Luxman D-500X's
Luxman D-500X'sII
Luxman D-500
(1991 - 1997)

Beautifully designed CD player based on the rare Philips CDM-3 CD drive and multi-bit digital-to-analogue converters from... Philips.

The original D-500X's sold extremely well, was equipped with 16-bit TDA-1541A converters and 4fs over-sampling ; it had two pairs of single-ended RCA outputs (fixed / variable), plus a (cheapish) optical TOS digital terminal.

The revised D-500X's II mainly upgraded its TDA-1541 with the double crown S2 version (yes !) while a complete redesign of the boards' arrangements provided a better signal path and componentry changes.

The ultimate (and very rare) D-500, lost the myriad of top buttons (for once not a very good idea, visually), the variable output and attendent volume front pot, swapped the TOS output for a regular 75 Ohm coaxial and, mostly, saw its d/a section powered by a pair of NPC SM5843AP and two 18bit Burr Brown PCM1701P-K.

Besides the CDM-3 which Luxman surprisingly didn't include in the monster DP-07, construction on all three versions is truly impressive : 100VA transformer (!) with five separate windings, a fully non-resonant chassis through the use of sub-chassis & plates and the non-symmetrical disc compartment, massive aluminium top, 70µ PCB tracks, copper heatsinks, copper-plated chassis, PC-OFC wiring, expensive caps and resistors etc. Etc, etc - a real high-end treasure.

If you've ever used one of these, you'll probably feel like I do : I really want one !