Yamaha CDX-1100 (1987)
The Yamaha CDX-1100 (sold in the US as the CDX-1100U) was a high-end CD player that arrived in 1987 with an unusual digital-to-analog converter scheme. It didn't rely on a standard 16-bit DAC. Yamaha used a proprietary "Hi-bit" approach: an 18-bit digital filter paired with a technique that bypassed the lowest two bits of the converter when they weren't needed for accurate reproduction. High Fidelity (December 1987, p.56) called it a "clever and proprietary technique" and noted that Yamaha continued to surprise with its mastery of digital audio. Audio (November 1987, p.20) reported that the Hi-bit method yielded a 20 dB improvement in signal-to-noise ratio over conventional designs.
The player used separate power supplies and separate transformers for the digital and analog sections. That was careful engineering for the time. The transport was mounted on an aluminum-alloy chassis for stiffness and vibration damping. HiFI-Stereo (July 1987, p.28) measured frequency response flat within 0.3 dB from 0 to 20,000 Hz and recorded a 12 dB reduction in distortion content thanks to the Hi-bit conversion. In the same issue (p.30), the magazine reported excellent cueing performance - the laser could slew from Track 1 to Track 15 of the Philips TS4 test disc in about 1.5 seconds - and described the CDX-1100 as "an engineering tour de force." It also appeared in Stereo Review's Hirsch-Houck Labs test reports.
Documentation beyond the period press is thin. No service manual or promotional materials have surfaced in any systematic archive, and the model's exact place in Yamaha's CD player lineup of the late 1980s is unclear from the surviving record.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.