Sony CDP-650ESD (circa 1985)
The CDP-650ESD was Sony's top-of-the-line CD player when it was reviewed in Audio's July 1985 issue. It was priced at $1,300. Audio (April 1986, p.75) later called it a state-of-the-art model that used the latest technology and had every feature a serious buyer could want. CD player prices were dropping quickly at the time.
The most distinctive feature was a digital-code output port on the rear panel. Audio (April 1986, p.75) tested the cheaper CDP-620ES and noted that the main visible difference was that missing port. The 620 otherwise offered comparable sound quality and nearly all of the same features for $350 less. The 650ESD was also fast at getting around a disc. Audio (April 1986, p.78) said Sony's claim of reaching any given point on a CD within one second was no exaggeration. Sony's own advertising pitched it as the CD player of the future.
The manufacturer's specifications, reprinted in Audio (April 1986, p.50):
- Frequency response: 2 Hz to 20 kHz, ±0.3 dB
- Harmonic distortion: 0.0025% at 1 kHz
- Dynamic range: greater than 96 dB
- Channel separation: greater than 95 dB
- Programmable selections: 20
- Output level: 2.0 V, fixed and variable
- Headphone output: 28 mW into 32 ohms
- Original price: $1,300
Surviving documentation on the CDP-650ESD is thin beyond that review and a few later references to it. The archive records no manual, production dates or sales history.
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