bit Discmans which came out next year, but everything went downhill towards MP3 after that
Jorge. I understand that. What I'm interested in is what type of caps they put into these various players. I've never opened up any player to look. I find it strange that on some very early wm's,discmans etc- like my Sony wm-4 (30mw output ) apart from having the belts replaced the volume is still as loud as it was when I first bought it. I know that in the beginning more emphasis was put into sound a d build quality but they still had to use caps'. Better quality caps? Why is it then that with other models a d brands did these caps fail? Examples: d-z555 a d a lot of the Aiwas the caps go- why. Cheaper caps, but these were top of the line at the time. When you have replaced your caps in your portables have you noticed particular makes of caps that seem to leap,short etc? I know that components wear out, fail but so many top of the line (most expensive at the time all seem to suffer from this problem. Thank Jorge.
Sony used only brand-name caps, no need to say which because today they makes the best electrolytics available. Philips did buy some no-name caps or rebranded them for their Discmans, but Philips had soo many other f*&^-ups that cheap caps (which, surprisingly, stood the test of time) is the least of their problems. With Sony I know of only one case when they maybe tried to save a few pennies: two 220uF caps in D-90 power supply rated at 6.3V, but one bypass 220uF further down the line is rated at 4V. This cap (C408) leaked out in ALL D-90 Discmans. It has exactly the same dimensions as 6.3V caps, so it was either NOS or slightly cheaper cap. Practically all SMD caps used in 1989-1990 went bad. It was mentioned in another thread that surface-mount electrolytics was a new thing then, and it took a few years to figure all production glitches. Good thing about Sonys is that board traces are thick, but in Denon Discmans when a cap leaks, the traces get actually destroyed by acid.
Jorge. That makes sense. I thought that there must have been something going on. What you say does sum it up. I wonder how many mp3 players etc will still be working after 30 years.
The thing that will kill MP3 players is the batteries and the lack of replacements. I had one where the battery swelled up so much it cracked the display. It wasn't even being charged or anything. In fact it just got lost for about 5 years. I also recently tried to get a replacement battery for my wife's ancient Sony phone. After getting three New Old Stock Sony batteries (the second two were free from the supplier) and finding none of them would charge, I ended up buying a copy, which does at least work. I recently dug out my 32GB Ipod Mini with a view to upgrading it to a sensible size of storage. I thought that it was dead but after about two hours of no life and 5mA current draw when connected to the charger it started charging properly. No such luck with the Sony batteries which I left for a whole day.
Longman. My wife bought me a ipod back in 2008/2009. I listened to it once. Sounded nowhere nearmy mini-disc player. Even the mini disc battery lasted a lot longer than that thing.
