Review: Denon DMD 1300 CD Player
Category: Digital
It is clear from the onset that the Denon DMD 1300 Mini Disc deck was going to be a clear departure from competeing decks. Released in late 1997 and carried a retail price of $799.00 in USD.
Not only a departure from other decks on the market, but as well as Denon Mini Disc decks. For the first time a home recorder,the Denon DMD-1300, contains no ATRAC chips from Sony but from Sharp. The reason was, because in recent years Sony has blocked the passing of the latest ATRAC versions to the competitors.
Then Denon 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.The drive of the DMD-1300 is made fully of metal!
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.
Make no mistake this is a high quality deck in the same leaque as the Sony ES gear at less costs. Reliability has always been a hallmark of Denon products and the Denon DMD 1300 is no exception. Having used this unit for awhile now I can safely say that its sonics are clearly on par with any high end Mini Disc deck I have heard and used.
I can attest to the fact that Mini Discs recorded on Sony MD units play without flaw on the Denon DMD 1300 and recorded Mini Discs using the Denon DMD 1300,play without flaw on the Sony MD units. Total compatability. For once here is an audiophile caliber Mini Disc deck at a more than reasonable price in the pre-owned market. One does not have to spend big dollars on the Sony ES decks, for
the Denon DMD 1300 is clearly in that category. This is not an entry level unit,and can compete with the very best Sony MD units.
While not as plentiful in the pre owned market place, the DMD 1300 is truly worth searching for. To do better than the DMD 1300 one will have to go to the upper end of the Sony ES decks, that usually sell for considerably more, and offer only a very slight margin in performance. However with that being said the DMD 1300 here easily competes with the Sony JA3ES. And the DMD 1300 will cost you less as well.
In my opinion Denon with the DMD 1300 swung for the fences on this one, and succeded very well indeed. The Denon DMD 1300 is a clear choice as an audiophile caliber Mini Disc deck. You can do far worse than the DMD 1300.
Associated gear
Click to view my Virtual System
Similar products
Sony Mini Disc Components
It is clear from the onset that the Denon DMD 1300 Mini Disc deck was going to be a clear departure from competeing decks. Released in late 1997 and carried a retail price of $799.00 in USD.
Not only a departure from other decks on the market, but as well as Denon Mini Disc decks. For the first time a home recorder,the Denon DMD-1300, contains no ATRAC chips from Sony but from Sharp. The reason was, because in recent years Sony has blocked the passing of the latest ATRAC versions to the competitors.
Then Denon 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.The drive of the DMD-1300 is made fully of metal!
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.
Make no mistake this is a high quality deck in the same leaque as the Sony ES gear at less costs. Reliability has always been a hallmark of Denon products and the Denon DMD 1300 is no exception. Having used this unit for awhile now I can safely say that its sonics are clearly on par with any high end Mini Disc deck I have heard and used.
I can attest to the fact that Mini Discs recorded on Sony MD units play without flaw on the Denon DMD 1300 and recorded Mini Discs using the Denon DMD 1300,play without flaw on the Sony MD units. Total compatability. For once here is an audiophile caliber Mini Disc deck at a more than reasonable price in the pre-owned market. One does not have to spend big dollars on the Sony ES decks, for
the Denon DMD 1300 is clearly in that category. This is not an entry level unit,and can compete with the very best Sony MD units.
While not as plentiful in the pre owned market place, the DMD 1300 is truly worth searching for. To do better than the DMD 1300 one will have to go to the upper end of the Sony ES decks, that usually sell for considerably more, and offer only a very slight margin in performance. However with that being said the DMD 1300 here easily competes with the Sony JA3ES. And the DMD 1300 will cost you less as well.
In my opinion Denon with the DMD 1300 swung for the fences on this one, and succeded very well indeed. The Denon DMD 1300 is a clear choice as an audiophile caliber Mini Disc deck. You can do far worse than the DMD 1300.
Associated gear
Click to view my Virtual System
Similar products
Sony Mini Disc Components
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