The ultimate CD-player!?

[gerard]

Pangea


i would say for now , vinyl looks more like my Pioneer !!!

gerard

[Stonehenge Man]

My last 5 CDPs cost 5 dollars or less and all of them except ONE were Sonys. The fourth was a Magnavox and plastic cased as part of a system but I enjoy it's DAC also.

[pangea]

A very provocative statement... I didn't hear an AMAZING difference between the PS-1 and the reasonably average player I compared it to. Please try to use words to explain the difference you do hear.

BTW: I need to get that player boxed and then I'll get back to you with the shipping details... sorry for the delay.

Widget

Hi Widget!

Many thanks, the parcel has arrived and it's alive!
Are you sure you won't give me an account number where I can transfer the money?
If there is anything I can do to help you in any other way, please let me know.

Anyway, I had to replace the power supply and while doing so, I put in some of the shielding at the same time.
I think that this is necessary on the SCPH1001/2, since the laser unit is situated so close to the supply.
On later models the supply is a bit further away because of this.
As I hooked it up and put in the first CD, my first impression was that the 1001 is capable of digging even deeper in to the lows, compared to the 5502 I'm currently using.
Then I also noticed that some of my CD-R's didn't sound as good as previously on my 5502.
Why that is, I don't know yet, It could be that the one you sent me, doesn't like the CD-R's, like my old player, OR it could be that the 1001 is more sensitive/revealing than my own 5502.

The next thing I noticed, was that your PS1 isn't capable of playing most of the CD-R's, without frequent dropouts, some shorter, some longer.

Therefore I think it would be interesting to know if perhaps the 1001 you sent me, has been played a lot, thus causing the laser/transport, to "drop the ball" now and then, or if it has been in storage for a long time and perhaps it will take a while before things will loosen up again.
I can already sense that the dropouts are becoming somewhat shorter with every CD played.

But if they don't go away entirely, then I will try to replace the laser as well and at the same time complete the shielding.

Other than that I think the sound is comparable, between the two units.

It may well be true, that the PS1 doesn't have that last ounce of detail, as some of those esoteric players costing above the 10k$ mark, but then again, I would never be able to afford one of those anyway, so I'm quite happy with the performance this toy is capable of and I still think that with this player, I'm as close to the CD-nirvana, as I'll ever be and thanks a million once again!

Is this forum great or what!!!

BR
Roland

[Alex Lancaster]

Pangea: My son gave an SCPH-101, is this usable?, I´ll try it Sunday.

Thanks.

[rek50]

Is this forum great or what!!! Yes it is! Roland, I have four SCPH 1001 units. One of them wouldn't recognise a "Packed", as in loaded with songs, CD. I noticed the laser didn't seem to "Kiss" the spindle as close as the others. After I removed a bit of "Flash" on the end of the plunger/switch, it's nice and friendly with the spindle and recognises the packed CD. Three of the units sound very similar. The fourth sounds brighter, less mid/bass for some reason. I A/B'd them and even my wife could tell. I'll try the shielding task on one of them just for fun. It is fun to me.

[pangea]

Pangea: My son gave an SCPH-101, is this usable?, I´ll try it Sunday.

Thanks.

Hi Alex!

I have no first hand experience on the 101, but from what I have read there are those who say it's no good and will dismiss it, but on the other hand, there are those who use the 101 as base for some serious tweaking and modification.

If you go back in the thread I think you will find some of those links, although some of the links ar in German.

Best thing would be to simply try it out and see if there is anything you could improve.

If you need some help with the German, I'd be glad to help.

BR
Roland

[pangea]

Is this forum great or what!!! Yes it is! Roland, I have four SCPH 1001 units. One of them wouldn't recognise a "Packed", as in loaded with songs, CD. I noticed the laser didn't seem to "Kiss" the spindle as close as the others. . Three of the units sound very similar. The fourth sounds brighter, less mid/bass for some reason. I A/B'd them and even my wife could tell. I'll try the shielding task on one of them just for fun. It is fun to me.

Could you please explain what you mean by:
"After I removed a bit of "Flash" on the end of the plunger/switch, it's nice and friendly with the spindle and recognises the packed CD".

Did you also have some intermittent "drop-outs"?
The shielding is necessary on the 1001. But be very careful, you dont short the fuseholder, as I did.

Perhaps the fourth one is busted? I managed to blow one up, after having tried to improve the signal and connectors out.
After that, I experienced the same thing, no bass and no low mid's.

BR
Roland

[rek50]

"Flash"-slang term for a "Bleed through", through the parting line of a mold. There was some excess plastic on the end of the plunger activated switch, which can be seen if you slide the laser unit up from the mounting pegs (unplug first), and turn it over. I've never had any "Drop Outs" on any of them. I'd check for a loose connection. I have bass/mids on the one, but it sounds different than the other three. RichsPSXParts.com has new laser lens unit for cheap.

[rek50]

More "Drop Out" thoughts: Maybe the "Lid Closed" sensor/switch is bad/dirty. How about a capacitor on the power supply board being less than good? Dirty RCA jacks? Dirty laser lens? Scratched CD? Broken or bad spindle hub- Wobbly disk spin?

[pangea]

More "Drop Out" thoughts: Maybe the "Lid Closed" sensor/switch is bad/dirty. How about a capacitor on the power supply board being less than good? Dirty RCA jacks? Dirty laser lens? Scratched CD? Broken or bad spindle hub- Wobbly disk spin?

Finally, I've given it up. I think I have tried everything now, except replacing the power supply (haven't got another one), but haven't found a setting for the bias/gain, where it will play all the CD's without any drop outs or behaving otherwise strangely.

So, now I'm back with the SCPH 5502 with the automatic bias/gain adjustment.
Now at least everything works again, even though I think the 1001 was able to dig a little bit deeper in to the low's, but other than that I'm not sure if I would be able to tell them apart in a blind test.

BR
Roland

[Box]

First i saw of this thread.
I guess it was around '98 that my sony 5 cd player had problems with the drawer. People were coming over and i didnt have time to fool with it. A friend suggested i use my old PS1 as a CD player just to get by. He had never hooked it up to a stereo, just to his TV for his kids to play games and listen to their CD's. It has RCA jacks doesnt it? he says. Just try it.
I didnt like the idea. It probably sounds like a cheap piece of plastic dog poop. I even wondered about the possibility of it being so cheap that it might damage my amp or speakers or something. I was thoroughly surprised. It does have a clean, clear and full sound to it. I think it was missing a little something somewhere, but it was a great solution for that night. I did become concerned at one point in the evening though as the PS1 became so hot i thought it might damage the CD's from the heat. So, i put a ziplocked bag of ice on it.
Any ideas on a better cooling method for extended playing in case i should have to do this again?

[andywin]

Then I also noticed that some of my CD-R's didn't sound as good as previously on my 5502.
Why that is, I don't know yet, It could be that the one you sent me, doesn't like the CD-R's, like my old player, OR it could be that the 1001 is more sensitive/revealing than my own 5502.

The next thing I noticed, was that your PS1 isn't capable of playing most of the CD-R's, without frequent dropouts, some shorter, some longer.

Spoke to a Techno nerd about this problem. He reckons that it's all down to the fact that the PS1 was built to the "White book standard (CD-ROM) whereas audio CD players are built to the "Red book" standard.

Where an audio CD player can fill a segment of missing data, it would'nt be such a good idea to do the same with data. Imagine the PC second guessing missing data on a spreadsheet stored on CD.

The nerds suggested the PS1 may be more akin to some early CD players which were prone to skipping and dropout.

Does anyone have any data on the dacs and oversampling rates etc. for toe 1000 series and what improvements the 5000 series offered.

[pangea]

Spoke to a Techno nerd about this problem. He reckons that it's all down to the fact that the PS1 was built to the "White book standard (CD-ROM) whereas audio CD players are built to the "Red book" standard.

Where an audio CD player can fill a segment of missing data, it would'nt be such a good idea to do the same with data. Imagine the PC second guessing missing data on a spreadsheet stored on CD.

The nerds suggested the PS1 may be more akin to some early CD players which were prone to skipping and dropout.

Does anyone have any data on the dacs and oversampling rates etc. for toe 1000 series and what improvements the 5000 series offered.

I don't know what goes where and why in a PS1, but it feels like, if it's true what he said, then that problem would have to be present on all, or most of the early 1001/2 players, wouldn't it not?
But as far as I know this problem only occurs on some of them and only on a few even.

So, what els could be factored in?

Anyway, I,m back to my previous SCPH5502 which works beautifully.

BR
Roland

[andywin]

I don't know what goes where and why in a PS1, but it feels like, if it's true what he said, then that problem would have to be present on all, or most of the early 1001/2 players, wouldn't it not?
But as far as I know this problem only occurs on some of them and only on a few even.

So, what els could be factored in?

Anyway, I,m back to my previous SCPH5502 which works beautifully.

BR
Roland

I have a 1002 that will play new CD's without problem but drops out when playing some older discs that have those pinprick holes in them. Try holding a few over a light source to see what I mean. It also struggles with most CDR's. It does sound good when given a good quality recent disc though.
Virtually evryone I know who has tried PS1's has encountered this problem with the 1002.
Like you I prefer the reliability of the 5502 and it's my 1st choice.

[440hz]

I have been reading this thread with interest and managed to get hold of 2 old playstations, a 7502 and a 5502. The 7502 sounds fantastic, I don't have expensive players to compare it to, but I love what I am hearing and it has a sound more like vinyl which I prefer.

Like a lot of people have said detail is fantastic, imaging is great, etc etc. I think I actually prefer the sound of the 5502 but have not a/b these playstations yet. The 5502 tends to drop out a lot though, I think the CD is a bit wobbly and it is much noisier than the 7502 when it spins up. I might try swapping the transport unit over in these two as they have identical connections to PSU and the main board.

Thanks Roland for posting this info. I am going to put one into a heavy case I have and provide buttons on the front for Play, stop, next and previous track. I am trying to get hold of a 1002 model for this purpose because I want the RCA sockets that are already connected. I found a pawn broker close by today that told me he only buys the earliest models like the 1002 for the controllers and accessories and trashes the console because people dont want them! He even looked in his junk pile out the back to see if he still had some. He said he would hang on to them for me in future.

Does anyone know of any other links to people moding these units or how they are using them? I have only found references on here and a few comments on a couple other boards. I wonder how many people are a bit reluctant to share what they thought about the sound?