Nakamichi OMS-20
Here is the honest problem with the Nakamichi OMS-20: the public record barely tells it apart from its closely related siblings, the OMS-20A and OMS-20A II. The plain "OMS-20" name doesn't appear cleanly in any of the surviving documentation reviewed for this page. Almost everything that is documented - production years, specs, prices - is tied explicitly to the OMS-20A or OMS-20A II. Those models may differ from the OMS-20 in their converter, transport, or minor specifications.
What can be said with reasonable confidence is that the OMS-20 sat in Nakamichi's slim-line mini CD player family of the mid-to-late 1980s. The closely related OMS-20A was produced from 1986 to 1989 and originally sold for $650. It was a small, light unit with a 16-bit linear D/A converter and a quadruple oversampling digital filter. It was rated at 5 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response and 110 dB signal-to-noise ratio (IHF A). Dimensions were approximately 430 × 101 × 273-278 mm (sources differ on depth), and it weighed about 4.5 kg. An owner review praised the 20A's transport as excellent and its sound as smooth and musical, and noted it played well-burned CD-Rs.
The successor OMS-20A II (1989-1990) used the Philips TDA1541A D/A converter and had an output of 2 V RMS. One owner praised its neutral sound with good bass and highs, but the same owner reported that some units suffer from laser pickup failure. Used listings for the OMS-20A II have appeared around $200 - $250.
For the OMS-20 itself, no production years, original price, or confirmed specifications have surfaced. If you own one, or have documentation that cleanly separates it from the 20A, the archive would welcome the correction.
- Type: CD player (slim-line mini size, per closely related OMS-20A)
- Related model OMS-20A: 1986–1989, original price $650
- Related model OMS-20A II: 1989–1990, TDA1541A D/A converter
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