I saw that listing on ebay, i really wanted to get it for its price but decided not to since its broken. Instead i got an aiwa hs-pc202mii and a Panasonic RQ-S60. Congratulations on your purchase! Does anyone know a good guide for buying walkman online and making a good estimate of a walkman's quality?
Hi Cris, I wish I could post a link, but this wasn't that recent and the listing is no longer available I only have this: This has to be my best buy in over 10 years of collecting and something that will probably never be repeated. I was just searching Ebay at the right moment and bought it immediately, still makes me smile
Absolutely incredible, I thought this kind of thing was a thing of the past. Glad it was one of the family and not someone on the make.
Yeah someone could have made a big profit on this one even left as it was! Over the years I have had quite a few unbelievable finds on Ebay, the BIN $10 WM-10RV which dear John helped me with, more recently I did manage to get 2 Panasonic RX-S40's for around £15! both working, there's probably a few more but I can't remember without checking. I could do a whole post on them all, something about there all still real bargains to be had on Ebay. I think it's about how much time you can spend searching, I can do 5-6 hrs a day and saved searches I have 150, and receive around 40 emails per day from these.
You can just use it with a headphone amp, i use all my Walkman with an external headphone amp. Picture of my DC2 with a P-51 Mustang headphone amp below. Most of my headphones are hard to drive hence the use of amp for more control of the headphones and better sound. Not sure i would pay more than £200 for a DD9 and it's not as good as a D6C. My DD9 does not get much use and the DC2 is my everyday machine.
Yeah I agree about the need for a headphone amp the DD9 struggles to drive difficult loads, I don't have a D6C but my D6 easily beats it. It does however work very well with MDR-40's or MDR-51's and for a bit more bass MDR-54's.
i bought these for my dd9,only low 24 ohm no need for a headphone amp, it's that good i let my d6c go http://www.ebay.de/itm/Sony-MDR-XB-...267297?hash=item1a1b1148e1:g:x0wAAOSwnNBXYgpx but these are rare
Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll bring my D6C, MDR-40's and Sennheiser HD 600's for the test drive to see how I like it. The DD9 may struggle with the Senns - at 300 Ohms, where the D6C has no problems? Just checked evilbay, most offers are from Eastern European countries at £500+, one Russian seller wants £1450. No wonder other sellers think this is the current price level and want silly money too, but do these eventually get sold or what?
Just back from a trip out of town to test the DD9. Turned out the seller hadn't found the box or power supply he had searched for in his house. All he had was the player itself and a pair of MDR-E741 phones, he said had come with the player. He had bought it on a trip to Germany for just under £400, and it had been sitting unused in a closet in his bedroom for about 20 years. According to the online service manual the original phones should be the MDR-E575. The player looked near mint except for a few back side scratches, caused by the screw on the case. We put in a fresh Duracell battery and a casette and started playing. The transport worked after some trial and error, although a little hesitant at times. The battery compartment lid got stuck and wouldn't open. We managed to open it again after struggling for a bit. Opening the player was a bit wobbly as well. FFW and Rew were very slow. All three swithces and the volume control were very scratchy, better after some firm handwork, but the sound was weird. Thin on his phones and a little better on the MDR-40's. The Sennheiser HD 600's were way too heavy a load for it resulting in a very weak sound. We used my D6C as a reference and soon realized that the headphone output on the DD9 was unbalanced, with the right channel barely audible. Tried his phones on the D6C and both sides worked, the right channel problem had to be on the DD9. Then I dropped in my Sony Azimuth 10KHz test tape which revealed a very dull sound and confirmed an almost mute right channel. I now suggested to call the Sony Service Center in Oslo and seller agreed. The technichian there said that the mute right channel could be a number of things and that a complete overhaul of transport and amplifier plus azimuth correction would usually be around £200, provided they still had the neccesary parts. Their remaining stock was very limited and additional parts were no longer available. Had it been cheap like Dave's I would have bought it anyway, but the seller was fixed on getting at least £400 for it. He had seen the prices on ebay and used that as his reference for this Holy Grail Walkman, as he put it. So, I got back on the train emptyhanded and disappointed, but now I have at least seen and tried one and will be ready if opportunity knocks again.
going 10 years back in time. i had 2 of those for 25-30 euro a piece. too bad walkmans are too popular now. the fun is over. just like classic racing bikes. having c-record bikes for 150 euro, well not today. it's not fun anymore
@toocool, just love the DC2.. the DC2 isn't the d6c. but it's sooo 80's. personally, it's the walkman for the insiders. it's not perfect, but to me. it's THE walkman.
The DC2 is my weapon of choice, my everyday machine. It’s not too big and sounds fantastic, best compromise between the best I have which is the D6C.
Well, I finally got lucky and found a DD9! Thanks for the good advice here, guys, very helpful. High end walkmans are hard to come by here on the northern fringes of Europe, but I've been running a 'want to buy' ad on our local 'Craigslist' for some time and was contacted recently by a guy who had one and was willing to sell, if the price was right. Got it on friday and tested it in the weekend, lovely player. Two previous owners but hasn't hardly been used at all - looks brand new. Had to pay about 10 times what Dave paid for his - £270. It came with no battery, no charger, no power supply and no phones. I've been testing with an AA battery and lowly in-ear Sennheiser phones. Works as it should and sounds great. Only one concern so far: when out for a fast walk with the DD9 in my pocket I got a slight hint of wow and flutter, that I haven't heard with my DC2. I'll clean the pinch-rollers and capstan and see if that helps. Anyone else had this issue with these? JB
