From: GuySonic@aol.com Subject: Sony TCD-D100 Date: Tue, 8 Jul 1997 10:12:59 -0400 (EDT) A customer recently sent 2 of these for a short evaluation and I'm fairly pleased at this little deck's performance. I really need to do a complete review but these are some of the highlights Preamp seems to have about 5 DB more gain and has a true AGC limiter (operates seperately for each channel) that has over 20 DB of overload range! With the limiter on, it is virtually impossible to overload the mic preamp; only effect is to squash the dynamics if levels are set way too high at the level knob setting. This limiter does not distort the signal, it keeps just keeps overloads from happening. Designed to keep clipping and overrange bit distortion from occuring. I haven't had a chance to see what effects are audible when abused (overused) with live music. There's also a quick responding, very very very slow recovering, AGC (not a limiter; works on both channels simultaniously). This new circuit seems to remember a peak level and never forgets it until switched off! Much more testing needs to be done to verify just what this 'new AGC' is really doing. It may be great but it seems that it can really lower a level too far, too quick, and never recover without you doing something drastic like throwing the AGC switch setting which then makes a 'pop' sound. Maybe I just need to know how to work it? The Mic preamp is at least as good as the D8 with perhaps better detail? Maybe it's running on a bit higher supply voltage that the D7/D8. It seems that with the D100, it's much harder to overload the LINE INPUT. The level that I was able to input without any Distortion is over +15 dbm (4v rms). I really couldn't determine where the maximum was because my function generator (that was handy) limited at this output. This could mean a much better time when getting a SBD feed without fearing overloads with this little deck Mic input maximums seemed to be 8.5 mv and 90 mv rms for 0 db and -20 db atten settings; not great but, very workable with the new mic limiter switched in. Headphone amp is at least as good as the D8 (seems a bit more powerful and cleaner when driving the MDR-D77 phones) A/D is very clean sounding (I'm surprised!) but, more trials need to really confirm this. SBM-1 will work fine with this deck (I ran tests to confirm) but, for some reason, Sony says that all previous I/O interconnects and adapter boxes made for D3/D7/D8 will not work with this deck! I haven't checked this one out as yet. Bad News for power usage as Sony supplies this deck with two options. Two Ni-MH AA cells provide up to 3 hours recording time and are recharged in about 2 hours with the supplied charger. AA alkaline cells are rated to last only 1.5 hours! This is not good for festival users but is workable with multiple Ni-MH cells charged and ready to pop-into the easily opened battery hatch; it takes about 10 secs to make a switch. If anyone wants to run this deck without battery concern, I have two options that take 4 C or D cells and connects with a Sony sourced molded right-angle power plug. Recording time will be at least 20 or 45 hours with these external solutions. Cost with Deck & Battery carrying case is $75 & $80 prepaid shipping included. There's a lot more that's new with the D100 and taping tips dealing with the quirks and benefits will be forthcomming. Also, Sony has changed the Mic 'Plug-in-Power' circuit to (it seems) a 'current source' system. Directly plugging in the DSM-6 mics without any other consideration seems to work very well (initial tests are very positive). I much prefer a current sourced supply for the 'Sonics' and it seems Sony has finally provided a decent one! Best Regards in Sound & Music Recording, Leonard Lombardo, Sonic Studios(tm) 'Making Audio History With DSM(tm) Mics' US Toll Free#: 1-888-875-4976 Ph.541-459-8839 Fax.541-459-8842 (2)E-Mail: GuySonic@aol.com (and/or) SonicStudios@compuserve.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: "Gary Davis" Subject: Sony D100 First Look Reply-to: gdavis@loop.com Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 04:57:03 +0000 D100's arrived today at the DAT Store and here are my first impressions: It's not as small as it looked in the brochure, where I think it may have been shown at a slight angle. It's actually only a bit smaller than the D8: virtually the same size in the short direction, smaller in the long direction by about the size of the missing AA battery, and thinner by about half the thickness of a dat tape. It is much lighter than the D8. The color is silver but the black case would keep it stealth-able. The layout of controls, jacks, and displays is completely different from previous models. Advantages: . Separate headphone & line output (combined mike/line input). . Add/erase/renumber ID's with front-panel controls. . Really-neat Headphone Remote (included) is the size of a quarter, has a headphone jack for your own headphones!, 11 buttons of control, and a display which shows everything on the machine including the level indicators! (no backlight on the remote though). . In addition to ALC auto level control, offers a mike limiter position which lets you adjust the volume. It doesn't work for the line input though. . The case doesn't block the line input since it's the same as the mike input. (Doesn't block the power input either). . The headphone amp doesn't seem to distort when turned all the way up (initial test!) . A small clear strip in the body lets you see the spine of the tape (where the thin label goes). . Separate hold buttons on the machine and the remote, cause only those controls to be held. . Instructions tell how to display SCMS (a first for Sony?) . Battery indicator works with external power input. (Is Sony thinking of an external pack?) . GuySonic (of Sonic Solutions) reports significant improvements in both mike and line inputs (see digest #568, last item). It is reported to accept +4 board level without attenuation, which would definitely make it the smallest board-recording system . Thin slide switches to control modes on the bottom seemed unlikely to move by themselves. Drawbacks: . Maximum record time (measured) was 3hrs 25 mins with the included "DAT" AA nickel metal hydroxide rechargeable batteries (1.2V, 1.3Ah). Significantly less with Nicads and Alkalines. . In the dark, there's no way to tell which way the batteries go in. (You can easily put them in wrong). . Everything is smaller, including the range of the record level knob. . You still can turn the light on in Hold mode, but at least the Light and Pause buttons are now completely different. . AVLS on the machine and the remote-- turning AVLS on puts a "Happy Face" on the remote. . Black headphone jack hard to find in the dark (no green light). . Eject doesn't pop open the cover for you. . Doesn't use same accessories as D3/D7/D8. Digital Input works but output is shaky. Remote control doesn't work. Apparently, the D100 puts out less voltage at the 7-pin connector (the LED on the POC-DA12 wasn't very bright). . Batteries are recharaged on an external adaptor, which requires the AC power supply. (You can't recharge and use AC at the same time). . The record level control has less turning range; the numbers are closer together, and it seems easier to move inadvertently. . Limiter doesn't work on the line input. (not that DAT-Heads are fans of limiters anyway, but...) A few other observations: . The transport design is new. . I felt the instructions were unnecessarily confusing and full of warnings against things that probably won't happen ("if a tape switching from SP to LP is played on a deck that doesn't support LP, a loud noise may be heard. Press "stop"). Between that and everyone on dat-heads complaining about tapes that didn't record or won't play, is it any wonder that some newbees are afraid of dat? If only the batteries would last more than 3 hours, you could really stealth with this deck, since you can completely operate it and check levels from the remote (you can't change the record volume though, only the headphone level). Perhaps with Lithium AA's it would last 6 hours or more. Sony doesn't mention if Lithiums are ok (I believe their voltage is higher than regular AA's), but since the supplied batteries only put out 2.4V, and the DC-in jack is for 4.5V, it would seem the machine can operate on a range of voltages. Here's the final drawback. The DAT Store has decided *not* to sell these limited quantity, hot new machines at a closeout price. Thus the suggested dat-heads price: $794. D8: 5.4 x 1.4 x 3.25, 17oz /w batteries, power consumption 1.2W D100: 4.75 x 1 x 3.25, 12 oz /w batteries, power .9W Sony claims that the longest dimention of the D100 is 3.5, not 4.75, but they are in error. --Gary Really, can't a company as big and creative as Sony hire someone to write their manuals who could pass a high-school English class? How's this for advice: "Be sure to cover the poles of the used batteries with elastic tape to insulate it and then dispose the used batteries." Aside from the two obvious grammatical errors, the word "poles" seems obscure here (terminals?) and I've never heard of "elastic tape."