A Post Modernist? Kenwood KX-5010 Cassette Deck

The Kenwood KX-5010 with it's accompanying original remote at press photo

What does one do after making possibly the best sounding product of an era? Well, Kenwood like so many other companies, started introducing convenience features. You see, the Kenwood KX-880G and all it's others in the series managed to stay in production from 1982 to 1989, in any industry especially consumer products, 7 years product life span is a mighty long............ time. In 1990, a new decade, Kenwood introduced the new generation of KX series cassette decks, now modelled as 5010 & 9010.

Both KX-5010(a 2 head, single capstan transport) and it's top of the line model, the KX-9010(3 head, dual capstan transport), now comes with remote control, a large horizontal FL display, neatly integrating the tape counter, tape type & L/R peak level meters, in an attractive yet easy to read from a far design. Styling wise, this is the biggest improvement over the KX-880 & 1100 series design, while novelty was nice when it lasted, now seems so very dated, especially that vertical L/R peak level meter in which the fonts used were too small to be seen from a far. Most transport control buttons were carried over to save cost as by the 1990's CD players have began to dominate the music format as source & cassette starts to lose it's dominance. So new models with carry over parts bin was a logical and clever move, costing wise when launching a new product. Car manufacturers do it all the time!

The back panel also has system remote trigger jacks, if you're into an all singing & dancing Kenwood stack system

Extra features are always welcomed, and that includes the ability to make a one touch test recording of about 30 seconds after blank tape is inserted, then automatically rewinds and playback the result for your sound quality evaluation. one can repeat the process several times at a touch of the "Record" button, until satisfactory sound recording setting is achieved, before goin for the full tape recording. It's like having a 3 head tape deck feature with 2 heads only! Another feature which I absolutely love about the Kenwood KX-5010 is the Direct Drive transport, despite being a single capstan transport design, wow & flutter spec is only 0.25% low, which many dual capstan design transport probably also cannot match. I now find Direct Drive transport very good with pulling power, especially during playback of old and sometimes slightly sticky tapes. When other decks are struggling, the Kenwood continue to play with stable speed. By the way, the Direct Drive feature is not new, but carried over from the previous KX-880 series.

I think Kenwood KX-5010 had a strong foundation to build upon, being based loosely around it's very capable predecessor of KX-880HX. Will it sound as good, with added features?

The internals also looking very similar to the older KX-880G!

Opening the cassette door reveals the single capstan, 2 head transport

Let's find out! From the first tape playback, the performance similarity to it's predecessor, the KX-880G is obvious. Crystalline clear tonality, speed stability, punchy bass and highly extended treble all shines through. However, I have 2 doubts started developing after a few tape playback. First was bandwidth, with familiarity, I just felt that perhaps the band width of the KX-880 series was still better in the regards, because the highs were more liquid, had less white noise. Next, another area the predecessor also did better in terms of micro dynamics, especially in tracks where double bass, or bass guitar plucks & piano pings were prominent, the older model certainly offered much more clarity on the proceedings.  In other areas of the performance of the KX-5010, the sound was clearly cut from the same cloth as the KX-880 series, just with a few more rough edges only. Both shared a similar tonal quality, stable speed & dynamic overall sound. Maybe in some cases, if remote control, post modern styling & recording feature is your thing, then the Kenwood KX-5010 cassette deck is up your alley. 

This Kenwood KX-5010 unit is in great cosmetic condition and comes with per-programed after market remote, supplied by mu buddy, Oh. Please contact him if one is interested in purchase of this deck. His asking price is not high, for a fully reconditioned unit which looks & sounds good!

However, if one priorities cassette playback sound above all else, then the KX-880G in which I previously reviewed, is the much better defacto choice of the two. I have made my choice the moment I heard the KX-1100G, in which playback sound performance wise, opens up a whole new level of performance over both the KX-5010 or KX-880G. The 3 head machine just cost much more, that's all!

I am now really starting to believe a folklore amongst cassette deck communities, that the best golden age for really great sounding decks were made from 1978-1982!  This due to the fact that as I narrow down my to keep cassette decks to last 5 surviving, despite the many I have written about here, I just realized 2 out of 5 in my collection are from the 1982 year,  That's kinda significant. Don't you agree?

Old Gold! Denon DCD-3500RG CD Player

The official release photo of Denon DCD-3500RG CD player back in 1989, that's 34 years ago!

As you keen followers have noticed, I have gone in to reverse gear when it comes to hifi since the last couple of years. I usually do not go too far back, but have stuck to the time line of 80's & 90's classics, that's like 30 or 40 years ago, which I felt hifi was at it's last golden age. This Denon DCD-3500RG CD player is probably one of the flagships made by the company over the years. I've had various Denon products over the years, and they are always technically correct in sound, but just never really hit my heart strings. However, this Denon CD player promises to be something different, and I've been waiting for my chance to find out since like 25 years ago. I was always eyeing for a good condition pre-owned unit for sale, but either I was always too late or just got distracted when one became available.

This unit belongs to a friend and as he was getting bored with it, fancied my proposal for a swap with my Teac VRDS-20 CD player, he wanted a small top up but that's fine, since I was bored with the Teac too. For me after a while the Teac with it's VRDS transport should have shined, but never got me emotionally wowed with music. Maybe it wasn't meant to be for me..........   

The CD loading tray come with built in suspension! A feature that is deemed redundant by now.

The Denon DCD-3500RG was launched in 1989, just towards the start of 2nd generation of CD players and it still have many features from the first generation machines deemed un-necessary today, like the suspended CD loading tray, the top Sony KSS-151A CD transport with magnetic rails, track programing calendar and best of all not only wooden cheeks, but the whole top & side panels are real wood finished in dark tone Urushi lacquer, which is very classy. Now a days, if you want your hifi equipment to come with that Urushi lacquer, be prepared to spend at least 6 figures or more! However, for the unit that came to me, that Urushi wood panels were termite infested and I had to sadly remove, throw away, and make new Nyatoh hard wood panels for it! The results, while not glossy like the original Urushi lacquer, came with it's own unique hard wood surface texture charm which is still nice. I can't get anyone to do Urushi lacquer restoration for me locally. Lastly this Denon uses a theoretical 18 bit decoding, courtesy of 4 units Burr Brown PCM58P-K, 2 per channel for balanced circuitry linearity. 

The Denon is another satin gold(not Champaign gold, as the tone is less rich, and a bit pale in comparison), battleship build quality CD player that weights in at 22kgs, came with all round copper coated 2 compartment chassis, which on the left was 2 power supply transformers(1 for audio & 1 for digital, so it says) at the back and the Sony KSS-151A transport in front, with the right compartment holding the dual mono audio PCBs. Very nicely organized. The front fascia is relatively clean with just a few buttons flanking the big CD tray & FL display, all other lesser used buttons are buried inside a flap below.  The back panel has the usual digital output, RCA & XLR audio outs.

The insides of the Denon DCD-3500RG CD player. Nice, right?

 

To reduce fascia design clutter, only the most frequently used buttons are left on the outside, all other buttons are hidden behind a drop down flap below. 

The back panel outputs.

My Denon DCD-3500RG after the wood panel changed, looks quite different doesn't it? Some may say the different wood panels will color the sound differently, but I didn't really heard that.

So far so good, however for a Denon, this CD player is really sounding something else! From the first CD play, I was transfixed by the sound. The bass was strong, bold and tuneful. The mids are slightly recessed, a little laid back but still very engaging. The highs are super refined, very airy but will bite if the music calls for it. The sound stage is big, but very laid back. Overall this CD player certainly has the PRAT factor, which make music very enjoyable. So far all is good, but comparing to my stable of CD players, this Denon does not sound as dark in tonality vs the Sony CDP-X7 ESD, it self a 1988 product. Then comparing to the Accuphase DP-70V which is a more aspirational product and priced(at least double?) to match in 1992, the Accupahse offers slightly more clarity, less digital haze(compared to both Sony & Denon), gives better mid range texture and just maybe slightly better micro dynamics and transient. If there's any comparison I would say both the half priced Sony & Denon offered possibility 85-90% of what the Accuphase can do. However, with most pop & rock recordings it's not easy to tell them apart. Only certain high quality recordings that truly allows the Accuphase to shine, put it on the pedestal, so to speak!

An area I do not like about the Denon is that it doesn't play CD-Rs & scratched disc too well. Only well kept original CDs will do here. But for me, this is no limitation, as I have the other 2 CD players in my stables that will play any disc any condition, especially the Accuphase. I strongly suspect the Sony KSS-151A transport laser in the Denon to be in it's last legs(since 1989!) and it will be a costly affair to source for replacement once dead. However, I feel this Denon is worth saving and to keep it going if the worst should happen. 

Even then, the Denon DCD-3500RG has been in my stables for over a year, and I must say that I've totally enjoyed it's musical company so far, and will be in my stables for a long time to come.

The Last Of A Kind, Teac V-7010 Cassette Deck

The Teac V-7010 finished in Champaign gold, and dark colored wood cheeks, tape counter window & transport buttons on the left, peak level meter display with recording level knobs and selector on the right! The whole fascia design is very elegant with this nice Champaign finish.

Teac was probably the last of the cassette deck manufacturers to issue Dolby S noise reduction system in their product line up, by 1993 in the V-8000 series. That makes the 1992 Teac V-7010 the last of the Dolby C equipped TOTL deck by then, which itself is a facelifted model of the V-7000 series launched in 1990. By the time of the Teac V-7010, ten years has passed since the Kenwood KX-1100G that I last reviewed. The newer Teac has broadly similar specs to the Kenwood, except for the motorized tape well door & remote control capabilities. By this time in 1992, the CD format already reigns supreme at home hifi front, but in the car audio world, CD players were still a novelty, as manufacturers were finding ways to isolate the CD transport from the car's suspension movements which adversely affected the playback smoothness of the CD transport. CD players in cars would only start become the mainstream just before year 2000. Hence the market for cassette deck at this stage, was shrinking fast.

  

The Teac V-7010 is a nice weighty machine at almost 10kg, thanks to it's real wood cheeks & multi compartment for rigidity chassis, which is distinctively divided in to 3 unequal areas, on the left is power supply & regulation board, the front middle section is where the 3 head, dual capstan, direct drive transport remains isolated in it's own compartment, and the rest of the area behind the transport compartment & right side of box is dedicated to audio recording & playback circuitry. While some people may comment that the Teac V=7010 looks very spartan inside, I think that was possibly in the design brief to make things as simple as possible for shorter audio signal path to good sound.   

Inside the copper shielded chassis, the Teac V-7010 was the last to get this premium treatment, as the Dolby S equipped V-8000 series released in 1993 no longer have this treatment. 

As I have just taken delivery of the Kenwood KX-1100G about 2 months ago, along came this Teac V-7010 in which I was offered first right of refusal by a buddy who no longer sees the need for it. It was a hard decision for me as I am still warming up to my new toy, and I had secretly harbored to someday get a Teac V-970X which is another TOTL cassette deck from another by gone era. So the Teac V-7010 didn't exactly fit in to my plans, but I went to see it any way, how could I not?

At first glance, I have fallen head over heels for the Teac V-7010, this example in mint condition, finished Champaign gold, dark wood cheeks & a look behind the back panel which still has the importer(Auvi Malaysia Sdn Bhd) warrantee sticker on it, really just blew my mind! I could remember I was just a young adult at the time, just starting my first job, marveling at what was possibly this very unit on display at Auvi's showroom in SS2(which later became the iconic Mungo Jerry BKT shop), which I could not afford it's grand asking price back then. The icing on cake was that my buddy said, "this unit just came back from service by Mr Oh!" and that statement, sealed my fate! I was a happy dandy walking out from my buddy's house, with the Teac V-7010 in my arms.

This remote is from the same vintage but made for the model Teac V-5000, which has a belt driven 4 DC motor transport supplied by Sankyo.  The V-7000 is a direct drive transport supplied by the same manufacturer.

I went straight home, unplugged the Kenwood from my system, swapped the Teac in with high anticipation, and from the first time I pressed the play button, heavenly sound was coming from the tape format. Coming from the Kenwood, The Teac immediately impressed with it's quiet transport, no clunky noise here or there. Next the high frequencies were well extended with good refinement, the mid range has a lower bloom, which makes vocals sound like it has more meat compared to the Kenwood, and the bass is as solid & as tuneful as the Kenwood. Speed stability is impressive as well , just like the Kenwood, is direct driven. I am beginning to see that direct drive transport designs do have their advantages over belt drive designs. Being direct drive doesn't mean there are no pesky transport rubber belts to deal with, but just lesser only.  However, in terms of sound stage, the Kenwood does throw a wider & deeper, plus more layered picture. For the Teac, this was was a slight downer, but it's OK, the V-7010 still sounds very good by the way.

An official photo release of the Teac V-7010 cassette deck. 

Due to the unit didn't come with the originally issued remote control as my buddy had lost it during his last home move, I felt the unit was some how incomplete. So I scour the www in search of hopping to find one for sale, and after 2 weeks, found at remote specimen for sale at Yahoo Auction Japan. While this was not the exact original, which has a few more buttons, it was close enough and the asking price was sensible, unlike those Sony ES series remotes. About a month later the remote arrived and works! I later found out the remote unit I bought was for the Teac V-5000/5010 was has the missing open/close function for the tape well.

In a way, getting this Teac V-7010 cassette deck made me forget about the Teac V-970X as an idea, as I am blissfully enjoying what I got now. Some times, I guess fate does not give you what you wanted, but even then when you've being given something else, you'd be thankful with the end result. For me, I am enjoying my cassette deck collection journey to the max now!

Glorious Past! Kenwood KX-1100G Cassette Deck

Kenwood KX-1100G is sold from 1982 till 1989 in various guises, last being KX-1100HX, which includes Dolby HX Pro for recording from radio, as per KX-880D and all the other guises

This was the cassette deck that virtually made the name for Kenwood back then in 1982, that's exactly 41 years ago, along with it's lower model, the KX-880G which I toyed with last year. It sounded so good that I was considering to buy the review sample, but I decided to hold out the purchase, in hope that one day, the top line KX-1100G would become available. Just my collection habit, that I will only keep 3 head decks.

Finally, more than a year later, Mr Oh, my trusted hifi repair guy and cassette aficionado, had restore 2 units of the KX-1100G and asked if I wanna toy with it? Hell yeah! A bit more about the Kenwood KX-1100G. It's a 3 head, direct drive, dual capstan, 3 motor Sankyo tape transport design, used in much like the high end Nakamichi's of the days gone by. Tape loading cover opens manually, via a push button on top of the power ON button on the left side of the fascia. The cassette well is biased towards the left, as per typical design of the time, followed by that distinctive dual fluorescent display, one horizontal to indicate tape type, Dolby and timer, pluas another vertical, to indicate peak level meters for L&R channels. Transport controls are located just below the horizontal display and towards the right side is the recording level setting knobs. The whole unit weights just 6.2kgs finished in satin black with faux audiophile feet, which looks nice. Build quality is not the best, due to it's medium weight design intentions, but everything works nicely, even if the tape transport is slightly clunky when being engaged & disengaged.  

Overall, the design is exactly the same as the KX-880G, except for that audiophile feet, and the "Amorphous Alloy Combination 3 Head" description printed on the cassette cover.

The back panel is generic cassette deck layout, with RCA input & output, and power cord on the other side of the case

Only this description and that big audiophile feet separates the KX-1100G from the KX-880G, the lesser sigbling!

From the very first tape I played with this Kenwood, I was totally smitten by the sound, which was tight, clean, fast & very powerful. It does really remind me that I am listening to CD like quality sound, but from a cassette source! Tape speed stability is first rate, which comparing to some of my higher end decks, which should be better, but not! Tape pulling power is exceptional, due to it's direct drive mechanism as some of my older tapes tended to be a bit sticky, and the Yamaha K-1X can occasionally give up half way, and stop playing, but not the Kenwood, which will continue to play to the end.

Due to that speed stability, bass notes are ultra clean and very punchy, not even the slightest hint of muddiness. The mid range is crystal clear, making the vocals & diction very easy to follow. If I could want more, I would like a bit more meat in that area, but then I am already nit picking. Highs are truly extended with the slightest of hiss, depending on the tape used. Overall, this deck has the musical chops of a digital medium. I must also point out that not many cassette decks have the capability to throw a sound stage quite like this Kenwood, which is wide and deep, and clear vocal projection in the middle. Not even some of the more expensive decks can do that!

AS I only used my decks for play back, I can't comment on the recording capabilities, but if you do Google a bit and ask folks on the cassette forums, They would rate this Kenwood somewhere between a Nakamichi CR-3 or CR-5. Considering the huge price difference between this Kenwood vs those Nakamichi, I can only shower praises on the Kenwood! Perhaps a poorman's Nakamichi it could be? Only you'll know once you've used it.  

Great with pre-recorded tapes too! Seen here playing the Footloose OST with excellent sound quality

While most 3 head cassette decks can give good sound with excellent chrome or metal tapes, not many deck will sound good playing pre-recorded tapes. And this area is where the Kenwood is KING! The difference in sound quality between those pre-recorded tapes vs those self recorded chrome or metal tapes has being narrowed considerably with the Kenwood. Most high end cassette decks will play chrome & metal tapes well, but ruthlessly expose the short comings in sound quality of the pre-recorded tape. With the Kenwood, 9 out of 10 ten pre-recorded tapes will sound very good still, maybe with or or two playing slightly blur. As I have quite a few of those pre-recorded tapes, being able to play them well certainly works in the Kenwood's favor.

I bought & paid for unit just 2 days after first listen, and I think that says a lot about the sound qualities of the Kenwood. I never really believed when someone told me the cassette deck golden years were between 1978 - 1982, with this Kenwood KX-1100G plus my Yamaha K-1X experience, I am starting to see maybe there's some truth to it after all?  

By the way, I think Mr Oh still have one or 2 more Kenwood KX-1100G under restoration, just in case you're keen, do contact him a.s.a.p.

Eversolo DMP

The name Eversolo sounds like this is the one. Its a good name for Android media player. That is right, this is an Android media player by the famous Zidoo (China) in some of the highest end Android player today which cost over RM10,000 being the top of the line (Zidoo Alpha) which is well known in the home theater world. With success of Zidoo in the home theater segment, the company is venturing into the stereo world. Eversolo is not new in the line of Zidoo's product line up. It started of with the Eversolo Z6 and Z8 DAC which is quite a hit in the market. With the success of their DAC, it comes with the latest product of DMP A6 which is a streamer and media player (audio only). 

It comes with 2 different edition or models. The standard edition and the master edition.

Standard Edition

                                                                           Master Edition

The difference of the unit other than the gold batch in front of the master edition, is the internal clock of master edition is upgraded version . Two accusilicon femtosecond oscillator. The op amps is also upgraded to OPA1612. In simple summary the upgrade reduce noise and with low distortion. 

The video of unboxing is the standard edition. In terms of packaging, both standard and master have the same boxing. The box itself is pretty good looking. Inside of the box packing is definitely top notch and the player itself wrap within a beg. Out of the beg the unit itself is aluminium chassis. Well build of the casing, pretty solid and quite weighty of 3kg for such a small unit 187mm x 270mm x 90mm. 

Looking at the back of the unit, this one media player that covers all kinds of connection you can think of. There are 3 antenna on this unit for wifi and also bluetooth. It can support ethernet as well. The HDMI is has the ARC feature will be useful for connecting to TV. 2 x USB3.0 for external storage connection and also output to external DAC. It has digital input as well if someone will like to use it as a DAC. Optical, coaxial and USB C input can be use to connect computer or any other external player to the Eversolo. The player also support optical and coaxial output. Finally the analog output has the RCA and XLR. The only connection not available on this unit is AES. 

The front LCD touch screen is really a good size (3 inch) which is good to enough to see the wordings from about 3 feet away. As per picture above the lay out is good enough and not too pack. The meta data is download from internet as soon as the music starts playing. 

At the home display of the LCD panel is pretty standard look of an Android. I will describe it similar to a mobile phone (Android). Additional apps can be installed into the player like any other Android system. Anyone familiar with Android will be easily navigate around. At least it doesn't take any kind of computer know how to get it working.  The Eversolo apps can also be download into mobile for Apple or Android for remote control.

The apps is quite user friendly. Simple layout, which is pretty much the same kind of standard Android type of user interface. Streaming or playing directly from player and pretty much any kind of configuration can be done from the apps itself. This is pretty useful while seating some distance away and able to control the entire unit. Having said that, this unit does not comes with remote control like a traditional player. With this interactive remote apps, really do not need anything else. The unit can also be access remotely from web browser by accessing the IP address.

Now is time to give the unit a go. First try out with the USB connected to external drive. The playback is pretty straight forward after the files are display in the screen and playing it back. The downside here is the time it takes for the unit to build the list (depend on storage size) can be quiet long. First song tried out on Ed Sheeran  "How Would You Feel". Its a FLAC file being use. The vocal is pretty sharp but I will say is a little over the top. The lower end is pretty solid but a little boomy. Sound stage is pretty good overall in covering the listening area of 200 sq feet room. Definitely can feel the energy of the song. Next tried out with Eagles "Hotel California". Definitely the bass is pronounced and tight but still a bit boomy. A little bit lacking on the mid bass. The electric guitar play back is like the vocal, sounded sharp and a little over the top. The overall DSD compare to FLAC playback is a little smoother and more musical. 

One plus point on the player, is the display can be turn on with VU meters. During playback is quite nice to watch one. Pretty cool. Definitely makes me thinking of HIFI ROSE minus the high price tag. 

The streaming apps support Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music. Pretty meet all the needs of most users at least here in Malaysia. The apps can be install at the main menu and after installation is done just have to sign in with your account and ready to play. Only able to test it with Apple Music which I have subscripted. The sound quality of streaming is pretty average. Nothing to shout about but is definitely convenient to let it play especially if the unit is at living room or bedroom for casual listening. If you have an external USB drive, can be connected to it and be use like any CD player with direct playback. This is another useful feature to save some cost. All in all this unit is feature pack, has all kind of connection and pretty plays almost anything from streaming to files playback. For anyone who is about to get into Hifi digital world, I will think this a great choice to choose from.