Hitachi DA-1000 CD player

摘要

In hi-fi's glory days of the '70s and '80s, Hitachi was a big player. As well as MOSFET power amplifiers such as the HMA-6500 [see HFN Jan '15], the company also produced direct-drive turntables using its own 'Unitorque' motors, loudspeaker units with pleated roll-edges, Dynaharmonys (among the first commercially successful implementations of Class G topology) and one of the first three-head cassette decks to feature computerised automatic tape calibration. The level of technical innovation was facilitated by the sheer size of the company and the R&D budgets this made possible. Against this backdrop a swift entry into Compact Disc was inevitable and, sure enough, Hitachi was quick out of the blocks with a fully fledged first-generation machine, the DA-1000, released in the first few months of 1983.