Sony CDR-W66 (2000)
The CD recorder that treated a blank disc like a mastering session - balanced I/O, AES/EBU, and a limiter you'd actually use.
Overview
Two grand is what separates a CD recorder from a professional CD recorder, and the CDR-W66 sits on the pro side of that line. The CDR-W33 is its near-identical sibling. It makes do with unbalanced analog phono jacks, S/PDIF, and optical digital I/O. The W66 adds balanced XLR analog connections and AES/EBU digital, the two interfaces that tell a studio rack this box belongs there. Sony's own literature put it plainly: the W66 is the W33 "plus" the balanced and AES/EBU I/O. That is the whole reason the model exists.
Both machines carry 24-bit A/D and D/A converters. The W66 records through Sony's Super Bit Mapping processing, a noise-shaping scheme that squeezes something approaching 20-bit resolution onto an ordinary 16-bit, 44.1 kHz CD. The format ceiling is still Red Book, but the path getting there is far gentler than a straight 16-bit feed. A built-in sampling-rate converter handles digital sources from 32 kHz to 48 kHz, so a DAT or a workstation at the wrong rate doesn't stop the session.
Three DSP functions ride on the analog inputs. There's a limiter with an adjustable ratio, a soft safety net for a live transfer rather than a brickwall. There's also a 3-band mid-parametric EQ for shaping a source before it's committed to disc. Mix (January 2001, p.11) described the CDR-W33 and CDR-W66 as standing apart even among professional CD recorders because of these three DSP tools. Most machines in this class gave you a record-level knob and nothing else. One caveat: Sony's fine print noted that the DSP processing applies to analog sources only on the W33. The literature is less explicit about the W66's routing, so anyone planning to EQ a digital feed should verify first.
The W66 ships with both a wired and a wireless remote, and there's a PS/2 port for a PC keyboard. That beats typing CD-TEXT titles one character at a time with a jog wheel. CD-TEXT support means track and disc names travel with the disc. The 2x finalize speeds up the wait at the end of a session, and if you own a second W66, the two can duplicate at 2x speed over the digital link. Digital and analog record levels are adjustable independently. The rear panel carries coax and optical digital outs plus unbalanced analog phono jacks, in addition to the balanced XLR and AES/EBU connections that define the model.
Sony listed the CDR-W66 at $1,150, with street pricing around $999 from pro-audio dealers. That put it above the Tascam CD-RW2000, which audioXpress cited at $1,125. The same correspondence singled out the W66's 24-bit converters as the reason it "could certainly do a better job" producing a 16-bit/44.1 kHz disc than a computer running a 16-bit sound card.
The W66 is not a consumer convenience machine. It was sold into project studios, broadcast production rooms, and institutional installs, the kind of gear that shows up in a facility list next to a Harris console or a bank of Tascam cassette decks, doing unglamorous work. It's a professional tool with a professional price, built to make clean 16-bit discs from whatever you fed it. Collectors chasing one today should expect a rack unit that wants balanced cabling to shine, and should confirm the remote and any keyboard cable come with it, because those accessories are half the ergonomics.
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