Victor ZD-V919 (1993) | 20bit Digital Recording Master

11 March 2025

Victor ZD-V919 (1993) | 20bit Digital Recording Master

The ZD-V919 introduced by Victor in 1993 was a DCC (Philips standard Digital Compact Cassette) recorder that could also playback your old Compact Cassette collection (both Dolby B and C encoded cassettes). Equipped with 20-bit high-precision signal processing, Victor DCC can now express even the nuances of minute signals. The original PASC-LSI with 24-bit internal calculations and a new PASC-LSI with 24-bit internal calculations was developed to fully utilize the capabilities unique to DCC. It can handle not only the 16-bit recorded CDs, but also 20-bit music signals with ease. It reproduces the nuances and reverberations of music beautifully. Compared to the 16-bit precision of CD and DAT signals, the V919's digital signal processing circuit has succeeded in achieving a dynamic range of 20-bit precision. Furthermore, to make the most of this capability, the D/A conversion section has been made as precise as possible. The D/A converter uses the well-established 1-bit DD converter. The 4th-order noise shaver and PEM circuit achieve ideal conversion characteristics. In addition, the 20-bit digital audio interface, new DD converter and 18-bit input digital filter provide the digital quality that only DCC can provide. This achieves the ultimate in high quality sound. The display on the deck itself shows up to 12 characters of music information from DCC music software (up to 40 characters with the scroll function). Album titles, track titles, and even artist names are displayed in sequence with one touch. In addition, the total track number and total tape time are also displayed. When searching for a song you want to listen to, you can select the song while checking the song title, providing an unprecedented operating feeling. The ZD-v919 is equipped with three optical input terminals that serve as the input center for digital sources.

Main specifications:

Channel: 2 channel stereo

Head: 20 ch thin film head

Wow and flutter: Below measurement limit (DCC)/0.09% WRMS

Frequency characteristics (DCC): fs48kHz=10Hz~22,000Hz (±0.5dB)

fs44.1kHz=10Hz~ 20,000Hz (±0.5dB)

fs32kHz=10Hz~14,500Hz (±0.5dB)

Frequency characteristics (ACC/-20dB playback only Metal tape): 30Hz~16,000Hz (±3dB)

Signal-to-noise ratio (DCC): Playback=109dB/Recording=94dB(fs48kHz)

Dynamic range (A-network): Playback=105dB(fs48kHz)/Recording=94dB (fs48kHz)

Total distortion (1kHz): Recording=0.004% (fs48kHz)/Playback = 0.0025% (fs48kHz)

Channel separation (1kHz): Playback = 100dB/Recording = 80dB