Is your CD player LYING to you?
Added 2025-07-28 22:13:01 +0000 UTCIf you think you've been hearing full-quality audio from your portable CD player...I have some bad news for you.
The version on YouTube is here: https://youtu.be/IE-yWfkWv_A
Featured music: "Grow Up" by Gloria Tells
Sources:
Sony D-150 photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/34019036@N05/4934600814
Sony D-515 photos: https://hifi-wiki.com/index.php/File:Sony_D-515-1992.jpg
https://www.reddit.com/r/walkman/comments/1g1e21i/restoring_a_sony_d515/
https://marlene-d.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-comparisons-between-hifi-components.html
"Sony Scoops the Competition," The Edmonton Journal, May 21, 1992.
Philips AZ-6847 photo: https://www.lazada.co.th/products/2-cd-philips-az-6847-i5154061201.html
"CD Portables: The Beethoven Test," Stereo Review, July 1992.
Circuit City TV commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbvukTApM_k
Obsolete Sony newsletter about ESP: https://obsoletesony.substack.com/p/how-sony-solved-the-discmans-biggest
L.A. Trade advertisement, PC Magazine, April 28, 1992.
Bell Labs aerial photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bell_Labs_HolmdelTheOval2.png
"Adaptive Quantization in Differential PCM Coding of Speech, The Bell System Technical Journal, September 1973, pp. 1105-1106
"No Skipping," Popular Science, June 2000.
"The Billboard Bulletin," June 27, 1992.
Sanyo CDP-370 photo: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267039540974
Philips AZ-7566 photo: https://www.ebay.com/itm/177201644095
Blue Panasonic SL-S270 photo: https://static.mercdn.net/item/detail/orig/photos/m24760643118_1.jpg?1745150915
Halo and devil horns in thumbnail image: https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/devil-horns-angel-halo_13405584.htm
Comments
Excellent video, sir! Back in the 90s, I didn't really think about the skip protection except that I *wanted* a player that had it. The catch up feature was a nice touch and something that I never even considered before. I appreciate the deep dive into this subject!
Alan Grassia
2025-08-03 12:03:13 +0000 UTCWow-that was very interesting! I always figured buffering was the process but never knew about the speed up procedure to “catch up”! Thanks for the Deep Dive, Colin-and another great episode!
Markintosh
2025-07-31 18:55:06 +0000 UTCNice one 😁
C.
2025-07-30 13:36:02 +0000 UTCGreat episode! I definitely had an affected Sony player back in the 90s and the headphones I used were so terrible I probably wouldn't have been able to hear the compression at all.
Lee
2025-07-29 14:21:20 +0000 UTC
