D-NE900 VS. D-NE920

[rockphantom]

Howdy,

Today I received a refurbished Sony D-NE900 as a replacement for my 7 month old D-NE920 CD walkman which died a premature death 2 weeks ago.

I have read that the D-NE10 is superior (sound quality wise) to the D-NE20 & D-NE920. I would like to know if that was the case for the D-NE900. I listened to the D-NE900 for a while and was impressed with the SQ, though I wish that Sony had sent me a brand new D-NE10.

I was curious as to how the 2 models stacked up, so any input would be greatly apppreciated!

Thanks!

Milan

[pata2001]

From what I read in headfi, it seemd the NE10/900 has more powerful amp than the NE20/920's digital amp. However, some users have problems with noise with the NE10/900, while that's not the case with the NE20/920, thanks to their digital amp.

IMO, I would rather get an NE920, because its LCD is backlit. That is not the case with the NE900. SQ wise, I doubt you could notice any differences betweem both under normal use unless you use a really sensitive equipment in a quiet room.

[rockphantom]

Thanks for the info Pata, I do miss my D-NE920. I wish that unit was not so fragile.

In my 2 hours of use of the D-NE900, I must say that it feels much more well built than the 920. Though the 920 had the far superior remote and LCD display.

I did not notice any background noise, I'll keep listening and report anything of interest that I may find.

I am hoping that the D-NE930 is unveiled soon, anxious to see what changes Sony has made to the 2006 line up.

Milan

[Damage]

Try this: Use your most sensitive headphones, crank the unit volume down to zero and press play. If you hear a soft hum, then most likely, you will hear noise in the background especially during quiet passages (with better headphones, this will be more noticable). I've not noticed this with my D-NE20 but I know there is some noise associated with D-NE900.

The D-NE900 is no slouch when it comes to playback and has all the playback features of D-NE920 save the better LCD screen. The difference comes with couple of items, the first being the background noise, the second is the lack of any tactile feedback on the unit itself. If you're fine with the level of controls on the iPod shuffle, you can probably get away with using the D-NE20 as is. Otherwise, you'd want the D-NE900 at the bare minimum.

By the by, the cheaper D-NE520 units has severe noise problems despite it being equipped with Digital Amp. D-NE20 does not have this (I just double checked to be certain).

[rockphantom]

Thanks for the info Damage!

Much appreciated.

Milan

[Guest Stuge]

D-NE920 is far much better than D-NE900 but I feel personally that i didn`t find any difference in sound quality.But i have seen that my old sony audio cd player (D-E225) has much more bass than these player.In the past sony used Digital Mega BASS ,which was very nice but now they r using parametric equalizer which has more treble than bass.

[Damage]

D-NE920 is  far much better than D-NE900 but I feel personally that i didn`t find any difference in sound quality.But  i have seen that my old sony audio cd player  (D-E225) has much more bass than these player.In the past sony used Digital Mega BASS ,which was very nice but now they r using parametric equalizer which has more treble than bass.

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Actually, I should've noted the return of Digital MegaBass in the form of ClearBass for D-NE920/20. It distorts less when you're using Clearbass but by no means a good way to get extra bass in your music. The parametric equalizer is better overall for fine detailing that tune of yours rather than Digital MegaBass/ClearBass. Something that gets overlooked...

[Guest Stuge]

Actually, I should've noted the return of Digital MegaBass in the form of ClearBass for D-NE920/20.  It distorts less when you're using Clearbass but by no means a good way to get extra bass in your music.  The parametric equalizer is better overall for fine detailing that tune of yours rather than Digital MegaBass/ClearBass.  Something that gets overlooked...

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Thanx for that information & clearing my concepts

Abhinav

[KUTA]

d-ne900 is the best

[Embio]

erm... that might require some justification you know ;-)

[Guest Stuge]

d-ne900 is the best

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Kuuta

whenever u give such comments pl justify them .As these comments r not easy to digest

[rockphantom]

Well I have had the D-NE900 for 7 weeks now and I am beginning to prefer it to the D-NE920.

The bigger remote is a major plus to me!

The slimline remote included with D-NE920 was too cumbersome for me to operate.

I appreciate how each function on the D-NE900 remote has its own button.

Also, I can hear details on my favorite CDs with the D-NE900 that I could not hear on the D-NE920. I assume the more powerful analog amp had something to do with that.

Overall, I am happy with my D-NE900 refurb,

Can't wait to see the D-NE30 (?) line up next spring.

Milan

[Guest Stuge]

Can't wait to see the D-NE30 (?) line up next spring.

It may interesting to see ...Further development in D-NE20 will be really good