Without doubts, Sony DD series walkmans are the most popular of all personal cassette players. This popularity is not only build quality but also because of sound quality that these walkmans have.. or should have?
As most of you know, Sony WM-DC2 or WM-D3 are the best sounding walkmans ever made (if we forgot about heavy D6C). But what about other DD models? Do they also sound so well? No, there is huge difference between them and above mentioned models. Why is that?
- Head used. While DC2 or D3 use amorphous head, other models use just permalloy head. But I cannot hear well higher frequencies, where these heads are excellent. And anyway, DC2 sounds much better
- Head wear. Those permalloy heads are soft and wear very fast. Most DD walkmans have some hours played.
- Cicruit design and components used. DC2 uses discrete preamp stage while other DD models use IC preamp.
No, there must be also something else.
Frequency response
I measured FR of several WM-DDII to DD33 and result is very surprising. They’re absolutely missing bass, dynamics in lower frequency range is very poor. I am not talking about few decibels. Output level is 20dB lower at 20Hz and at frequency of 63 Hz it is still not in acceptable -3dB level.
In case of DD30 and DD33, this problem is compensated by megabass circuit. When turned on, signal at lower frequencies is amplified.. but how? This effect is most evident at about 60 Hz. With cheap headphones, it improves sound a lot. But what happens if you use quality headphones/earphones? Sound is dull, it is amplified where it shouldn’t be. With megabass turned on, sound is unlistenable. With megabass turned off, it is missing bass. Frequency response is not flat.
When you look at graph, you can see it clearly (the blue line marked as 10uF). I used FR tape and oscilloscope to measure level at various frequencies. I tested it on several DD models, all with the same result. All were tested after complete recap. Do you want better results? Buy WM-DC2! Or use the following modification.
Simple modification to get flat response
Note: these modifications will be audible only when high quality headphones are used. Their real frequency response lower-end must be 20-30Hz, not on paper only
All four DD models have one thing common. They use BA3304F as EQ preamplifier. The capacitor connected in series with the gain-setting resistor between the NF pin and the bias pin, is the bypass capacitor. The value of this capacitor determines the bass characteristics. Value of this capacitor is 10uF. In case of DDII and DDIII models, it is tantalum capacitor. As the tantalum capacitor ages, it causes issues in FR response. Look at the blue line, and peak at about 100 Hz. Replacing this capacitor to new one removed this issue but the problem with poor bass response remained. In later models, DD30 and DD33 Sony used electrolytic capacitors instead of tantalum ones as they probably knew about this issue.
Frequency response at lower frequencies can be simply improved by using capacitor of higher value. I used 47uF instead of 10uF with perfect results. See the ref line marked as 47uF.
- WM-DD30 – capacitors C103,C203, buy here
- WM-DD33 – capacitors C103,C203, buy here
- WM-DDIII – capacitors C102,C202, buy here
- WM-DDII – capacitors C103, C203, buy here
The bass frequency response can be improved little more by using higher value output capacitors – the ones connected between headphone amplifier IC and headphone connector. Modern polymer electrolytes are of very high quality and can have high capacity at small size. I recommend to use 560uF/2.5V instead of 220uF/4V. It is useful especially when small impedance earphones are used, e.g. 32 Ohm. This will improve bass at 20Hz about 6 dB.
