PhilippeC Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150586496364&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_949 http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150586498036&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_949 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrab Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Beautiful decks, both of them. A champagne MDS-JE780 just sold for USD 410 on Ebay, almost as much as I paid (combined) for my JA333ES and JA20ES. It took 31 bids to get to that price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azureal Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 bluecrab, I saw that 780 also. What a sweet machine, I was not "watching" it so I did not see the final sale price, wow 410 bucks. That's crazy! I am certain that the 20ES has a better mechanism however and likely weighs two or three times as much ... Same for the 333ES. My 940 seems like a feather when compared to my 20ES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Seems there are very few NetMD decks made/sold in USA/Canada. This puts them at a premium. The JB980 never had a North American model. The MXD-D400 has no NetMD. If you don't mind either fixing the transformer or running on a 110->220 upconverter, the best place to find a 780 or one of the other NetMDs (with TypeS, of course) is the UK (or perhaps France/Germany). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrab Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Seems there are very few NetMD decks made/sold in USA/Canada. This puts them at a premium. The JB980 never had a North American model. The MXD-D400 has no NetMD. If you don't mind either fixing the transformer or running on a 110->220 upconverter, the best place to find a 780 or one of the other NetMDs (with TypeS, of course) is the UK (or perhaps France/Germany). I would gladly get a couple of 110->220 transformers for those decks Philippe pointed out, even though as a by-default Mac guy, the NetMD part wouldn't do me much good. However, the 980 and the 333 have the desirable S-TACT. I am not sure if the JB940 has that - it should, in a just world - so probably the 980 would be a step up. And certainly I could live with another 333! I use a 100>110 transformer for my Japanese MXD-D400 with no apparent ill effects. The thing that struck me about the 780 was that according to its specs, it's a lesser piece of gear than the 980, yet still sold for a big premium. I think you are right that the NetMD had a lot to do with that, also its champagne color, and also that it was described as in really excellent condition. I wonder who buys something like this. If it were someone on this board, they'd probably let us know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 the 980 and the 333 have the desirable S-TACT I just checked all the relevant service manuals, and can find no trace of anything except this AD/DA chip called an AK4524-TP It seems to be in the 440,640,940,980 and goodness knows how many others. Where is this S-TACT documented, and what is its part number? The cynical side of me wonders whether someone got peddling snake oil here... Stephen FWIW the datasheet for the AK4524 is here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Looks like 920 uses CXD9767N (predating the S-TACT) 930, 770 and presumably 780 use the same one as 640/940/980. 480 does NOT, preferring something called AK4552VT-E2. Not sure what the difference is. MXD-D400 uses AK4584VQ CMT-PX3 and MXD-D40 and MXD-D5C (all have same MD digital board) use uDA1350AH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrab Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I just checked all the relevant service manuals, and can find no trace of anything except this AD/DA chip called an AK4524-TP It seems to be in the 440,640,940,980 and goodness knows how many others. Where is this S-TACT documented, and what is its part number? The cynical side of me wonders whether someone got peddling snake oil here... Stephen FWIW the datasheet for the AK4524 is here Here is where I first saw mention of the S-TACT: http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-CDP-XA55ES.html It's referred to in the MD Equipment Browser, as well. The JA333ES has this, possibly one of the reasons it is such a good MD player. If you are knowledgeable about this technology, please feel free to expound, either here or via PM. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I think I found the AK4524 referred to for the SACD player. Can't find it now, so maybe this is duff gen. Anyway the JA333ES has a different chip (CXD9556AQ) from all the others I surveyed, it looks more complex. Presumably this is the S-TACT. I freely admit I don't really know about DACs and ADCs. However I have been reading that article by R.Daneel I posted a link to, about how most of the Sony decks do this 24-bit analogue input thing ("Wide Bit Stream"). To come back to your original point, there's nothing special about the JB980, from what I can see. Stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrab Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 bluecrab, I saw that 780 also. What a sweet machine, I was not "watching" it so I did not see the final sale price, wow 410 bucks. That's crazy! I am certain that the 20ES has a better mechanism however and likely weighs two or three times as much ... Same for the 333ES. My 940 seems like a feather when compared to my 20ES. Yeah, the JA20ES has the little tray for the MD, always fun. Stick a little turret on that deck and some treads and you've got a nice mini-tank ;-) The JA20ES is listed over in the Equipment Browser at 16.5 lbs, while the JA333ES makes even that look light, at ~23 lbs. The 940 is almost light enough to balance on one finger, but one has to admit, it's a great deck and likely one of the best MD deck values ever offered. (I see it is actually listed as 11.7 pounds, but that seems like twice what it weighs.) I think maybe the heavyweight champ of MD decks is the JA555ES, at 33.7 lbs. Unit was discontinued because too many people strained their backs taking it out of the box ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilippeC Posted April 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2011 SONY MDS 940 MINI DISC 97,00 GBP SONY MDS JA 333ES MINIDISC 370,11 GBP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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