Best $25.00 sound investment..

[Deleted User]

Hello,
I recently resubscribed to Stereophile after a few years of not getting it. This issue had their "The Best of the Best: 500 recommended components" section. In the "CD, SACD players" category I saw that the Sony Playstation 1 was in the "class C" section. I remembered that I was once told, a few years ago, that none other than Sandy Gross used one and loved it. So my wife and I made it a Saturday "mission" to check around at our favorite flea markets and Goodwill stores to see if we could turn up one.
I remembered a guy who runs a nice little shop in the Joppatown Flea Market who seems to offer a good selection of gaming cartridges and players. Sure enough I checked his shelves and there was a Sony in really good shape with a 30 day warranty selling for $25.00. Ta da, back to the sound room we go for a listen.
The connections and operation couldn't be simpler, detachable power cord, RCA connection and game controller all plug into the compact player. The top pops up, like a poor man's Levinson transport, snap in the CD, close the lid and start play. The sound is really, really good on a Reference Recording of Arnold's Overtures. Plenty of dynamics, the feeling of hearing an orchestra on a real live stage came through. If no one told you what kind of player you were listening to you would probably guess an upper level NAD player just because it sounded so "correct". I just forgot about evaluating what I was hearing and just started enjoying.
Next time you're in a Goodwill or Salvation Army, take a peek at the old game section and see if you can spot one.
Cheers, Ken

soundfreak1

I had one of those a few years ago. It never ceased to amaze me as to the sound it offered it took finding an external dac and mods to it to replace it in my rack.. tough on the ego (LOL) but good on the ears.

gudnoyez

And to think my daughter sold hers for $10 a couple of years ago dang it all, had I known.

soundfreak1

They are marked "PSCH 1" with the RCA jacks.

cnh

I have one, but I believe the mechanism is starting to fail as it will only play if I put it on its side, probably wearing out.

I have compared it to better, more expensive CDPs and the sound is OK. I would say that it rolls off the high end so that makes it sound more pleasing as analog sound. It's kind of what many vintage stereo receivers do.

Try this. Get a nice "warm" sounding vintage receiver, hook up a '90s run-of-the-mill 200-250 dollar original MSRP Sony CDP (that you can find for less than $10 at most GWs) to it. Hook it up to some Polk vintage Monitors, ADS, Dynaco A25s, KLH, or EPIs and prepare to be lulled into a musical stupor. The music will melt in your ears but it will not be the best, cleanest most resolving, widest sound stage and imaging you'll ever hear. But without A/B-ing the system, you "won't care"! lol

I believe the magic of the PS1 with the RCA outs is in its "omissions" more so than not.

I think I've mentioned that I run mine on a JVC R-S33 and Polk Monitor 5As. Very mellow!

cnh

headrott

Thanks Ken. If I see one on the cheap (with RCA's) I may pick one up for fun to try out on my SACD's.

oldrocker

I think I have one of these up in the attic somewhere. Going on a hunt.

chumlie

Nice score Ken, congrats !!!

[Deleted User]

Hello,
I've been enjoying the sound of the Sony for awhile now and in fact found another one for my basement system. I thought I'd see if there was a way to improve the sound. I eliminated the two surface mount capacitors inline with the output from the D/A converter as well as two muting transistors and a surface mount opamp. I installed a simple RC high pass filter with a film type 3.3uF cap and a 15kHz thin film resistor to block at 3.3Hz and below (with an input impedance of 500k ohms).
Here's a photo of the side with the caps (small spaces).
Cheers, Ken

Mikey081057

Best $2 sound investment is a bottle of hydrogen peroxide to clean the wax out of your ears.

[Deleted User]

Ah, it's back together and it works great! I played my Reference Recording of Malcolm Arnold and voila improved string tone and much more specific instrument location. A significant improvement, the only difference is the volume has to be increased since the opamp's extra gain is eliminated. But, well worth the improvement.
A hint to those who might have this player, try the a/v outputs instead of the RCA, I think it sounds better since this output bypasses the opamp.
But, for a spectacular improvement make the signal path changes.

F1nut

Ken, the master, does it again

[Deleted User]

Mikey081057 wrote: »

Best $2 sound investment is a bottle of hydrogen peroxide to clean the wax out of your ears.

Yes and distilled water as you don't want to leave contaminates.

[Deleted User]

Just got done listening for the past two or three hours, really enjoying this player. Listened to Chicago Transit Authority and just amazing bass and tonal balance and the horns are just right. Cream on MoFi and the quality of the voices was perfect, then some Michael Hedges.
Usually I play a CD until the compressor builds up 55psi, but we just enjoyed listening to music tonight. Love this little guy!