WM-DC2
The WM-DC2 was the final step in the path which lead from the world’s smallest personal stereo (the WM-2) to this latest version: the world’s best personal stereo. Building on the already excellent WM-DD2, there was little left to add, though the designers hit upon two areas to improve and in so doing elevated the WM-DC2 above all others. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.
The first addition was that of Dolby C NR. This new system promised even greater dynamic range than had been achievable with the previous arrangement and raised cassette performance in line with the expectations that Compact Disc had brought. To implement Dolby C in a personal stereo required special integrated circuits that were not commercially available, so Sony made their own. As most pre-recorded tapes were encoded in Dolby B, this option was included too. The switches for Dolby and tape type were fitted with yellow indicators that were visible from the front of the case, just as with the WM-D6. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.
Fitting Dolby C to a Walkman was quite an achievement, but it was not the sole reason for the WM-DC2’s greatness. The WM-D6 had shown that the disc drive capstan servo could be further improved by locking it to a quartz reference, ensuring absolute accuracy and stability at all times. This was difficult in a larger machine like the WM-D6, but in the tiny WM-DC2 the task seemed almost impossible. The only possible space was a small wedge shaped area between the motor and the outer casing, so into this space was fitted the quartz crystal, its digital control circuit and the modified servo to drive the motor. The 3V supply from the 2 AA batteries that could be fitted into the WM-DD2 chassis was not enough to power one of the chips, so a miniature DC-DC converter was also needed to supply 6V. The only part that was not carried over was the variable speed function. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.
To complete the package, the WM-DC2 was fitted with a special “laser amorphous head”. This component was unique to this model and was of top quality, as well as being unusually wear resistant. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.
These changes made what had already been an expensive model into a very expensive model. From the outset, it was decided to offer the WM-DC2 as a “professional” model alongside the WM-D6C and the TC-D3. The idea of a professional playback-only personal stereo is not an easy one to grasp, though reasonable sales were recorded throughout a long production run. To aid the “professional” user, one of the headphone sockets was turned into a genuine line-out socket, for connection to an amplifier or a tape recorder. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.