・DMP-R30

027   |   Denon   |   '95

Enhanced Design Aesthetics

The attractive silver color scheme, coupled with a simple and compact layout with ample white space, creates a clean and minimalist visual appeal (reminiscent of a French cuisine menu). This design approach reflects Denon's audio styling language, while Sony's designs at that time lagged behind those of other manufacturers by a considerable margin.

The prototype of the player likely originated from the Sharp MD-MS20, featuring a "Sampling Rate Converter" to accommodate recording in different digital formats with varying frequencies, such as satellite BS broadcasts and DAT.

It supported Mono REC, allowing for recording in mono, effectively doubling the capacity of 74min discs to 148min. During the early days when blank MDs were quite expensive, this feature addressed a significant pain point for non-musical use cases like meetings and speeches.

It boasted powerful editing capabilities exclusive to MDs, including track movement, merging, and splitting. It also supported the somewhat impractical input of Kana characters.

In contrast to Sony, which limited digital optical input/output to only the first-generation MDs, Denon retained the luxurious feature of digital optical input/output. It also employed a thoughtful design with a detachable remote control for headphones, allowing users to freely choose their headphones.

The built-in lithium rechargeable battery offered REC 2.5 / play 3.5hr of playback, but it came at the cost of a lengthy 5-hour recharge time. The external battery pack (AAx 6) significantly extended recording time to REC 7 / play 12hr in one go.

It featured a simple remote control and a detachable design with a universal headphone jack specification. It also came equipped with a rare optical output.

However, it was priced nearly 20% higher than Sony's offerings at the same time, so expectations for sales might have been tempered...

DMC-E7R