The MD-Hit from Denon

DENON DMD-1300 MINIDISC-RECORDER

German Stereo Magazine, June 1997, pp 22-25.

by Reinhard Paprotka

Denon had already presented a very good MD recorder last year, but now the Japanese HiFi specialist has come up with a real sensation: the brand new DMD-1300 is clearly better than its predecessor and is even 500DM(~290$US) cheaper.

 

Kunihiko Tamura was obviously proud. When he came all the way from Japan to show us his new MD recorder, the engineer from the Denon audio products group announced that we had there a world novelty on our table: "For the first time a home recorder, our DMD-1300, contains no ATRAC chips from Sony but from Sharp"

What sounds like a dry press report when read could soon have clear consequences, because competition livens up business and as a result of that also drives down prices. How was it until now? During the introduction phase all the ATRAC data reduction chips were manufactured by Sony. Sharp was only involved in the MD portables. By way of the Rainbow Book, which is the standards document for the MiniDisc system, all chip manufacturers are able to join now, and due to the booming Japanese market they do so. Apart from Sony you can get the MD key technology not only from Sharp but also from Matsushita/Technics.

Kunihiko Tamura: "We compared the three competitors and decided on Sharp because of the best relation of price and performance." That seems not to be the only reason, because in recent years Sony has blocked the passing of the latest ATRAC versions to the competitors.

Test Profile

Denon DMD 1300

ca DM 1000

With the DMD 1300, the HiFi specialist Denon has made a big hit for the MD user who wants quality. It has only the standard features, but the sound quality is one of the best. At this price it is a real winner at the moment.

Stereo Test Result: Excellent ***

At least for Denon the trouble is over now. The DMD-1300 uses not only a Sharp ATRAC but also Sharp MD drive components. Of course Sharp calls their data reduction ATRAC too, and so a buyer of such an MD unit has no trouble if he wants to play his MDs on a Sony unit. Compatibility is always guaranteed, even the separate ATRAC generations have identical names.

Denon's MD newcomer uses Sharp's ATRAC 4.0 that, like Sony's, is a single chip solution. Apart from the data reduction logic it contains a sampling rate converter. It is exactly this point that provides the savings potential compared with the present DMD-1500 model. The DMD-1500 used 2 separate chips that were clearly more expensive and had a lesser quality ATRAC. As we said before several times, the [Sony ATRAC] version 3.0 that is used by the DMD-1500 produces noise that is interspersed with so-called "Spratzeln" when you record small signals. ["Spratzeln" is a German word that cannot be translated; it´s like the sound of bacon in a pan with hot oil] From ATRAC 3.5 onward this behavior was completely eliminated. The DMD-1300, which costs 1000DM (~580$US), is free of it. The Denon has DAT quality noise levels. Even when you record with a low recording level, the music presents itself in the same PCM manner as usual. At normal recording levels we could hear no differences compared to Sony ATRAC version 3.5 and higher. Also not to DAT. And so the MiniDisc proves its excellent tonal attributes again.

As with other MD recorders with ATRAC version 3.5 and higher, the sound quality of the DMD-1300 is characterized by the quality of the A/D and D/A converters. On this point Denon has splurged and equipped the newcomer like its big brother: for the A/D converter they use a sigma-delta-converter with 20 bits and 8-times oversampling and for the D/A converter a lambda-super-linear-converter which has proved itself in modern Denon CD players.

The results of the hearing test corresponded to the high expectations: a vivid sound, completely free of the sharpness of the MD pioneer era, the sound quality of the A/D and D/A converters reach almost the level of the ones used in the Sony MDS-JA3ES (which costs 1900DM (~1100$US) and is therefore clearly more expensive!). The test with extremely low music levels leads to the pleasant result that the DMD-1300 overcomes critical signals with bravura. On playback of the smallest signals the Denon shows practically the same accuracy as the Sony JA3ES!

Only Sony's sampling rate converter has slightly better resolution, which is no surprise because it is a separate chip. The quality of the A/D converter is much more important. And if we consider the otherwise convincing sound quality, the HiFi fan can be really happy about the DMD-1300.

Besides the decisive quality improvement from ATRAC 3.0 to 4.0, the Denon has a better mechanical drive: unlike the DMD-1500, the drive of the DMD-1300 is made fully of metal! The drive is bought from Sharp, and so the Denon is the first full size MD recorder that has no components from Sony.

The overall finish fulfills a solid HiFi standard, with a full metal casing and aluminum front plate. The Denon has the usual MD comfort features such as track delete, divide, combine and move, that can be done within seconds. That may sound completely normal for the confirmed MD user, but for the MD newcomer the standard features of the little disc will be enough to make him ask himself why he didn´t use this fantastic medium before. The comfort and the possibilities are, and remain, simply great! A tape - no matter how intelligently it is controlled - can´t keep up.

On balance, the results of the test were that Denon's newest MD recorder convinces us on all points. For 1000DM it has an excellent sound quality at all four relevant points: the ATRAC, sampling rate converter, D/A converter and (!)A/D-converter are super. Finally, a recording fan who wants quality has the option of a recorder with good value. Therefore the DMD-1300 earns the highest award, especially since it comes very near to it´s competitor which is nearly twice as expensive.

 


Lab Report

Parameter

Measured
value

Min.
acceptable
value

Excellent
value

Sound Quality

Frequency characteristics of the data reduction system:
Using multi-tone signals, upper cutoff frequency


>18 khz

 

 

Recording over digital input (D/A converter)      
Frequency characteristics

 

 

 

    Maximum gain drift without pre-emphasis

0.25dB

1dB

0.2dB

    Maximum gain drift with pre-emphasis

0.6dB

1dB

0.2dB

Square wave behavior

Satisfactory

Distortion factor 400Hz at -60dB

0.52%

5%

0.2%

Alias distortion at -30dB

<0.03%

1%

0.03%

Converter linearity, maximum drift

0.6dB

5dB

0.5dB

Converter monotonicity

Good

Noise floor ``digital null''

105dBA

88dBA

106dBA

Quantization noise floor at 400Hz / 0dB

92 dB

77dB

95dB

Recording over analog input (A/D converter)      
Frequency characteristics

 

 

 

    Maximum gain drift

1.4dB

1dB

0.2dB

Square wave behavior

Good

Distortion factor 400Hz at -60dB

0.6%

5%

0.2%

Alias distortion at -30dB

0.07%

1%

0.03%

Noise floor

92dBA

86dBA

95dBA

Quantization noise floor

89dB

77dB

95dB

Practical Issues
Input/Output Values      

    Input sensitivity

196mV

500mV

200mV

    Input impedance

47kOhm

10kOhm

50kOhm

    Output voltage left/right at 0dB

1.84V / 1.9V

    Maximum channel drift

0.28dB

0.2dB

0dB

    Output impedance at 20kHz

0.615

3.2kOhm

0.2kOhm

Sensitivity to vibration

Very good

Mechanical operating noise

Quiet

Average access time

2.5 seconds

General
Dimensions

43.5cm x 10cm x 33cm

Warranty period

24 months


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