Kyocera DA-301cx CD-player Review

The styling of the Kyocera DA-310cx CD player complements that of other Kyocera components. The front panel, of black glass and satin-finish silver metal, has large black-plastic keys for its operating controls. Contrasting white markings make it one of the more legible control panels we have seen on a home audio component. The top of the metal cabinet is finished in charcoal gray, and it has walnut-grain wood side plates.

The DA-310cx has a triple-beam laser tracking system, a doubleoversampling D/A (digital-to-analog) converter, and a combination of digital and third-order analog filters. Kyocera uses ceramic chassis spacers to isolate the laser transport and circuit boards from external vibration as well as ceramic guide shafts for the laser transport. High-quality parts are used throughout the player, including gold-plated output jacks.

The basic controls of the DA-310cx are similar to those of most other CD players, but their size and clear markings make it an exceptionally easy product to use. Although the transport controls are grouped closely at the right side of the panel, they are marked so plainly that one’s finger goes directly to the desired button without need of peering or groping.

The largest control by far is the 1-3/4 x 1-1/8-inch play key, located next to the disc-drawer open/close button, which is less than half its size. Two rows of much smaller buttons (about 1/2 x 3/4 inch) control the pause, stop, and forward and reverse track-skip and fast-search functions. There is a single fast-search speed, and the program is not audible during search.

The remaining, less-often-used controls, in a row below the primary controls, are narrow (3/16 x 7/8-inch) push buttons whose functions are identified on the glass panel above them. Two of them are used to memorize up to sixteen tracks for playback in any sequence or to clear or change the memorized sequence, and another activates the repeat function, which can be applied to one track, the entire disc, or the programmed sequence. The TIME remaining button switches the display to show only the time remaining on the current track. After a few seconds, the display returns to its normal state.

The display, which occupies a smaller portion of the panel than on most CD players (about 1/2 x 2 inches), normally shows only the number of the current track and its elapsed playing time. The 3/8-inch-high white fluorescent numerals are highly legible. Small symbols appear in the window to indicate the activation of the memory and repeat functions. The word “Open” appears when the disc drawer is opened, changing to “Close” as it shuts, and followed by “Focus” as the disc is initialized. In a couple of seconds this is replaced by the total number of tracks and total playing time of the disc.

A headphone jack and its volume-control knob are located at the lower right of the panel, and the power button is at the lower left, near the motorized disc drawer. The DA-310cx is supplied with a full-function wireless remote control. It is more compact than most such devices, probably because it was designed to control only this unit. The Kyocera DA-310cx measures 18-1/8 inches wide, 12-1/8 inches deep, and 3-9/16 inches high, and it weighs about 10-1/2 pounds. Price: $350.

Lab Tests

Terminated in an EIA standard load of 10,000 ohms in parallel with a 1,000-picofarad capacitor, the DA-310cx’s output from a 1,000-Hz, 0-dB recorded test signal measured 1.96 volts. The channel imbalance was only 0.09 dB. The distortion at 1,000 Hz was 0.0048 percent at a 0-dB level, increasing to 0.0145 percent at —10 dB. A measurement of only the harmonic-distortion components (excluding noise) produced readings of 0.003 percent at 0 dB and 0.002 percent at —10 dB. The frequency response was within ±0.5 dB from 20 to 20,000 Hz; the variations took the form of a slight dip and a slight peak at about 9,000 and 17,000 Hz, respectively.

The signal-to-noise ratio, 94 dB, equaled the manufacturer’s rating, and the dynamic range, 100 dB, surpassed the rated 95 dB. The linearity of the d/a converters at low levels was relatively good for a moderate-priced player, with errors of less than 1 dB down to a — 80-dB level and a — 3-dB error at —90 and — 100 dB. Channel separation, though quite adequate, was not outstanding, decreasing from its maximum of 90 dB at 100 Hz to 62.5 dB at 20,000 Hz. The interchannel phase shift was in the range of 2 to 4 degrees at low and middle frequencies, rising to a maximum of 40 degrees at 20,000 Hz. This result is consistent with the double-over-sampling system used in the DA-310cx, which has a multiplexed d/a converter that is shared by the two channels.

The laser transport slewed between tracks at an acceptable speed, though the 5 seconds it took to travel from Track 1 to Track 15 of the Philips TS4 test disc was longer than that of many other current CD players (3 seconds is more typical, and the best take no more than 1 second). The cueing was accurate, however, and few people are in such a hurry that a couple of seconds will make a difference.

The DA-310cx played through the largest calibrated defects on the Philips TS5A test disc with no audible mistracking, and its good performance in our “finger-tapping” shock tests suggests that Kyocera’s efforts to isolate its internal parts from external vibration were successful. Mistracking could be induced only by a definite slap on the top of the player (over the disc drawer) or by a blow with the fist on one of the side plates. We made no measurements through the headphone jack, but we listened to the player with medium-impedance AKG K340 headphones. The available volume was quite good, though unlikely to present a hazard to the wearer’s hearing.

Comments

The Kyocera DA-310cx is a fine CD player by every objective criterion we can apply to it. Although channel separation is not one of its more outstanding characteristics, only the most jaded audiophile could criticize a separation of “only” 60 to 90 dB through the entire audio range! No lp record and its pickup has ever done half as well.

Much more significant, we think, is the excellent “human engineering” that has gone into the design of the DA-310cx. It is easy to use—the functions of the controls are obvious in all significant respects— and it is certainly a handsome component, one that no one would wish to hide. No ordinary handling shocks will cause it to mistrack. It sounded excellent, and, in fact, it played some discs that have given us trouble with at least one high-priced player. Unless your listening requirements include access to indexed portions of a disc, which the DA-310cx does not provide, you could hardly ask for more, especially at the price.

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