Sony MXD-D3 CDplayer-Minidisc worth buying?

[brook392]

Hello,

I've seen few models on Ebay for reasonable priced and I was thinking

Is sony MXD-D3 model worth buying? or its just better to have separate MD deck and CD player. I don't think MXD-D3 model support MDLP.

[bluecrab]

The MXD-D3 does not support MDLP, so if you want that ability, you should consider the MXD-D40 or another model that has MDLP. One advantage the D3 has over separate CD/MD decks is its ability to copy at 4x speed. You can compare MD models here: http://minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

[PhilippeC]

I complete bluecrab's answer : the 4X capatibility will create a SP mode MD but much probably with a LP2 sound quality. If you have the place, you can buy a MDLP type S unit or at least a type R unit (SP only), with an optical out if you are lucky.

[l2ob]

I like my MXD-D3 so much I bought a back up. 

 

I don't use the 4X recording Though. I just record 1:1 speed (SP mode) and listen to the Album as I enter in the track names. The sound quality of ATRAC 4.5 is Perfect in my opinion. I simply can not tell a difference between listening to the Original CD vs the recorded MD using my 2.1 setup from the RCA out or my ATH-M50 headphones plugged into the jack in the front of the MXD-D3.

 

for reference: my ears can tell the difference between 320kb/s & 256kb/s MP3 but not 320kb/s MP3 and CD

 

I like this unit since it can be found for "cheaper" than MXD-D40, etc. Also Its very nice for the space savings (since it has both CD & MD decks in one Unit) plus the Big screen & controls are way easier to use vs Portables.

[freddyjollo]

just looked on Ebay - some silly prices being asked for in some cases  MXD-D40 machines  in cosmetic bad condition; seems like some sellers dont learn

[philippeb]

I like my MXD-D3 so much I bought a back up.

I don't use the 4X recording Though. I just record 1:1 speed (SP mode) and listen to the Album as I enter in the track names. The sound quality of ATRAC 4.5 is Perfect in my opinion. I simply can not tell a difference between listening to the Original CD vs the recorded MD using my 2.1 setup from the RCA out or my ATH-M50 headphones plugged into the jack in the front of the MXD-D3.

I like this unit since it can be found for "cheaper" than MXD-D40, etc. Also Its very nice for the space savings (since it has both CD & MD decks in one Unit) plus the Big screen & controls are way easier to use vs Portables.

I fully agree. I could not have expressed it better. The MXD-D3 is a wonderful unit for ATRAC 4.5 lovers.

[sfbp]

One would be hard pressed to beat this price:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-MXD-D5C-5-Disc-CD-Changer-MiniDisc-Player-Recorder-High-End-Vintage-/291459588345

[bluecrab]

One thing I am convinced of is that copying at SP at normal speed on any of MXD-D* decks will produce audibly better (the best, really) results than any of: hi-speed SP copy, LP2/4 copy at normal or high speed. We know that on the MXD-D40/D400 units that hi-speed copying does not happen using Type R, although I am not exactly sure what ATRAC version is used in that case. For the MXD-D3, similarly, it may not do hi-speed copies using 4.5. Anyone know? Just curious.

 

FWIW, I have two MXD-D40s in use. They have been serious workhorses, even if their SQ via A.out isn't quite as good as the MXD-D400 (the 40s have features missing in the 400 though, and the 400 has features missing in 40...too bad Sony never made a CD/MD deck combining all their features...the MXD-D4000)!

[PhilippeC]

No bluecrab, not the MXD-D4000, but some kind of MXD-DH4000 

[NGY]

Such an old thread ... nevertheless, I think some people will find this piece of information interesting: the ATRAC version in the MXD-D3 is not 4.5 but actually it is Type-R.

I was just about to sell my MXD-D3 the other day, then when I opened it for a last maintenance, out of sheer curiousity I pulled the drive off and turned it over. This is what I saw, to my greatest surprise:

Needless to say, the D3 stayed ...

[kgallen]

What's the drive then @NGY, is it an MDM5D like in the 530?

[bluecrab]

"...ATRAC version in the MXD-D3 is not 4.5 but actually it is Type-R. "

I could hardly believe it without looking into it a little. (No slight intended, NGY.) Yet, the JE530 (R) has the same chip. So it's true. How is it possible this took 22 years to discover? Could some D3's have had 4.5? On a practical level, it makes no difference to me, but as a datapoint, it's fascinating.

[sfbp]

(Chimes in with seemingly irrelevant information)

Yes, and the 630 which I have proudly proclaims Type-R on the front panel.

The 2656 was the main outing for Type-R ***before*** the MDLP capability was added to any device. I recall somebody claiming that the Type-R was not present in the first MDLP portables. But the R900 uses CXD-2671-203GA which surprises me if that is the case.

However there's no linear progression because the CXD-2662 is the MDLP Type-R used in so many decks, and 2664 is the Type-S.

 

[kgallen]

On 4/10/2021 at 6:28 AM, sfbp said:

However there's no linear progression because the CXD-2662 is the MDLP Type-R used in so many decks.

(Chimes in with more seemingly irrelevant information)

My take on this is that it took the Sony engineers a few chip iterations to get the MDLP results to their satisfaction between the CXD2656 Type-R and CXD2662 production LP2/LP4 MDLP/Type-R. The deck chips seem to have an even part number. It is possible the odd numbers were used for internal engineering prototypes or highly integrated DSPs for the portables [*]. It’s possible that 2658 and 2660 were unsatisfactory attempts at implementing MDLP. Maybe 2658 adds LP2 only. Maybe 2660 was a first attempt at LP4 and it was so awful Sony felt they couldn’t release it. We will never know because this will be buried in the history and archives of Sony. There is no 2658 or 2660 [**] in any machine we know of. 

[*] Or for the CXA analogue companion chips to the digital CXD. However they did such a good job with the CXA2523 they never needed another one and this was the RF amp chip used from the mid-90’s to the current day.
 

[**] Not true. CXD2660 was used in the MZ-B50. I couldn't find what ATRAC version is encoded, but this is a portable model from 2000. The case legends of the MZ-B50 don't proclaim Type-R or MDLP. I couldn't find anything in the User or Service manual regards the ATRAC version, but surely it can't be worst than Type-R?!

[BearBoy]

I happened to be looking at the Service Manual for the MDS-JB940 yesterday and that makes reference to both the CXD2656R and CXD2662R. Is that a typo or would the machine have both chips for some reason?

The MDS-JB940 is obviously a MDLP machine so wouldn't that mean it used the later CXD2662R?

[kgallen]

I think it’s a typo, Stephen was mentioning similar the other day.

Except for the early machines it’s one CXD (and one CXA) per MD drive. The early machines had multiple CXD devices since at that time (early 1990s) they couldn’t get all of the required circuitry on one chip, so the multiple functions required were partitioned into separate devices. On later machines they were able to integrate everything on one silicon chip.

Here is the MZ-1, the first machine. It uses 5 separate chips where now we have one - one ATRAC chip [CXD2527] per stereo channel, a separate modulation encoder [CXD2525], a separate memory controller [CXD2526] and (standard) DRAM chip [MS514400] (for the 10 second memory buffer that is required for disc fragmentation and gives us the physical resistance to knocks and bumps). This is now all integrated onto one chip and of course the later ATRAC algorithm(s) are much more complicated and compute intensive than that in the first ATRAC1 v1.0 machine.

[BearBoy]

There's also another CXD chip mentioned: CXD9556AQ

This one looks like it does something different though?

[kgallen]

16 minutes ago, BearBoy said:

There's also another CXD chip mentioned: CXD9556AQ

This one looks like it does something different though?

I think that's the DAC for the CD section (assuming we're still talking the MXD-D3 here). I'll see if I can find the SM...

Hmm, no the CD section is one chip, IC101, a CXD2585. From whence is that IC201 you speak of?

[BearBoy]

Sorry, was talking about the 940. Maybe it's something to do with the selectable digital filter the 940 has? The 980, which doesn't have the selectable filter, doesn't have this chip (or an equivalent that I can see).

The MDS-JB980 does have another CXD chip: CXD1873R, which is for the USB board.

[kgallen]

Interesting, yes indeed it seems to be some fancy custom Sony DAC on the output side. According to the comments here, it seems Sony were magicians in high-end DACs. Why aren't we surprised... https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/sony-x555es-cd-player-wow.280433/#post-3446709

You can tell this is a premium machine - they still use the AK4524 on the ADC (analogue input) side, but the DAC in that part is unused. Money to burn at this price point!

(Edit: Replace snapshot with 1-page PDF, as the former was unreadable)

940_DAC_ADC.pdf

 

[kgallen]

32 minutes ago, BearBoy said:

The MDS-JB980 does have another CXD chip: CXD1873R, which is for the USB board.

Ah yes, essentially SPDIF + SIRCS to/from USB.

(I notice in the 980 SM how little there is drawn for the KB  schematic - but all those telling links/jumpers that would relate to what @NGY shows in his PC-Link mod!)