A different perspective

Hey followers, Marlene´s busy at the moment, so it´s me for a change, the guy sharing Marlene´s life and bed. Actually it's the other way round - about two years after we met, she moved into my place and stayed ever since. Some things never change: she still won't go out without a complete make-over, and so she spends more than 30 minutes in the bathroom every morning. Well, sometimes 'morning' would be called noon or afternoon by other people. So let me rephrase my statement to spending more than 30 minutes in the bathroom every day.

After Marlene recently re-discovered her book "Marlene Dietrich´s A.B.C." (whose first edition was published in 1963, about ten years before I was born), I decided to give you an update to her current alphabet: 

A - Atrac and other codecs. It always surprises me that something whose purpose it is to compress data takes so much time to explain and talk about. 

B - Bee hive, queen of the. Nickname is Sumsebrumm. The letters "E" and "C" were already taken, so egocentricity and centre of the world (someone has to be) didn´t make it to the alphabet.

C - CD player, portable. Obsession before mini discs. 

D - Disc. Either compact or mini.  

E - Electronic devices. Perfec for collecting. Confer mini disc players (portable) and obsession. 

F - Fridge. Ever seen anybody checking the best-before dates with a stop watch? 

G - Generosity. No question there. 

H - Herbs, fresh. Especially dill. 

I - Internet. Best invention you cannot buy and collect. Yet it actually is a great help for buying and collecting things - confer mini disc or cd players (portable) and obsession.

J - Joy. Not necessarily connected to collecting portable electronic devices.

K - Kruemelmonster. That guy from Sesame Street showing nearly - but not quite - the same fondness for cookies as Marlene. (And no, we´re not talking about Super Grover.)

L - Long lasting obsession. Confer scores (film), but mini disc recorders (portable) might become a contender. 

M - Mini disc players.

N - Nobbel, Nibbel and the rest of the bunch. Don´t ask.

O - Obsession. Currently portable mini disc recorders, but also confer cd players (portable), mini disc players (portable) and scores (film).

P - Portable mini disc recorders. 

Q - Quality. Your standards can´t be high enough. 

R - Recorders, mini disc, portable. 

S - Scores (film). Just try being forced to listen to a five second segment of the film score "The Black Hole" in an endless loop for hours, and afterwards confer (having developed a headache in the meantime) obsession and long lasting obsession. 

T - Technology. Especially if it´s small, electronic, collectible and audio related. Confer mini disc players (portable) and obsession.

U - U should always listen to a wise woman. Confer beehive (queen of the).

V - Vegetables. At first, they had to be covered in thick sauces of cream or coconut milk. Nowadays, Marlene´s asking for a vegetarian option from time to time. 

W - Word of the month. Currently "pretentious" (for the last 15 months). 

X - Xtravagant taste and standards.

Y - Y were portable mini disc recorders invented so late in Marlene´s life? 

Z - Zzzzzz. The sound at night after a succesful treatment of Marlene´s sleep apnoea. Don´t ask what it sounded like before. I would suggest to confer to avalanche or bulldozers with engine problems but they didn´t make it to the alphabet.  

Don´t take everything above too seriously. There´s a reason we´re sharing our lives. But in case I have to calm Marlene´s mood, I´ll prepare a recipe from her former "A.B.C.". And I´ll be sure to add some dill.  

Something inbetween...

Are you enjoying your day? So do I. Yesterday I was out in the town. After I collected my bike from the repair shop (I look lovely on a bike too) I drove around a while, enjoying the beautifully smelling air, the wind and the sun on my skin. My initial thought was to go to the public library, get a book and sit at a café with a nice cup of coffee at the market place of the town I now live in. But instead I stopped at a little bookstore. BTW, have you noticed how many books from the library aren´t treated well? People touch them with dirty hands, sneeze into them, smear their boogers on the paper... yuck! I was always known as an avid reader and the idea of a library is a nice one - one cannot own all the books in the world. Where would I put them? Still... yuck! Anyway, there I was, strolling through a tiny bookstore (owned by a very nice older lady) and guess what I found: a book written by myself! 

Marlene Dietrich's A.B.C. (Das ABC meines Lebens, copyright by dtv)

Wait... how could they colour the wrapper in pink? And why did they choose this truly hideous font? Who the hell was responsible for this mess? That person should be fired - sofort! I mean... I´m not any old princess or... Barbra Streisand. Those guys can afford to be in pink, they never were elegant anyway. The U.S. version looked much better, it was released in 1963 by Doubleday. But let´s concentrate on beautiful things: I was so delighted to find my book at this little bookstore. Usually you can only find the so-called 'biographies', not even the book by Maria which is the only biography you should read. Apart from this blog of course. It has been a long time since I´ve read this little ABC and while I was drinking my coffee, now sitting on the terrace of the little café, I skimmed the book. It really is a funny book, especially if one gets the inside jokes. And there are recipes inside it! For cooking, not for audio stuff. Because of that I will close this little inbetween article with one of these recipes, you won´t regret it. I was famous for my cooking among my friends after all. Of course, go out and buy the book yourself, you won´t regret that either... but please ignore that ugly cover.

Crocque-Monsieur

A good stopgap for lunch or dinner. Put some fat and several halfed slyces of rye bread in a pan. On that you put two thin slices of cooked ham and on top of that one thin slice of Swiss cheese. Roast it for two minutes on an open flame (gas stove), then slide it into the not too hot oven until the cheese just starts to melt. The bread is scrumptious, the ham juicy, and the warm cheece still looks like Swiss cheese - not like sauce. 

Bon appétit!

Review: Grundig CDP 70 (1993)

Grundig CDP 70

This review is part of a larger comparison containing seven eight vintage portable CD players and the penultimate of these reviews. You can find the final conclusion here.

Overview

The story of Grundig is a sad, yet typical one. Established by Max Grundig in 1930 the company once was Europe's biggest manufacturer of home electronics. Globalization took its toll in the early 80s when Grundig began to struggle. The influence of Dutch giant Philips, starting in the early 70s, grew until both merged in 1984 with Philips taking over complete economic control in 1993, the year the player reviewed here was released. But Grundig couldn´t be saved, it went bankrupt in April 2003. Since then the company has been smashed into several pieces. Its home electronic division emerged out of bankruptcy as a subsidiary of the Turkish Koc Holding. Grundig now exists in name only and lends its prestigious name to cheap home appliances and crappy HiFi electronics.

Grundig's penultimate series of home electronics (dutch advert)

It´s actually painful for some people because this company was an important part of the post-war Wirtschaftswunder ('Economic Miracle'), many Germans connect fond memories with Grundig. Take me for example (although I returned to Germany long after the 'Wirtschaftswunder' ended): over the course of more than 20 years I owned three TVs manufactured by them. The second set was the most interesting, it featured their patented 'Space Fidelity' technology that was able to create quasi-Surround sound out of only two loudspeakers without digital signal processing. I´d have loved to present a photograph of that TV set... but I can´t, it seems to be extremely rare. Well, it also was extremely ugly so maybe there´s a reason that it´s so uncommon. Nonetheless, it was the best sounding TV set I´ve ever heard.

Grundig CDP 70, detail: plastic everywhere

But now to the Grundig CDP 70. Judging from the design and the product finish it must have been a cheap device. It looks really really ugly, clunky and not sophisticated. Sorry, Grundig, but the Japanese did this better most of the time. There´s lots of empty space inside of it, allowing usage of parts usually found in stationary devices. One condenser for example is so huge that I was shocked to find it there. Manufacturing quality isn´t too good since buttons wobble, the lid creaks and tolerances... well, let´s say, Grundig didn´t seem to think that they were important. It also might be quite rare, 'cause I cannot find any information for it online, no one owns it, no one sells it. Which is a disgrace really; it´s actually a well sounding player. Operating it feels awkward, the display for example shows the tracknumber by default - and nothing else. You have to press 'Memo / Time' to enable the time-setting. When you look inside you immediately notice that there´s Sony everywhere. Indeed, half of the ICs on the mainboard are from Sony. The 1-bit DAC for example is the CXD1167Q, a converter also used for several stationary CD players from NAD. The rest of ICs produced by the then still huge giant care for motor / spindle control, error correction and system control. The line-out is amplified by the BA4510, the headphone out by the NJM3414... the latter featuring a horrible performance.

Grundig CDP 70, a rare and not very beautiful looking player

Listening test

Never use the headphone output! It is one of the worst I´ve ever listened to, in this case the audible performance is mirrored perfectly by the measurements you can find below. But the line-out is something entirely different. The most obvious difference to the reference files is that the Grundig CDP 70 diminishes very high frequencies (not so much) and very low frequencies ('bit more). Mids are left completely alone, yet, due to the slightly capped frequency ends, they sound more forward. Reduced treble also affects resolution and detail; definition & general delicacy of high frequency details are impaired (audiophiles would call it 'microdynamics'). Stage performance is close to the reference, stability, width, placement and size of instruments are a match. Depth however isn´t, the stage as rendered by the CDP 70 is flatter and lacks a small amount of air & ambience. Dynamics are slower yet consistent over the whole frequency band. The muted treble / bass also influences attack and punch; they are close but not the same. But the character of the reference files is retained well, only a small amount of aggressiveness is added. This player has so far been a surprise, I never expected it to perform that well. Recommended - but only if you use the line-out exclusively.

Sonic Balance:

Dynamics:

Resolution:

Stage / Ambiance:

Character:

Listen for yourself!

In this section you can compare my reference files to the recorded output of the Grundig CDP 70. I´ve uploaded several 30-seconds excerpts (fully legal) to Soundcloud for you to compare. This an example of transparency you won´t find anywhere else; what magazine offers audio examples of the device it reviews? These examples also serve to show how close to the source itself any device sounds when level differences are eliminated. I fully expect that some of my assessments might sound arbitrary to you, that is because differences with sources are tiny in reality. But please remember that EVERY other reviewer in the world faces the same problem. When you hit 'play' the files will be streamed to you in 128 kBit/s mp3, badly encoded. Therefore, I strongly advise you to download the files, they´re in 24/96 FLAC. With these files you not only have the highest quality possible, you´re also able to have a look at the aliasing performance of the Grundig CDP 70 if you want.

Update 30.03.15: Soundcloud used to host the audiofile containing the compression artifacts. But just this day, Soundcloud decided to delete everything I ever uploaded because their automated content protection system detected several breaches of copyright.
Well, of course it did! For my reviews I need to listen to music and in order to make sound differences available to you, dear Reader, I uploaded several samples, each of them - at max - 30 seconds long. Naturally, this isn´t a breach of copyright, because a) I don´t have a commercial agenda nor background for this blog and b) I don´t advertise filesharers nor do I encourage to download things illegally. I don´t even want to mention, that only 30 seconds (!) of a particular song or piece are far too short to be enjoyed properly by anyone who attempts to be an illegal asshole. Yet Soundcloud fears the lables and their paranoia of copyright breaches which in turn prompts them to be paranoid and incompetent ninnies themselves.
I hate paranoia, I don´t want to have anything to do with stupid people / companies and everything was deleted anyway... so I decided to delete my Soundcloud account. Sorry for that, dear Reader.

Grundig CDP 70, close-up

Fancy graphs (measurements)

Line-out

Grundig CDP 70, showing RMAA's quality assessments

Grundig CDP 70, frequency response

Grundig CDP 70, noise floor

Grundig CDP 70, total harmonic distortions + noise

Grundig CDP 70, intermodulation distortions

As you can see there´s nothing to see. No, really. The only things to bitch about are the frequency response and the too high noise floor. The graph exhibiting total harmonic distortions + noise serves to show how RMAA disinterprets the high noise floor as being caused by the test signal itself. This isn´t true of course, the noise is almost unchanged by the sine, and all distortions are safely below -100 dB. Therefore I´d call the result 'Very good' instead of 'Good'. But not all is well:

Grundig CDP 70, CCIF IMD

The Sony DAC/digital filter sucks at rejecting aliasing components. In the hyperband you can find several aliases being dangerously loud in volume (have a look at real-world-examples in the section 'Listen for yourself!'). The passband (audible band below 20 kHz) looks very good though, displaying only a small amount of inaudible distortions. Nice performance, especially for a 20 year old, portable CD player.

Grundig CDP 70, impulses

No surprise here. This impulse response is modeled after the first CD players released by Philips and Marantz (back then a subsidiary of Philips) in 1982. Those used a 14-bit DAC, combined with 2 fs oversampling and an analogue aliasing filter. This filter produced no pre-ringing but loads of post-ringing and a severe phase error. Many audiophiles however felt that this combination sounded very musical compared to the symmetrical Japanese filtering on CD players produced by Sony. Since Grundig was part of Philips in 1993 it´s no wonder that they employed a similar (in this case digitally working) aliasing filter.

Grundig CDP 70, jitter

I think that jitter won´t pose a problem on the CDP 70. High frequency jitter is close to assumed audibility, low frequency jitter isn´t. Since I didn´t hear exaggerated brilliance (typical signs of high frequency jitter) or muddied lower mids and bass (low frequency jitter), I think that it´s inaudible. Though... the noise floor looks weird. Perhaps caused by something like a 'jitter rejection mechanism' (??), the power supply or something else.

Headphone out

Grundig CDP 70, frequency response, several impedances

Grundig CDP 70, total harmonic distortions + noise, several impedances

Grundig CDP 70, intermodulation distortions, several impedances

Oh my God! What was this headphone output engineered for? To point out how many distortions can possibly be poured into a player that was perfect to begin with? This is really awful, I won´t even describe these to you. This headphone output isn´t suited for ANY headphone at all. The frequency error alone... blegh, forget it. This is a portable unit, yet its headphone output is a complete waste, I don´t understand it.

Last update: 14.08.2013

Review: Sony D-111 (1992)

Sony D-111

This review is part of a larger comparison containing seven eight vintage portable CD players and the penultimate of these reviews. You can find the final conclusion here.

Overview

The Sony D-111 hit the market in 1992 and was the successor to the D-202, at least here in Europe where the D-101 wasn´t available. The D-111 was part of the famous product line celebrating the tenth anniversary of the CD. All members of this line-up, the D-111, D-211, D-311, featured a curved design scheme, alluding to the circular CD. In my personal opinion the D-111 and the D-311 are the beauties of this set, the D-211 isn´t up to the standard of the others. A sidemark: I´d have loved to include the D-311 for this large comparison of several portable CD players... but I cannot. Oh, I own a D-311 - but it´s broken, either its drive or the mainboard are to fault, I don´t know. The display lights up, the disc starts to spin but the player is unable to find it and shuts off after ten seconds. It is rumored to sound wonderful but the only thing I´m able to say about this pure-metal-thingy is that its product finish is the best I´ve ever seen. Which cannot be said about the D-111. The plastic shell feels cheap, buttons and the lid creak, switches wobble. And the size of it... this thing is huge! Sony could have easily designed a smaller housing, its PCB and drive would fit perfectly into the much smaller D-202.

Sony D-111, side view

Being the cheapest model, it didn´t come with a cabled remote like its predecessor. It also lacked rechargable batteries. Apart from that it shares many parts with the other aforementionend models. The drive (KSS-330) is also used on the D-202 and the D-211. Line-out amp (NJM2100M) and signal processor (CXD2500AQ) are shared with the D-202, D-211, D-311 & D-515. D/A-converter (CXD8426M) and headphone amp (BA3570FS) differ though. I don´t know if these things were responsible for its audio performance. You know, I buy these things to find something unique, something with character or something that is the epitome of perfection. This model however has been a huge disappointment.

Sony D-111, close-up

Listening test

Blown-up upper bass / lower mids are the first things readily audible, I think I´d even go as far and call this player bloated & veiled. Sub-bass is diminished, mids are recessed, very high frequencies are muted. All of this impacts dynamics: bass is soft like a sofa cushion, misses snap, punch and tightness, the same goes for treble. Stage is opaque, lacking transparency and focus. Size and position of instruments are lost in the mix. Everything that´s placed to the center seems to step back a few inches... which produces the weird effect of witnessing something akin to a 'hole in the stage'. Madonna and Jay Kay sound fairly distant, as if coming from far away, the same fate meets solo instruments. General width is exaggerated at the cost of impression of depth... but not for every frequency area. Especially bass and lower mids are very wide and spacious, frequencies above aren´t. Sounds uneven and weird. I cannot even talk about resolution, definition or intelligibility, they´re almost absent. All of this should have produced a calm and pleasant sounding player; not so. Despite its lack of precision and attack it still sounds nervous and slightly sibilant. I cannot recommend it for anyone, it is one of the worst sounding players I´ve ever encountered.

Sonic Balance:

Dynamics:

Resolution:

Stage / Ambiance:

Character:

Listen for yourself!

In this section you can compare my reference files to the recorded output of the Sony D-111. I´ve uploaded several 30-seconds excerpts (fully legal) to Soundcloud for you to compare. This an example of transparency you won´t find anywhere else; what magazine offers audio examples of the device it reviews? These examples also serve to show how close to the source itself any device sounds when level differences are eliminated. I fully expect that some of my assessments might sound arbitrary to you, that is because differences with sources are tiny in reality. But please remember that EVERY other reviewer in the world faces the same problem. When you hit 'play' the files will be streamed to you in 128 kBit/s mp3, badly encoded. Therefore, I strongly advise you to download the files, they´re in 24/96 FLAC. With these files you not only have the highest quality possible, you´re also able to have a look at the aliasing performance of the Sony D-111 if you want.

Update 30.03.15: Soundcloud used to host the audiofile containing the compression artifacts. But just this day, Soundcloud decided to delete everything I ever uploaded because their automated content protection system detected several breaches of copyright.
Well, of course it did! For my reviews I need to listen to music and in order to make sound differences available to you, dear Reader, I uploaded several samples, each of them - at max - 30 seconds long. Naturally, this isn´t a breach of copyright, because a) I don´t have a commercial agenda nor background for this blog and b) I don´t advertise filesharers nor do I encourage to download things illegally. I don´t even want to mention, that only 30 seconds (!) of a particular song or piece are far too short to be enjoyed properly by anyone who attempts to be an illegal asshole. Yet Soundcloud fears the lables and their paranoia of copyright breaches which in turn prompts them to be paranoid and incompetent ninnies themselves.
I hate paranoia, I don´t want to have anything to do with stupid people / companies and everything was deleted anyway... so I decided to delete my Soundcloud account. Sorry for that, dear Reader.

Sony D-111

Fancy graphs (measurements)

Line-out

Sony D-111, chart with RMAA quality assessments

Sony D-111, noise level

Sony D-111, total harmonic distortions + noise

Frequency response on the line-out is uninteresting and therefore not shown. More informative are the graphs for noise floor and THD + noise. RMAA is correct in assessing the latter as 'Poor', the amount of distortions generated is probably audible. The noise floor reveals a slight channel imbalance for the high midrange, while it don´t show on the frequency response graph it hints at flaws of the mainboard design.

Sony D-111, CCIF intermodulation distortions

As you can see on the graph above the IC responsible for digital-to-analogue converting and digital filtering sucks at aliasing rejection. Strong aliases at 24.100 Hz and 25.100 Hz won´t be audible but might create distortions in amplifiers susceptible to them... like tube amps for example. Since tubed amps are a stupid idea anyway (inefficient, heat-dissipating & accelerated ageing) I´d avoid them with the D-111.

Sony D-111, jitter

This amount of jitter will be audible. High frequency distortions are below -110 dB, low frequency jitter artifacts are an entirely different thing. The spread around the sine at 11.025 Hz is wide and reaches up to -90 dB, singular peaks go even higher. Bad.

Sony D-111, impulses

Symmetrical pre- and post ringing, tip pointing upwards: correct absolute phase combined with linear phase filtering. Not very successful filtering though, as exemplified by the CCIF IMD graph above. But you can see for yourself with the downloadable files above.

Headphone out

Sony D-111, frequency response, headphone out, several impedances

Sony D-111, total harmonic distortions + noise, headphone out, several impedances

Sony D-111, intermodulation distortions, headphone out, several impedances

Only one word about the headphone output: awful. The D-111 is equipped with a rotary wheel for changing the volume, this test was performed with the volume-setting-mark at '8'. I don´t know how this translates into voltages but you can see the effect for yourself on the graphs above. BTW, distortions are lower at mark '5' or '6', but since the method of turning a wheel lacks precision I wouldn´t count on them being distortion free. I think we have a headphone output with a high output impedance here; the 16 Ohm Sony MDR-W08 lacks bass while the Koss PortaPro shows its typical 80 Hz bass bump. It also causes the output to distort and while the headphones with higher impedance distort less they are still far away from good.

Sony D-111

Last update: 13.08.2013

Review: Technics SL-XP 505 (1992)

Technics SL-XP 505

This review is part of a larger comparison containing seven eight vintage portable CD players and the penultimate of these reviews. You can find the final conclusion here.

Overview

The Technics SL-XP 505 (or Panasonic SL-S 505) probably was released in 1992 and the successor to the Technics SL-XP 300 I´ve reviewed almost two years ago. It cost roughly 250,- Euros when hitting the market and judging from the amount of specimen offered on eBay it didn´t sell that well. Perhaps because it wasn´t so different from its predecessor. Immediately visible changes include a different design, the suspension of the CD drive and illuminated Stop / Play buttons. From my SL-XP 300 the SL-XP 505 carries over the same combination of two 16-Bit MASH-DACs (one for each channel) & an 18-Bit digital filter. However, the Technics catalogue advertises the SL-XP 505 as being 'heat resistant'. And I know for a fact that my SL-XP 300 isn´t heat resistant at all, judging from dried-out condensers on the first of two models I bought on eBay. Which is why I assume that Technics modified the circuit design. Not sure about this though... I´m no engineer, I suck at reading electronic schematics.

German Technics catalogue excerpt, showing the SL-XP 505

Handling is simple, as you can see on the picture above the SL-XP 505 even came with an infrared remote control... which was sadly lost on my model. The DSP now offers a setting called 'Live', this only adds a crappy sounding hall-effect. It doesn´t matter anyway: the sound effect slide switch on my model is kaput, the S-XBS (Bass Boost) is always switched on. What I love about the portable Technics players is that they illuminate their display with an unobtrusive green light when powered by the wall charger. Here the Stop / Play buttons light up as well, featuring the same colour. It´s ridiculous but I love it! Manufacturing quality seems diminished when I compare it to the predecessor. The lid clatters a bit and doesn´t feel as solid anymore. I also think that the design has not been improved, the SL-XP 300 was the more sleek player. But it´s all about sound, don´t you think? This player was reviewed by German magazine Audio in June 1992 and awarded a 'Best Buy'. Sister magazine Stereoplay, reviewing it one month later, wasn´t so generous, they concluded that it sounded inferior to the Sony D-99. Well, what do they know? They´re unable to perform the most objective, sighted listening tests all over the net: they lack my unique testing methodology, 

Technics SL-XP 505 close-up

Listening test

One of the most distinctive features of the Technics SL-XP 505 is its stage response, soloists positionend to the center of the image seem to take a step towards the microphone. This helps articulation, it´s a bit like lip-reading is now easier. Generally, the stage appears to be too compact. But it is as deep and shows superior stability compared to the reference, improving holography as a result. When something veers into one direction, another thing suffers: instruments are seemingly placed behind soloists, they also seem smaller. Decay of reverb tails is reduced considerably too. Normally, this creates a dry sound signature; the Technics SL-XP 505 avoids this by sounding laid-back. High frequencies are never harsh or strident, transients are never sharp or punchy. Resolution suffers because of this, treble articulation loses precision and crispness, details are smeared. Deep bass is diminished as well, on the other hand this is alleviated by the more forward sounding center information, effectively producing a signature that sounds too warm. Reducing bass and treble impacts dynamics. Transients shed attack and punch, timing is slower, yet mids move with effortless agility and in high-speed. Still, the bloated, centric bass causes this player to sound explosive when in reality it sounds nothing of the sort. The SL-XP 505 also adds a small portion of euphonic colour, music sounds as if beautified.

All in all, the Technics is a highly characteristic, articulate, yet warm sounding player. Its sound signature is a mixture of faking a dynamic sound where none exists. Soloists will sound lovely with it, they seem to step closer towards you without invading your perceived physical distance. The Technics SL-XP 505 isn´t suited for classical music or music dependent on precise amounts of bass & treble; for these genres it´s not dynamic and crisp enough. But pop, rock and jazz will sound great with it. Recommended for people who search for character instead of balance.

Sonic Balance:

Dynamics:

Resolution:

Stage / Ambiance:

Character:

Listen for yourself!

In this section you can compare my reference files to the recorded output of the Technics SL-XP 505. I´ve uploaded several 30-seconds excerpts (fully legal) to Soundcloud for you to compare. This an example of transparency you won´t find anywhere else; what magazine offers audio examples of the device it reviews? These examples also serve to show how close to the source itself any device sounds when level differences are eliminated. I fully expect that some of my assessments might sound arbitrary to you, that is because differences with sources are tiny in reality. But please remember that EVERY other reviewer in the world faces the same problem. When you hit 'play' the files will be streamed to you in 128 kBit/s mp3, badly encoded. Therefore, I strongly advise you to download the files, they´re in 24/96 FLAC. With these files you not only have the highest quality possible, you´re also able to have a look at the aliasing performance of the Technics SL-XP 505 if you want.

Update 30.03.15: Soundcloud used to host the audiofile containing the compression artifacts. But just this day, Soundcloud decided to delete everything I ever uploaded because their automated content protection system detected several breaches of copyright.
Well, of course it did! For my reviews I need to listen to music and in order to make sound differences available to you, dear Reader, I uploaded several samples, each of them - at max - 30 seconds long. Naturally, this isn´t a breach of copyright, because a) I don´t have a commercial agenda nor background for this blog and b) I don´t advertise filesharers nor do I encourage to download things illegally. I don´t even want to mention, that only 30 seconds (!) of a particular song or piece are far too short to be enjoyed properly by anyone who attempts to be an illegal asshole. Yet Soundcloud fears the lables and their paranoia of copyright breaches which in turn prompts them to be paranoid and incompetent ninnies themselves.
I hate paranoia, I don´t want to have anything to do with stupid people / companies and everything was deleted anyway... so I decided to delete my Soundcloud account. Sorry for that, dear Reader.

Technics SL-XP 505 front

Fancy graphs (Measurements)

Line-out

Technics SL-XP 505, RMAA chart with example assessments

Technics SL-XP 505, frequency response

Well, the Technics SL-XP 505 measures as mediocre as its predecessor. The audio magazines I mentionend above sometimes described the sound as 'muffled'. While I doubt that -0.7 dB at 20 kHz will be audible they were right. Noise and dynamic range are excellent for a player working with true 16-bit technology, distortions are not. Have a look:

Technics SL-XP 505, intermodulation distortions

Technics SL-XP 505, total harmonic distortions

Igitt, intermodulation distortions should always stay below 80 dB, in case of the SL-XP 505 they come very close. If that´s audible or not, I don´t know. But it might be responsible for its characteristic sound signature. The same is valid for total harmonic distortions, they look strange. Even order distortions are at -70 dB / 2 kHz but they, along with odd order distortions, show some strange behaviour: overtones increase in level towards higher frequencies. It would be normal the other way round, usually harmonics decrease in gain. I think that something else is guilty here... but I don´t know what. We´ll try to find out with the next measurement: 

Technics SL-XP 505, CCIF intermodulation distortions

The measurement above has been 'stolen' from NwAvGuy. It is used to find out if an amplifier creates CCIF (International Telecommunication Union) high frequency distortions when under stress. What? Ampflifier? Aber yes, dear reader. What do you think a line-out is doing? It amplifies a tiny signal so that it can be transported through a bog-standard RCA cable. If it´s a bad amp with high frequency non-linearities it´ll create even-order distortions at 1 kHz, 2 kHz, and so on. It´ll also create odd-order distortions at 18 kHz, 17 kHz, etc. and 21 kHz, 22 kHz... Well, all these distortions should be below -80 dB to be inaudible. To reveal them I use a twin tone signal, the sines are at 19 kHz & 20 kHz, -6 dB. The Technics SL-XP 505 comes close, very close. But I don´t think that CCIF distortions pose a problem. Shit, I thought that this measurement would reveal something. Maybe jitter?

Technics SL-XP 505, jitter

No, doesn´t seem so... wait a minute. High frequency jitter artefacts are safely below -110 dB, so they probably aren´t audible. But low frequency jitter looks peculiar. The base of the spread isn´t wide, yet the (slim but visible) spread around the 11.025 Hz signal points skywards and vanishes right out of the picture. Is that audible? Maybe. Even so, it´s not responsible for those odd high frequency distortions revealed earlier.

Technics SL-XP 505, impulse response

Equal amounts of pre- and post ringing, tip pointing upwards: yep, this is performance by the book with correct absolute phase & linear phase filtering. Quite successful, I might add, 'cause aliasing artifacts are almost absent.

Last update: 08.08.2013