A BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Towards the end of 1988, SONY released a player that made history for being one of the most advanced players at the time, thanks to the combination of a very small size, advanced electronics and feather touch buttons, high quality sound thanks to the EX Amorphous head, the brand new Megabass system, the Dolby C noise reduction system and other cool features. But in my opinion it was its design what set new marks in the walkman era and was a prelude of the design that many brands used later in the 90's, with more rounded lines (and even today are). I think that the 701C was the first model of a new generation of devices with a design of a new era.

It was the combination of all that features that made the 701C a milestone in the history of walkmans.

CONTEXT

After the WM-DD100 Boodo Khan, SONY decided to keep the DOL system as a high quality system for HI-FI and designed a slight different system with a brand new name, according with the new times: the MegaBass. Also, they think they had the technology to put the mechanics of the WM-30, the MegaBass system and the feather-touch system (like in the WM-7) all toghether in a new and very cool device with a completely new design for making a outstanding player. And they indeed did it!

At that time, AIWA was leading the market with their incredible PX101 player, which has many similarities, probably a slight better sound (and definitely more possibilities in EQ) but an "older" design and slightly bigger size.

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The FRC of the 701C is really good. The amorphous head is indeed helpful in this task, as it provides a pretty plain response, with excellent highs and powerful bass up to 40Hz.

As you can see here, the MegaBass is pretty powerful, adding about 12dB to the bass and about 4dB to the highs at volume 5. It's clear how it becomes even more powerful when volume is even lower (at 1/4). The thing becomes a bit massive at MAX position, where it adds a whopping 18dB at 1/2 and 22dB at 1/4 volume!!

Original FRC*	FRC* | -2 dB Treble loss	FRC* | -4 dB treble loss
Background noise (-56 dB)	Background noise (-67 dB)	Background noise (-70 dB)

Move your mouse over the buttons to see the animation

*: The original FRC is measured with a recording without Dolby; the ones with Dolby were each measured with recordings made with the same Dolby system measured.

The FRC using dolby is very good in general terms (again, it heavily depends on the quality of the recording deck you're using). With Dolby B the response is very good. You wouldn't notice the highs are cut, except a little bit, and the background noise is heavily cut.
With Dolby C, the performance is not as good. The background noise is much lower, but the highs are mudded. However, you can do the common tip: choose 'Normal' tape and not 'CrO2/Metal'. That's one of the benefits of using always CrO2 or Metal tapes. I use almost always CrO2 (TDK SA, Maxell XL-II or SONY UXPro). But that tip does only change the internal bias, adding highs, but doesn't solve the main problem of Dolby C decoding (that can only be properly solved with higher quality ICs that, i.e., the D6C has).

0,268% (RMS)

So finally I listen to my reference recording (already explained here) and combined all data into a single graph, to let us quickly see all the measurements about it:

AIWA HS-G08 final rating.

Overall score: 8,5/10

So, the 701C is indeed and excellent walkman, with an superb design, excellent sound performance and very cool overall. It's also a milestone in walkman history and one of the smallest walkmans ever made. A 'must have' for any serious collector...