Hello Everyone,
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yamaha CDX-396 CD Player and Transport.
You know I'm into CD/SACD Players, especially old ones, and I've recently been requested to review less "High-End" devices. Indeed, I've generally been reporting good to very good results with them, as a lot of us expected. But what about entry level items of the time? Were they that bad, to the point of making an obvious audible difference?
This Yamaha is therefore one of a small series of old low cost CD players, with the already reviewed Yamaha CDX-393 are NAD C540, and couple more to come.
As a matter of facts, my previous review of the cheap Yamaha CDX-393 from 28 years ago, revealed that its all in one chip from Panasonic did some kind of magic, especially on servo control side, pushing the Sony KSS laser head to deliver incredible resistance to scratched CDs, yet retaining its legendary speed of operation. As a DAC alone, it also was in the very good category.
I was interested to know if Yamaha and Panasonic could deliver the same more than once, so when I got the opportunity I went for it. And here we are with the CDX-396.
Yamaha CDX-396 - Presentation
The Yamaha CDX-396 replaced the CDX-393 in 2000 and was the entry level CD Player from Yamaha. Its production life ended in 2003. The price was a roughly $200 at the time and would be $350 in today's money.
The laser head remained the same super fast Sony KSS-213C as the CDX-393, but the all in one chip (from servo to D/A conversion) was a new Panasonic MN35511AL. This chip is undocumented but the Service Guide of the CDX-396 shows a high level diagram, with servo control, CRC error correction, interpolation, de-emphasis, oversampling (8x) and DAC (Pulse Edge Modulator).
Compared to its predecessor, the CDX-396 added a digital output by default. Note that its bigger brother, the CDX-496, only added a headphones output on top.
So the back of unit is simple:
Analog RCA outputs and Toslink, that's all, and not that we need much more.
The published specifications (from the service guide) were:
Let's have a quick look at the inside:
Very simple, the Sony drive (KSS-213C laser head) on the left and the all in one board on the right. We don't see the DAC (below the board).
User Experience
It is a pleasure to press Next/Back buttons with a KSS laser head, I'm addicted to the speed of these drives. Same goes with FFW/REW, really practical for my measurements but a rare need in normal day to day operation.
Of course it is gapless playback: once upon a time, nobody thought about messing with the redbook, today...
The Yamaha correctly applies de-emphasis when requested, again that's a proper CD Player after all.
Yamaha CDX-396 - Measurements (Analog out)
All measurements performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input) for analog outputs, and a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital.
I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the SMSL PL-200 review. I used the commercial version of my Audio Technical CD for all measurements. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
The Yamaha outputs 2.041Vrms from the left channel and a very close 2.031Vrms from the right one. The phase showed a -60° shift at 20kHz, indicating the utilisation of a minimum phase filter type (we'll see that later).
Since the two channels are identical, I will generally show only one channel as it speeds up the review for me.
----
As usual, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the Test CD (Line out):
Well, yes we have a bit of distortion, but also a higher than usual noise floor. Both combined, we lose more than 1.3bit of resolution in the dashboard (14.7bits only).
Let's check if things improve at lower level (-6dBFS):
Well, barely, indeed less distortion but still 1bit lost... This is not as good as its predecessor.
----
Let's have a look et the Power Supply leakages, the below is a 20Hz to 1kHz zoom with a punishing 512k FFT length to reveal issues:
Yep, we have multiple harmonics of 50Hz (Europe) up to -100dBr. It is likely to stay hidden into music, but it is higher than usual, again.
----
Next is the bandwidth (both channels):
We see the minimum variation between the two channels, but we have some ringing at the end of the spectrum. A wider view at the oversampling filter behaviour will tell us more:
Yeah, this is not a very powerfull filter, the attenuation is only -40dB, with ringings. The overlay with the AES IMD dual test tones (18k&20k) show that their aliases are weakly attenuated.
----
Next is the multitone test that a lot of you like very much, but you won't be happy with the results:
This is not bad with 17bits of distortion-free range (both channels are overlaid).
----
Let's check the jitter:
The red trace is the original WAV file and the blue from the Yamaha. Besides the elevated noise floor, the jitter is very low, no a concern.
----
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
The interpolator of the Yamaha has no headroom for intersample overs as so many other CD Players. Too bad since so many CD Masters are recorded too hot.
----
Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
There is some low level noise that comes in the way, the same I mentioned several times before. Symmetry is still good meaning the low level linearity is good too (for a CD Player).
By the way, I said I'd be back on the oversampling filter, the impulse response indeed shows it is a Fast Roll-Off Minimum Phase filter:
----
Other measurements (not shown):
The Dynamic range loses 4dB in low level noise.
Crosstalk is high for a CD Player.
Pitch error is a very -5ppm only .
----
Last and not least, I like to run a THD vs Frequency sweep at -12dBFS as it shows how the conversion has evolved over time. I am currently using the beta version of REW and I discovered that this sweep gives better and more reliable results than before. I overlayed the results with the SMSL PL200:
Not too bad after all, but this is THD only, not noise.
----
As I did with the Sony CDP-597, I add a "max DAC resolution" measurement test. It is performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither (from Audacity). I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz in REW not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. I take the calculated ENOB and simply add 2bits to it (due to the -12dB attenuation, as 1bits=6dB). The potential maximum, when calculated from the digital WAV file, is 18.7bits under this test. A "transparent" DAC should achieve 18.7bits, ie 100% in this test.
Here are the results compared to others:
Ouch, that hurts. This bad score is due to the low level random noise which does not allow us to get to 16bits resolution. Too bad.
Yamaha CDX-396 - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
Here are the results:
And voilà! The Panasonic all in one chip does its magic again, as a SERVO control. If the results were not good as a DAC, this time it is best in class at driving the Sony KSS 213 to become the best of the best. So we still keep the speed and we get the max resistance to scratches and nearly non-compliant redbook CDs. This means the Yamaha will have no issue tracking CDs going up to and even beyond 74min.
Yamaha CDX-396 - Digital output
The Motu interface that I use to test digital output could not sync to the optical stream of the Yamaha, which happens rarely in my tests and that could have couple of causes with “consumer grade” devices:
So, I captured some measurements from the output of the SMSL PS200 to verify if the digital output of the Yamaha had other issues.
This is my standard 999.91Hz test tone @0dBFS (Yamaha opti out feeding the SMSL PS200):
Yes, this is excellence I was looking for. This, if not a "bit perfect" test, is good enough to demonstrate that there's no ASRC in the digital path of the Yamaha.
Next is the 3DC test:
This is the usual result of the PS200 on this test, which uses a Minimum Phase Filter too (descending ringing). Again not a definitive proof of no digital modification, but if it would be the case, the trace wouldn't be that neat.
So, allow me to state "digital perfect" output for the CDX-396, even if some pro-interfaces might not like the subcodes of that Toslink interface very much.
Conclusion
Well, no, cheap CD players of old times did not all achieve on their analog outputs.
But as a Transport, the Yamaha truly delivers. This represents a very cheap and very efficient option, proper CD Transport.
Enjoy your evening!
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yamaha CDX-396 CD Player and Transport.
You know I'm into CD/SACD Players, especially old ones, and I've recently been requested to review less "High-End" devices. Indeed, I've generally been reporting good to very good results with them, as a lot of us expected. But what about entry level items of the time? Were they that bad, to the point of making an obvious audible difference?
This Yamaha is therefore one of a small series of old low cost CD players, with the already reviewed Yamaha CDX-393 are NAD C540, and couple more to come.
As a matter of facts, my previous review of the cheap Yamaha CDX-393 from 28 years ago, revealed that its all in one chip from Panasonic did some kind of magic, especially on servo control side, pushing the Sony KSS laser head to deliver incredible resistance to scratched CDs, yet retaining its legendary speed of operation. As a DAC alone, it also was in the very good category.
I was interested to know if Yamaha and Panasonic could deliver the same more than once, so when I got the opportunity I went for it. And here we are with the CDX-396.
Yamaha CDX-396 - Presentation
The Yamaha CDX-396 replaced the CDX-393 in 2000 and was the entry level CD Player from Yamaha. Its production life ended in 2003. The price was a roughly $200 at the time and would be $350 in today's money.
The laser head remained the same super fast Sony KSS-213C as the CDX-393, but the all in one chip (from servo to D/A conversion) was a new Panasonic MN35511AL. This chip is undocumented but the Service Guide of the CDX-396 shows a high level diagram, with servo control, CRC error correction, interpolation, de-emphasis, oversampling (8x) and DAC (Pulse Edge Modulator).
Compared to its predecessor, the CDX-396 added a digital output by default. Note that its bigger brother, the CDX-496, only added a headphones output on top.
So the back of unit is simple:
Analog RCA outputs and Toslink, that's all, and not that we need much more.
The published specifications (from the service guide) were:
Let's have a quick look at the inside:
Very simple, the Sony drive (KSS-213C laser head) on the left and the all in one board on the right. We don't see the DAC (below the board).
User Experience
It is a pleasure to press Next/Back buttons with a KSS laser head, I'm addicted to the speed of these drives. Same goes with FFW/REW, really practical for my measurements but a rare need in normal day to day operation.
Of course it is gapless playback: once upon a time, nobody thought about messing with the redbook, today...
The Yamaha correctly applies de-emphasis when requested, again that's a proper CD Player after all.
Yamaha CDX-396 - Measurements (Analog out)
All measurements performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input) for analog outputs, and a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital.
I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the SMSL PL-200 review. I used the commercial version of my Audio Technical CD for all measurements. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
The Yamaha outputs 2.041Vrms from the left channel and a very close 2.031Vrms from the right one. The phase showed a -60° shift at 20kHz, indicating the utilisation of a minimum phase filter type (we'll see that later).
Since the two channels are identical, I will generally show only one channel as it speeds up the review for me.
----
As usual, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the Test CD (Line out):
Well, yes we have a bit of distortion, but also a higher than usual noise floor. Both combined, we lose more than 1.3bit of resolution in the dashboard (14.7bits only).
Let's check if things improve at lower level (-6dBFS):
Well, barely, indeed less distortion but still 1bit lost... This is not as good as its predecessor.
----
Let's have a look et the Power Supply leakages, the below is a 20Hz to 1kHz zoom with a punishing 512k FFT length to reveal issues:
Yep, we have multiple harmonics of 50Hz (Europe) up to -100dBr. It is likely to stay hidden into music, but it is higher than usual, again.
----
Next is the bandwidth (both channels):
We see the minimum variation between the two channels, but we have some ringing at the end of the spectrum. A wider view at the oversampling filter behaviour will tell us more:
Yeah, this is not a very powerfull filter, the attenuation is only -40dB, with ringings. The overlay with the AES IMD dual test tones (18k&20k) show that their aliases are weakly attenuated.
----
Next is the multitone test that a lot of you like very much, but you won't be happy with the results:
This is not bad with 17bits of distortion-free range (both channels are overlaid).
----
Let's check the jitter:
The red trace is the original WAV file and the blue from the Yamaha. Besides the elevated noise floor, the jitter is very low, no a concern.
----
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
| Intersample-overs tests Bandwidth of the THD+N measurements is 20Hz - 96kHz | 5512.5 Hz sine, Peak = +0.69dBFS | 7350 Hz sine, Peak = +1.25dBFS | 11025 Hz sine, Peak = +3.0dBFS |
| Teac VRDS-20 | -30.7dB | -26.6dB | -17.6dB |
| Yamaha CD-1 | -84.6dB | -84.9dB | -78.1dB |
| Denon DCD-900NE | -34.2dB | -27.1dB | -19.1dB |
| Denon DCD-SA1 | -33.6dB | -27.6dB | -18.3dB |
| Onkyo C-733 | -88.3dB | -40.4dB | -21.2dB |
| Denon DCD-3560 | -30.2dB | -24.7dB | -17.4dB |
| Myryad Z210 | -70.6dB (noise dominated) | -71.1dB (noise dominated) | -29.4dB (H3 dominated) |
| Sony CDP-X333ES | -30.5dB | -24.8dB | -16.3dB |
| BARCO-EMT 982 | -32.7dB | -24.5dB | -16.3dB |
| TASCAM CD-200 | -73.5dB | -36.3dB | -19.7dB |
| Sony CDP-597 | -30.4dB | -24.7dB | -16.5dB |
| SMSL PL100 | -53.1dB | -31dB | -19.1dB |
| OPPO BDP-95 | -39dB | -28.8dB | -19.2dB |
| OPPO BDP-95 (vol -2dB) | -95dB | -97.5dB | -32.7dB |
| SMSL PL200 | -94.8dB | -97dB | -39.5dB |
| SMSL PL200 (vol -1dB) | -94.8dB | -97dB | -58.7dB |
| Orpheus Zero | -88.7dB | -87.3dB | -56.8dB |
| Azur 640C V2 | -89.8dB | -91dB | -64.5dB |
| NAD C540 | -34.1dB | -26.3dB | -20.4dB |
| Consonance CD120B | -84.3dB | -39.6dB | -20.9dB |
| Fosi Merak | -38.8dB | -28.5dB | -18.5dB |
| Yamaha CDX-396 | -49.4dB | -34.7dB | -24.5dB |
The interpolator of the Yamaha has no headroom for intersample overs as so many other CD Players. Too bad since so many CD Masters are recorded too hot.
----
Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
There is some low level noise that comes in the way, the same I mentioned several times before. Symmetry is still good meaning the low level linearity is good too (for a CD Player).
By the way, I said I'd be back on the oversampling filter, the impulse response indeed shows it is a Fast Roll-Off Minimum Phase filter:
----
Other measurements (not shown):
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -93dB
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -82.5dB
- IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -80.1dB
- IMD DIN (250Hz & 8kHz 4:1) : -77.9dB
- IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -82.3B
- IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 17kHz 1:4) : -77.3dB
- IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -92.2dB
- IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -100.9dB
- Dynamic Range : 94dB (without dither @-60dBFS)
- Crosstalk: 100Hz (-80dBr), 1kHz (-83dBr), 10kHz (-81dBr)
- Pitch Error (GPSDO corrected) : 19'996.90Hz (19'997Hz requested) ie -5ppm
- Gapless playback : Yes
The Dynamic range loses 4dB in low level noise.
Crosstalk is high for a CD Player.
Pitch error is a very -5ppm only .
----
Last and not least, I like to run a THD vs Frequency sweep at -12dBFS as it shows how the conversion has evolved over time. I am currently using the beta version of REW and I discovered that this sweep gives better and more reliable results than before. I overlayed the results with the SMSL PL200:
Not too bad after all, but this is THD only, not noise.
----
As I did with the Sony CDP-597, I add a "max DAC resolution" measurement test. It is performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither (from Audacity). I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz in REW not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. I take the calculated ENOB and simply add 2bits to it (due to the -12dB attenuation, as 1bits=6dB). The potential maximum, when calculated from the digital WAV file, is 18.7bits under this test. A "transparent" DAC should achieve 18.7bits, ie 100% in this test.
Here are the results compared to others:
| CD Player model or DAC | Calculated ENOB (999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither, THD+N span = 20Hz - 6kHz) | Percentage of max resolution achieved (higher is better) |
| SMSL PL-200 | 18.7bits | 100% |
| OPPO BDP-95 | 18.7bits | 100% |
| SMSL PS-200 (from CD player) | 18.6bits | 99.47% |
| Denon DCD-900NE | 18.5bits | 98.93% |
| Orpheus Zero | 18.4bits | 98.40% |
| Azur 640C V2 | 18.3bits | 97.86% |
| Consonance CD 120B | 18.2bits | 97.33% |
| Onkyo C-733 | 18bits | 96.26% |
| SMSL PL150 | 18bits | 96.26% |
| SMSL PL100 | 17.9bits | 95.72% |
| Fosi Merak | 17.7bits | 94.65% |
| Sony CDP-597 | 17.5bits | 93.58% |
| Onkyo DX-7355 | 17.3bits | 92.51% |
| Denon DCD-3560 | 17.2bits | 91.98% |
| Yamaha CD-S303 | 16.8bits | 89.84% |
| Revox B-226S | 16.8bits | 89.94% |
| Accuphase DP-70 | 16.6bits | 88.77% |
| NAD C540 | 16.6bits | 88.77% |
| Sony CDP-337ESD | 16.6bits | 88.77% |
| Teac VRDS-25x | 16.5bits | 88.24% |
| Yamaha CDX-396 | 15.9bits | 85.03% |
| Marantz CD-73 | 14.9bits | 79.68% |
Ouch, that hurts. This bad score is due to the low level random noise which does not allow us to get to 16bits resolution. Too bad.
Yamaha CDX-396 - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
Here are the results:
| Test type | Technical test | Results |
| Variation of linear cutting velocity | From 1.20m/s to 1.40m/s | Pass |
| Variation of track pitch | From 1.5µm to 1.7µm | Pass |
| Combined variations of track pitch and velocity | From 1.20m/s & 1.5µm to 1.40m/s & 1.7µm | Pass |
| HF detection (asymmetry pitch/flat ratio) | Variation from 2% to 18% | Pass |
| Dropouts resistance | From 0.05mm (0.038ms) to 4mm (3.080ms) | Pass |
| Combined dropouts and smallest pitch | From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm | Pass |
| Successive dropouts | From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm | Pass |
And voilà! The Panasonic all in one chip does its magic again, as a SERVO control. If the results were not good as a DAC, this time it is best in class at driving the Sony KSS 213 to become the best of the best. So we still keep the speed and we get the max resistance to scratches and nearly non-compliant redbook CDs. This means the Yamaha will have no issue tracking CDs going up to and even beyond 74min.
Yamaha CDX-396 - Digital output
The Motu interface that I use to test digital output could not sync to the optical stream of the Yamaha, which happens rarely in my tests and that could have couple of causes with “consumer grade” devices:
- Slight frequency drift (above or below 44.1kHz), which the Motu can’t tolerate
- SCMS (Copy Protection): Some older CD players embed "Serial Copy Management System" bits in the S/PDIF stream. While MOTU interfaces usually ignore this for audio, certain implementations can interfere with the initial handshake.
So, I captured some measurements from the output of the SMSL PS200 to verify if the digital output of the Yamaha had other issues.
This is my standard 999.91Hz test tone @0dBFS (Yamaha opti out feeding the SMSL PS200):
Yes, this is excellence I was looking for. This, if not a "bit perfect" test, is good enough to demonstrate that there's no ASRC in the digital path of the Yamaha.
Next is the 3DC test:
This is the usual result of the PS200 on this test, which uses a Minimum Phase Filter too (descending ringing). Again not a definitive proof of no digital modification, but if it would be the case, the trace wouldn't be that neat.
So, allow me to state "digital perfect" output for the CDX-396, even if some pro-interfaces might not like the subcodes of that Toslink interface very much.
Conclusion
Well, no, cheap CD players of old times did not all achieve on their analog outputs.
But as a Transport, the Yamaha truly delivers. This represents a very cheap and very efficient option, proper CD Transport.
Enjoy your evening!
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