Toshiba 3950 roll off paradox and cure

Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

I've been wondering about the highly variable opinions about the sound of the 3950. Some called it rolled off/lifeless....some call it detail/fast...and some call it dynamic. I was able to get my unit to my unit to exhibit all three personalities by varying the way I cued up the track. To those who lurk in this forum, this is not the first time that this has been reported but recent changes in my system (transport, cabling) have made this very obvious compared to past experience.
Picking the right piece of music can also make it easier. Pick a simply miked piece consisting of just voice and piano or voice and guitar. Listen for the leading edge of the note, the sustain and decay and also your impression of the singer's mood (depressed, upbeat, pratty, lots of inflection and very little). As always, your mileage may vary depending on your system and its tuning.
As an example, suppose we wish to play track "4" from Rosanne Cash's 10 Song Demo called Western Wall
To get a poor/rolled off/lifeless sound:
Load CD
1st cut will play automatically on the 3950
Press "4" and then "play". On Toshiba units, the request is only honoured only after "play" is pressed.
To get a dynamic sound:
Load CD
1st cut will play automatically on the 3950
Press "PAUSE" wait 5 seconds. Press "STOP". Press "STOP" again
(this is needed on Toshiba units due to a "resume" feature from where the track was first stopped. The second STOP disables this).
Press "3" and then "play". Press PAUSE, wait 12 seconds, press SKIP forward, press PLAY again (Toshiba quirk).

To get a fast/detailed sound:
Press "4" and then "play". Let it play music for about 3 seconds. Press PAUSE, wait 20 seconds, press SKIP Backward, press PLAY again (Toshiba quirk).
SETUP
Toshiba 3950: stock but on roller balls and weighted down by a heavy text book on top
Amp: Stock SLA-1 with updated Belden power cable
Interconnects: JR 89259/89248 twisted co-axial pair
Cables: HD-14...directionality sorted

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Topic - Toshiba 3950 roll off paradox and cure - PeAK 10:42:54 12/08/04 (11)

Re: Toshiba 3950 roll off paradox and cure - pburke 08:42:34 12/13/04 (2)

Re: No Dice... - PeAK 11:53:36 12/13/04 (1)

Re: No Dice... - pburke 14:00:35 12/13/04 (0)

Re: Toshiba 3950 roll off paradox and cure - rsaavedr 22:45:36 12/11/04 (2)

Hmmm...could you try this - PeAK 05:45:58 12/12/04 (1)

Re: Hmmm...could you try this - rsaavedr 12:02:55 12/12/04 (0)

Re: I think this has to do with the buffer, not dac modes...nt - Fatcobra 19:40:24 12/10/04 (0)

You could sell this stuff ......... :o) nt - three_sox 00:41:41 12/10/04 (0)

Re: Toshiba 3950 control access - Bare 21:05:41 12/08/04 (0)

Wow ! (nt) - Audiogabby 18:28:15 12/08/04 (0)

What do you do in your spare time?........... - Jose Garcia 16:24:54 12/08/04 (0)

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