DD Line: 's best sounding walkmans

I want to share with you more walkmans of my collection, this time is about the famous SONY DD line. These walkmans are well known as some of the best sounding players, not for the EQ possibilities, but for the wide frequency response and very low wow&flutter.

The Walkman II (or WM-2)

This milestone walkman was the second walkman after the legendary TPS-L2 (more info about this player  here) and set the base design for all the DD line, even that it hasn't the DD system:

The WM-II.	The WM-II with its clip.	Both silver and red version.

The special placing of the main buttons has become a sign of identity of all the line. The Wm-II was a huge improvement over the TPS-L2, specially in terms of size, as it was the world's smallest walkman at the time. My unit has been serviced but it has a severe problem on the motor, but I managed to achieve the necessary parts to fix it.

WM-DD

Later came the real first DD walkman, with the DD system, with stands for "Disc Drive", and allows a low sound distortion, wow&flutter. This systems doesn't use a common belt, and that's why it doesn't suffer the known problems related to belts. This caused that every DD walkman is known for having a very good sound quality, even without EQ.

The WM-DD, the very first model with DD system.	The red version, very rare.	The gold version, extremely rare.
My silver and red versions.	The complete DD line, from renzgi, a serious swiss collector.

I find this walkman to be one of the most clean design that lasts over time. A true classic, like good Leica M cameras.
I have two models: silver and red, and both still work and sound pretty good!

The WM-DDII: arrival of the Dolby system

Later came the DDII, with Dolby B system, which was the main lacking of the previous model. Externally there were very few changes (like the plastic volume control), but internally there were some, as you can read in this article at Walkman Central.

SONY released the same DDII in various flavours. I have only the silver and red ones.

The WM-DDII, the sucessor of the DD, which features Dolby system.	The red version, rare.	It's curious that I found this funny sticker when I bought my unit on UK. Considering that the unit has about 27 years, I didn't take care of removing it ;-)

The WM-DC2, high-end player with Dolby C

Based in the DDII, Sony released the DC2, focused in playing performance, by adding a amorphous head and Dolby C. It is known for being one of the best tape players ever made. This player shows a slightly different design and has a superb playing performance, close to the D6C.

The DD-100, aka Boodo Khan, the most legendary player

In 1987 SONY released a new player, the first with a ground-breaking feature: a dynamic bass amplification, called DOL, which was the grandfather of the popular Megabass system. It changed the history of pocket music players.

The legendary Boodo Khan, the first walkman with dynamic bass amplification.	The Boodo Khan in its box.	This awesome player came with a pair of big headphones, as it was targeted to audiophiles.

You can see an extensive article about this player here.

The WM-D6C, absolute king in recording performance (and weight too)

At the time when reporters needed to record speeches, they needed a walkman with extraordinary recording performance. That's why SONY released the superb D6C. This player outperforms any other walkman in terms of recording and playing performance. It even surpasses most hifi decks, and it's at the same level as the best high-end decks (like Nakamichi ones).
This it not a joke, and I can now say it after having my unit serviced and fine-tuned by the extraordinay Dr Walkman.

You can find more information about my D6C in this interesting article.

The WM-DD30: DD with Megabass

The next significant improvement came with DD30, that has MegaBass. In fact, there were some models between DDII and this DD30: the DD100, aka Boodo Khan with its DOL system,and the D3, with the same external design that is found on DD30 but without any bass amplification system.

The WM-DD30 in silver, the first DD model with MegaBass system.	The red version, very rare.	There were also red and black models, each one of them very beautiful.
The DC2, DD100 and DD30.

SONY released the DDIII, which has the same features as the DDII but with the same design as the DD30. But I'm not interested in that model, because it doesn't feature anything interesant. So I consider the DD30 the real improvement over the DDII. The DD30 is one of my favorite walkmans of all, specially for its sound, because I find the megabass excellent on the mid position: the newer models have a weak 'mid' position and excesive 'max' position.

WM-DD33: modern design, same features as DD30

After the DD30 came the DD33, which has almost the same features but a new design that conserves the main lines but with a rounded, modern design:

The WM-DD33 in silver color, the last model of the DD line.	The blue version, very rare.	SONY released three versions apart from the dark grey: in silver and blue color, but not in black one. I like every one of them so much, specially the blue one.
If I join the three clear designs of the DD line, this is how they look.

Beauuutiful!!

WM-DD9: The 'holy grail' of walkmans:

On 1989 SONY released the DD9, a very special DD walkman: the only one with two motors and auto-reverse. It also has a special amorphous head and many other improvements, like the absence of the famous 'click' that afects almost the entire DD line:

It's known for having the best sound quality of all walkmans, not in terms of EQ but for distortion, wow&flutter, etc...
Dr Walkman says that this DD9 is the absolute best player in terms of audio quality, even surpassing the 'king' D6C.

It's very heavy and it's powered with only one AA battery, and you can feel the high quality on every corner. This thing feels like a good hi-fi.