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Post by charleyphogg on Mar 22, 2008 1:16:02 GMT
RCA and 3.5mm jack are not compatible as the jack makes it's connections along the prong whereas the RCA connects at prong and outer which slips over. Thanks Insomniac
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bullpup
Been here a while!
How much is that doggy in the window?
Posts: 517
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Post by bullpup on Mar 22, 2008 10:00:45 GMT
Fascinating loooking stuff here I must give it a go!
With so many PS1's for sale on the bay how can you visually identify a SCPH-1002 please?
Many thanks
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leo
Been here a while!
Team wtf is it?
Posts: 3,638
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Post by leo on Mar 22, 2008 14:41:52 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 22, 2008 16:10:50 GMT
Fascinating loooking stuff here I must give it a go! With so many PS1's for sale on the bay how can you visually identify a SCPH-1002 please? Many thanks You just have to hope the seller lists SCPH-1002 in the ad. I also believe the SCPH-1002 is the one with the phono plugs on the rear?
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bullpup
Been here a while!
How much is that doggy in the window?
Posts: 517
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Post by bullpup on Mar 22, 2008 21:56:04 GMT
Thanks Mike
I guess it will be a case of asking the seller since almost all photos on ebay are of the front or top.
I suppose that I hoped one could tell by the colour or logo or similar.
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Post by rossman on Mar 23, 2008 10:36:26 GMT
INCREDIBLE! I won the first SCPH-1002 which comes with "nothing" for £20 plus £9 postage so £29. I didn't particularly need to win the other one and thought I'd be outbid but, nope........ won it for £4.21 with £6.00 postage on top. This guy comes with 2 x PS1/PS2 Official Dual Shock Joypads, 2 x 1MB Memory Cards (1 x Official and 1 x Blaze, All Necessary Leads & Cabling including a PAL-NTSC Converter..... Just shows you! so that's averaged out at £20 per machine..... fi they prove to have good SQ then maybe quite the bargain Mike, you will be able to use the joypads until your remote control arrives. I have a spare remote that I can send you when I get round to posting my Darkvoice. I have 3 SCPH-1002 and all of them are slightly noisy when playing
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 25, 2008 22:50:35 GMT
Playstation 1 (of two) has arrived but I haven't managed to play a CD in it yet as I'm also waiting for the remote control for it. They certainly are quite well built arent' they? I was expecting pretty cheap, lightweight build quality but not at all....... quite a solid little thing and I just love the way the lid flips open I've found a firm that supplies those replacement cases Rick linked to but, unlike those ones, these ones will fit the SCPH-1002. Of course they are out of stock so am wondering if these will fit the 1002 see here 1000 3000 5000 is the 1002 part of the 1000 series? I haven't got a clue about these games machines.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 25, 2008 23:20:21 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 25, 2008 23:44:34 GMT
Oh well..... I ordered up a couple of those £1.00 replacement cases (one in translucent green, the other clear) I have sheets and sheets of feet I use for the Little Pinkies so will fit them on the underside of the enclosures (they're nice thick neoprene jobbies) I'll strip one of the SCPH - 1002 back to the bone, give it a recap and perform the tweaks as listed on Mick's site, I think the clear translucent case will look pretty cool as you'll see the disc spinning and all the innards will be on full display.... ooh a nice purple LED will go down well too I had a quick peek under the bonnet (my, are these things EASY to get into and gain access to the components) and I totally agree with Rick that the PSU should be offboard, it's way too close for comfort and, yes, it does generate a fair degree of heat.... you know, once the "sony Playstation" lid has been lost and this thing rehoused it'll actually be a serious looking little piece of kit, I actually think the shape and the top loading quite stylish.... there's definitely potential here, for sure.... that is, of course, if the thing sounds good! Yup I can see a few hours of fun tarting these guys up.... and a few hours of "el cheapo" fun at that! Laser assemblies are freely available, spares are freely available on ebay..... you could make quite a shit hot little player out of these things (IF they sound good to start off with) Thanks for bringing this to our attention Rick..... I thought you'd gone mad at first but now I look at it I see where you're coming from
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Sol
100+
loves motorcycles !
Chief Technical Numpty
Posts: 135
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Post by Sol on Mar 26, 2008 10:04:43 GMT
Some cap changes and some messing might well help Mike ... though sounds (sic) like the DAC might be unusual in it's presentation. Will be fun to read your comments once you've played.
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Sol
100+
loves motorcycles !
Chief Technical Numpty
Posts: 135
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Post by Sol on Mar 26, 2008 10:05:38 GMT
Also
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 26, 2008 11:08:02 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 27, 2008 16:17:41 GMT
That's the two of them here now, the one with bugger all and the other with a barrage of control units, memory cards, games , joysticks and what have you ;D
I feel a right prick sitting here using a playstation control pad to flip between my favourite tracks (the bloody remote control wouldn't work with the SCHP-1002) certainly not the most "ideal" and user friendly method of skipping between tracks.
First impressions out of the phono outputs..... the output level seems pretty low compared with normal having to crank the volco a few more notches around the dial to achieve my usual listening level.... sound is decidedly rich and warm and certainly not the type of presentation I'd expect from a $6000 CD player ;D It's actually quite mushy and swampy in places but for £20 and £4.71 respectively not bad for the money.
It may be a different story when I flip to the AVI multi out, mod them as per the German site etc. etc. but from the phono audio out nothing at all spectacular. Of course this could change once they've warmed up a bit..... will report back later.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 27, 2008 22:53:25 GMT
Nope...... AVI multi out is the next port of call.... pretty underwhelming out of the audio out phono sockets sounding distant, thick, chocolaty with a most definite hint of hash thrown into the mix (not the type you smoke btw!) some may call it laid back, others may call it warm.... to me it's just indistinct and mashed sounding via the audio out....... Nobody claims it's the $6,000 dollar beater via the audio out though so no point me waffling on about hash, mud and swamps is there? I'll get one of them modded up as per dogbreath dogbreath.de/PS1/index.html and then compare the modded one to the stock one (obviously both using AV out) I've got the suitable connectors so will stitch together a couple of av out to phono leads tomorrow. I sense there is potential with these units but in stock guise hooked up from the audio out phonos they are nothing more than an extremely mediocre "supermarket special" CD player... there may well be a beast under the bonnet waiting to get out, I'm really looking forward to modding one of them and I hope she growls! Fortunately I appear to have two pretty clean examples of the SCPH-1002 which both sound the same so this is going to be an interesting time with the soldering iron As it stands though (and IMO) "stock" they sound nothing out of the ordinary and having to skip tracks using a Sony analog controller just looks and feels like I've gone skip diving (dumpster diving) to procure my source I always say it as I hear it.... so far nothing special but that may change once the "dogbreath" mods have been performed..... I'll definitely be back on this one..... hell, I've forked out almost £30 on these two machines! (a fortune eh?)
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leo
Been here a while!
Team wtf is it?
Posts: 3,638
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Post by leo on Mar 27, 2008 23:05:47 GMT
But at least the name of Dogbreath alone fills you with confidence , got to be a name to trust
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 28, 2008 10:59:39 GMT
But at least the name of Dogbreath alone fills you with confidence , got to be a name to trust Yes, a household name like Andrex, tampax, durex, domestos, otex, dettol........ dogbreath is a name you can trust. Now where's me soldering iron I'm off to do the dogbreath mods ;D
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 28, 2008 22:42:23 GMT
Actually guys, I don't think I'll even bother going any further with these two "playstations" - Rick, this isn't some kind of premature April fools day prank is it?
These things come nowhere close to a fekkin' bargain basement CDP (in stock guise) let alone anywhere close to a moderately competent CDP.
They sound muddy, recessed and sorely lacking in detail and dynamics... bloody awful actually! I've been listening to the stock "playstations" for a couple of days and have just reverted back to my reference CD17KI and it's LIGHT YEARS better than these kid's toys (I'll say it again....... in "stock" guise)
$6000 beater my arsehole! I WILL perform the DOGBREATH mods on one of them but I really do think all I will be doing is polishing a turd..... I'm all for finding and promoting a genuine "bang for the buck" player but my ears are telling me this is more of a "bullshit for the buck" detour.
As JM says "are you fekkin serious man?"
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Mar 29, 2008 1:09:02 GMT
Yes.If it has the RCA AV outputs and not just the multipin connector you have the correct version Pretty much.The analog section is a real dog so if you don't need the extra gain and/or the filter the best sound will be directly from the DAC chip analog outputs through a good coupling capacitor (I think mine is 4.7uF film and foil) biased by a 100K resistor directly across the RCA output jack hot and ground.This means you lose the mute function but if you leave the player "on" (recommended) and don't experience any "no lock" conditions this is not a problem I finally settled on three isonodes under the actual player,an 18 inch square piece of birch veneer furniture grade plywood which is in turn "spiked" to the shelf (again three) and it seems to be the best comprimise between the "jittery" nature of using the transport controls with the squishy tube under it (damned uncomfortable feeling that) and ultimate SQ.Your mileage may vary of course so use what works for you (though DO experiemnt with various "constrained layer" techniques ) i have a feeling the "ultimate platform" may very well be NO platform at all but rather three rubber/cork/rubber blocks (again three) from past isolation/tuning experiments with digital Also might be a good idea to keep one "bone stock" as the control for the evaluation mike Rickmonster............... Nope.Dead serious Mine is still "in system" even though I have access to several other in house players/dacs and the Ugly Duckling cosmetics are starting to grow on me (though I AM a bit itchy to make a piano black lacquer solid cherry platform with brass spikes to compliment/enhance the gray tones and maybe add a solid walnut top dress plate for both the visual sofening of the stark plastic AND to add more mass and "tuning" to the mechanicals which means I would also have to go with a yellow led to complete the effect ). Funny thing is i have read opinions all over the map on this player and because they come from mostly folks who's opinions have merit I have wondered at the gap between "this thing fkn rules" to "what a POS and waste of plastic" which because they are so one way or the other makes me wonder if the build quality is so variable or the laser bias (I adjusted mine for sound ) is all over the map OR if like with many products the earliest versions use high quality expensive parts to "rope you in" then once there is a demand going to cheaper parts and a lesser build quality to "get 'em out the door and on the shelves so i can count my loot" This is a trend especially with many japanese consumer products where the initial versions are built like the proverbial brick shithouse for the "show and tell" stage (CES.Reviewers samples,etc) then once there is a demand the parts start to have a lower overall count (blank areas on the pcb's formerly filled) and the actual "in hand" weight noticeably less due to thinner metal and/or more plastic being used. ever actually TOUCH and early VCR ? Built like fkn TANKS and purty as hell until they became popular then they shrank in size,lost features you actually could USE,got light as hell due to all the plastic parts replacing metal (plastic deforms over time with heat exposure) which eventuall led to our present situation where the damn things are so cheap and so unrelaible they are like a disposable lighter rather than a permanat fixture. The DAC chips does tend to the warmer side of nuetral but not in the boom box one note bass/blurry mid base sense if you lose the shit analog stage but more in the "relaxed flow" sense reminiscent of analog tape.Detailed but not etched,bass extension but not "stark" bloodless bass,and a natuural mid band that makes the human voice sound like it has some human attached.These are things I don't notice with compressed rock at high levels but I DO with some old fusion jazz (mahavishnu orchestra),blues,steely dan,Chicago,reggae and classic rock remasters to Cd where they sound more like i remeber the originals sounding when i first played them on the turnatable back in the day (though I have to say i HATE the remastered Jethro Tull aqualung cut and wish they had included Cross eyed Mary in my "best of" CD which is hardly that without it) Also.Most modern disc players run a HOT output voltage that is anywhere from 2V to 6V which is a damn lot when compared to sources of old that were in the .775V to 1.5 volt range (and why so many preamps/integrateds have resistor attenuators on the CD input ) so if you are used to lot of voltage gain and you go to less it will have the psychoacoustic effect of sounding seemingly less LIVELY and powerful,as if somehow the dynamics are being squashed but this too is just an illusion and one used for many years by shady audio dealers to sell you inferior goods when the thing they want to sell is played LOUDER than the competition thus sounding better because it sounds more alive but when played level matched to the competition will reveal the true limitations (how i got snagged into buying a set of Cerwin Vega loadspeakers for $125 per when i was a teen instead of the ARs I wanted and a thing that sTILL pisses me off when you realise they were my first REAL speakers and just how much loot $250 was back in 1972) My system has the unique ability to adapt to the program so for instance ALL my line level controls (input select,monitor.vol/bal,output select) are separate from any active stages which for some uses is fine but that then feeds both a buffer stage on Output 2 and a tube gain stage on Output 1 with the tube stage having the option to output either a cap coupled +20dB,a trafos coupled +8dB 600 ohm output or in the "bypass" mode a direct line zero gain feed (all with the VOL controls at zero attenuation or put another way FULL OUT) so no matter what the source I can get both good levels and good volume control range rather than if the source is too "hot" choking the dynamics by using extreme attenuation or so weak the sound is seeminly straining to break free. The best "mod" for me was losing the entire analog section,re-biasing then coupling from the DAC chip outputs to a series connected (coupling) film and foil capacitor (Hovland music Cap ) which in turn goes directly to the screwy multi-pin AV out with a resistor across the output from signal to ground (is either 47K,51K or 100K,not sure) then using a carved up Sony AV connector 1.5 ft "twisted pair" 24 guage solid copper interlinks to my monitor controller/passive preamp console and then on to either my high current "Naked" buffer for headphone listening or to the octal preamp WOT output for feeding the power amp/speaker combo (presently NO amp and the stop gap Marantz has been pulled due to ear grating sonics at anything over background music levels or under live rock concert levels where SQ is out the window anyway ) Also.I find the level is about the same as my cable box/DITB combo and my cassette deck and my turntable/PAS buffered out phono section with the current Shure cartridge but below my DVD players or my tube output FM tuner if the volume pot is wide open so going from one source to another does not mean a volume level adjustment which means everything stays consistant from source to source making comparisons easy. Also.I re-biased the laser (can't remeber the exact spec,sorry) with both a DMM and by ear and it made a difference,especially in the bottom end weight/clarity which before was a bit "bloaty" and seemingly did not go as deep-an ilusion due to certain of the mid bass freqs being a bit "wooly" thus dominating the sound when the slow decay/overhang masked the beginning of the next bass event making everything sound a bit 80's cassette/automobile FM AOR radio'ish (no REAL bass below say 60-70 hz but a nice warm and fuzzy 100hz thumpa thumpa thumpa giving the illusion of bass ). bottom line is the analog stage is the weak link with the laser a maybe depending on who/what/when it was adjusted at the factory (americans NEVER buy a car assembled on a Monday ;D) or if the high levels of heat have deformed the enclosure just a tad or if someone got pissed while playting a game whammed the console situations which may have thrown the laser off just enough to allow operation but not GOOD operation and with the power supply a non issue until or iff you get the "transport" to sound good enough to make the job of moving it out of the box worth the effort,no small job that I mean hell dude,the main "engine" is a good sounding chip so it comes down to stroking it a bit to get the music out of the box and if you follow some basic rules 1-KISS,keep it simple stupid so keep the analog path clean and short 2-Garbage in/garbage out so plug into a clean mains line (NOT one with a computer on it ) and/or use an EMI/RFI mains filter to get rid of the lines harmonics that LIVE to fk with digital ciruitry (which is all RF anyway so a kissin' cousin) 3-Isolate,Isolate,Isolate and that means let nothing internal "wobble" causing vibrations to generate OUT (so tighten everything) or letting any EXTERNAL vibrations feed IN either through the shelf it sits on or via the plastic case due to sitting in the path of a speaker system room bass node which can play hell with not only the mechanicals but any big capacitors which are many times very microphonic and sensitive to airborne or pcb transmitted vibrations
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Mar 29, 2008 1:12:49 GMT
BTW.This Dynavox Dynastation is just a prettied up Playstation so the "Engine" is the same under the hood with the only real differences being it is recsed to look good/optimise the transport and it has a very expensive (and cool looking) output stage
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leo
Been here a while!
Team wtf is it?
Posts: 3,638
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Post by leo on Mar 29, 2008 1:19:31 GMT
Work of art!
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 29, 2008 11:28:27 GMT
Yes.If it has the RCA AV outputs and not just the multipin connector you have the correct version Pretty much.The analog section is a real dog so if you don't need the extra gain and/or the filter the best sound will be directly from the DAC chip analog outputs through a good coupling capacitor (I think mine is 4.7uF film and foil) biased by a 100K resistor directly across the RCA output jack hot and ground.This means you lose the mute function but if you leave the player "on" (recommended) and don't experience any "no lock" conditions this is not a problem I finally settled on three isonodes under the actual player,an 18 inch square piece of birch veneer furniture grade plywood which is in turn "spiked" to the shelf (again three) and it seems to be the best comprimise between the "jittery" nature of using the transport controls with the squishy tube under it (damned uncomfortable feeling that) and ultimate SQ.Your mileage may vary of course so use what works for you (though DO experiemnt with various "constrained layer" techniques ) i have a feeling the "ultimate platform" may very well be NO platform at all but rather three rubber/cork/rubber blocks (again three) from past isolation/tuning experiments with digital Also might be a good idea to keep one "bone stock" as the control for the evaluation mike Rickmonster............... Nope.Dead serious Mine is still "in system" even though I have access to several other in house players/dacs and the Ugly Duckling cosmetics are starting to grow on me (though I AM a bit itchy to make a piano black lacquer solid cherry platform with brass spikes to compliment/enhance the gray tones and maybe add a solid walnut top dress plate for both the visual sofening of the stark plastic AND to add more mass and "tuning" to the mechanicals which means I would also have to go with a yellow led to complete the effect ). Funny thing is i have read opinions all over the map on this player and because they come from mostly folks who's opinions have merit I have wondered at the gap between "this thing fkn rules" to "what a POS and waste of plastic" which because they are so one way or the other makes me wonder if the build quality is so variable or the laser bias (I adjusted mine for sound ) is all over the map OR if like with many products the earliest versions use high quality expensive parts to "rope you in" then once there is a demand going to cheaper parts and a lesser build quality to "get 'em out the door and on the shelves so i can count my loot" This is a trend especially with many japanese consumer products where the initial versions are built like the proverbial brick shithouse for the "show and tell" stage (CES.Reviewers samples,etc) then once there is a demand the parts start to have a lower overall count (blank areas on the pcb's formerly filled) and the actual "in hand" weight noticeably less due to thinner metal and/or more plastic being used. ever actually TOUCH and early VCR ? Built like fkn TANKS and purty as hell until they became popular then they shrank in size,lost features you actually could USE,got light as hell due to all the plastic parts replacing metal (plastic deforms over time with heat exposure) which eventuall led to our present situation where the damn things are so cheap and so unrelaible they are like a disposable lighter rather than a permanat fixture. The DAC chips does tend to the warmer side of nuetral but not in the boom box one note bass/blurry mid base sense if you lose the shit analog stage but more in the "relaxed flow" sense reminiscent of analog tape.Detailed but not etched,bass extension but not "stark" bloodless bass,and a natuural mid band that makes the human voice sound like it has some human attached.These are things I don't notice with compressed rock at high levels but I DO with some old fusion jazz (mahavishnu orchestra),blues,steely dan,Chicago,reggae and classic rock remasters to Cd where they sound more like i remeber the originals sounding when i first played them on the turnatable back in the day (though I have to say i HATE the remastered Jethro Tull aqualung cut and wish they had included Cross eyed Mary in my "best of" CD which is hardly that without it) Also.Most modern disc players run a HOT output voltage that is anywhere from 2V to 6V which is a damn lot when compared to sources of old that were in the .775V to 1.5 volt range (and why so many preamps/integrateds have resistor attenuators on the CD input ) so if you are used to lot of voltage gain and you go to less it will have the psychoacoustic effect of sounding seemingly less LIVELY and powerful,as if somehow the dynamics are being squashed but this too is just an illusion and one used for many years by shady audio dealers to sell you inferior goods when the thing they want to sell is played LOUDER than the competition thus sounding better because it sounds more alive but when played level matched to the competition will reveal the true limitations (how i got snagged into buying a set of Cerwin Vega loadspeakers for $125 per when i was a teen instead of the ARs I wanted and a thing that sTILL pisses me off when you realise they were my first REAL speakers and just how much loot $250 was back in 1972) My system has the unique ability to adapt to the program so for instance ALL my line level controls (input select,monitor.vol/bal,output select) are separate from any active stages which for some uses is fine but that then feeds both a buffer stage on Output 2 and a tube gain stage on Output 1 with the tube stage having the option to output either a cap coupled +20dB,a trafos coupled +8dB 600 ohm output or in the "bypass" mode a direct line zero gain feed (all with the VOL controls at zero attenuation or put another way FULL OUT) so no matter what the source I can get both good levels and good volume control range rather than if the source is too "hot" choking the dynamics by using extreme attenuation or so weak the sound is seeminly straining to break free. The best "mod" for me was losing the entire analog section,re-biasing then coupling from the DAC chip outputs to a series connected (coupling) film and foil capacitor (Hovland music Cap ) which in turn goes directly to the screwy multi-pin AV out with a resistor across the output from signal to ground (is either 47K,51K or 100K,not sure) then using a carved up Sony AV connector 1.5 ft "twisted pair" 24 guage solid copper interlinks to my monitor controller/passive preamp console and then on to either my high current "Naked" buffer for headphone listening or to the octal preamp WOT output for feeding the power amp/speaker combo (presently NO amp and the stop gap Marantz has been pulled due to ear grating sonics at anything over background music levels or under live rock concert levels where SQ is out the window anyway ) Also.I find the level is about the same as my cable box/DITB combo and my cassette deck and my turntable/PAS buffered out phono section with the current Shure cartridge but below my DVD players or my tube output FM tuner if the volume pot is wide open so going from one source to another does not mean a volume level adjustment which means everything stays consistant from source to source making comparisons easy. Also.I re-biased the laser (can't remeber the exact spec,sorry) with both a DMM and by ear and it made a difference,especially in the bottom end weight/clarity which before was a bit "bloaty" and seemingly did not go as deep-an ilusion due to certain of the mid bass freqs being a bit "wooly" thus dominating the sound when the slow decay/overhang masked the beginning of the next bass event making everything sound a bit 80's cassette/automobile FM AOR radio'ish (no REAL bass below say 60-70 hz but a nice warm and fuzzy 100hz thumpa thumpa thumpa giving the illusion of bass ). bottom line is the analog stage is the weak link with the laser a maybe depending on who/what/when it was adjusted at the factory (americans NEVER buy a car assembled on a Monday ;D) or if the high levels of heat have deformed the enclosure just a tad or if someone got pissed while playting a game whammed the console situations which may have thrown the laser off just enough to allow operation but not GOOD operation and with the power supply a non issue until or iff you get the "transport" to sound good enough to make the job of moving it out of the box worth the effort,no small job that I mean hell dude,the main "engine" is a good sounding chip so it comes down to stroking it a bit to get the music out of the box and if you follow some basic rules 1-KISS,keep it simple stupid so keep the analog path clean and short 2-Garbage in/garbage out so plug into a clean mains line (NOT one with a computer on it ) and/or use an EMI/RFI mains filter to get rid of the lines harmonics that LIVE to fk with digital ciruitry (which is all RF anyway so a kissin' cousin) 3-Isolate,Isolate,Isolate and that means let nothing internal "wobble" causing vibrations to generate OUT (so tighten everything) or letting any EXTERNAL vibrations feed IN either through the shelf it sits on or via the plastic case due to sitting in the path of a speaker system room bass node which can play hell with not only the mechanicals but any big capacitors which are many times very microphonic and sensitive to airborne or pcb transmitted vibrations SUPERB post mate, you've got my juices flowing again!
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Mar 29, 2008 14:08:53 GMT
Cool For the amount of loot involved is at least worth trying the analog stage bypass/cap-resistor/low capacitance short run minimalist interconnect mod.You also want to shoot for LESS METAL at the RCA jack rather than the very nice to look at heavy metal gold designer plugs for maximum "uncolored" signal transfer.I am huge on getting as little as possible between the source and the next stage and for me that always means small guage solid core wires in simple topologies combined with lightweight connectors (or none,captive cables on the outputs of some of my gear ).No garden hose size signal cables in MY house folks ! Also.Was revisiting some of the content out there on this topic and it is amazing how far ranging the opinions are which go from "I replaced my very expensive high end CD player with the PS-1" to "are you CRAZY ? This is the worst sounding player ever and even my $50 DVD player whips its ass !". That the opinions are so far apart is surprising mainly because I don't remember ANY audio componant having such distance between opinions ever and these from folks who have access to some very fine gear so what is the mechanism at work here ? Well for one there seems to be a couple of "consistants" on the "sounds great" side for using the "bone stock" playstation as a CDP 1-for whatever reason this puppy needs to be left on full time and in fact should not even be listened to until it has had a minimum two day burn in period : "There you go, the 6moons.com guy said in 2006: "Before I started my listening tests, Michael had a warning for me: "Plug in the units — turn ‘em on — and don’t turn them off." It seems the PlayStations sound best when left on all the time. Michael was right. You shouldn’t even listen for the first three days. Both units need every second of the break-in period." I find this very strange,close to " Audio Voodoo" but the proof is as always in the listening and it does make a difference. The only other time I have noticed such a thing was with pure class-A but only a retard would leave a class-a power amp on all the time so the norm is a one hour warm up period so the circuit can stabilize before listening (for me anyway) but never full time on. This also poses a small problem with this particular design because it is a mini furnace so you NEED to do two things : 1-get that bastard raised off the shelf/table ! The Playstation sits way low and that means no air flow so use whatever you have to get it up : some DIY spikes in a three point setup should do it but in a pinch even a couple of thin strips of wood front to back with the feet resting on them would be beneficial 2-Don't CROWD the bitch ! No closed in cabinets or tight spaces.It really does need room to breath and moreso if left on The second "consistant" is the model number.Seems it MUST be the SCPH-1001 or it will suck though as of yet I have not seen anyone explain WHY this is.No one has written to my knowledge what the changes by Sony were only that it makes a difference so if true then the evidence says there has to be some reason behind it and that usually circuit changes or parts added/deleted. I got lucky.I read the 6-Moons article,had a "damn,I have one of those somewhere" moments,dug it out,plugged 'er in,let it warm up for a WEEK (yup.they call me overkill ) then did some A/B listening against all the other CD capable players in house (this pissed everyone off when I yanked theirs out with a "you'll get it back shortly,chill" on the way out their bedroom door or when the HT system was ripped up so no one could wtch a DVD on the big rig ;D ) then decided it would be THE CD centric player in my presently stripped down rig More on the Dynavox which I have to say is about the damn coolest CD player I have ever seen in my life-especially in an age where everything is either balnd black box,so damn nothing looks right with it on the same rack or so full of glitz,bells and whistles it would be right at home hanging from the ceiling in an '80s ero disco : www.avataracoustics.com/dynavox/dynastation2.phpDIY versio Du Jour methe-family.de/cd.htmCan't understand the above really.Goes all out in some areas yet leaves the original (if now shielded) DC-DC power supply ? Weird
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Post by rossman on Mar 30, 2008 19:40:41 GMT
I have a 5502 model waiting to be tried to see if it is actually any good but i need to get an AV out lead set up. This is unlikey to be any time soon. I have seen some on ebay in the past that look to be of reasonable quality but I can't see any at the moment.
My own experiences with the 1002 are closer to Ricks than Mikes even though mine has not been tweaked in any way. However as my Meridian is playing up I have put a 1002 in the main rig and it took 5 days before it started to sound any good.
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leo
Been here a while!
Team wtf is it?
Posts: 3,638
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Post by leo on Mar 31, 2008 22:29:53 GMT
Because my PS1 is long gone I might give my sons PS3 a try, its supposed to make a decent transport at least, shame its only optical out
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Apr 1, 2008 0:02:47 GMT
Because my PS1 is long gone I might give my sons PS3 a try, its supposed to make a decent transport at least, shame its only optical out making it a prime candidate for a serious BNC output if you can get someone to do the dirty work for you.The SPDIF transmitter is already there so the "mod" is a simple "snip" the leads going to the TOS and feed the signal to a pulse transformer isolated BNC SPDIF out (Toslink is Also spdif just optical rather than hardwired ) As for music straight out the PS-1 is better at the line outs but with the PS-2 having DVD capability more of a universal player and one that can be used with an external DAC. This last can be either a boon or a bane since SPDIF is no bargain and is bettered on jitter by just about any single box player (convert/transmit/receive/convert) so a tough call many times on which way to go even though external DACs are usually better than the internal anlog conversion stages. Currently I have and use both the PS-1 and PS-2 with the before mentioned mods to the PS-1,the single box dedicated CDP,and the PS-2 resrved for DVDs (swapped it in for my full size DVD player due to the small footprint) with the digital out feeding my DAC that also receives a signal from my Digital CATV Set-Top box and my computer via a USB-to-SPDIF interface (destined to be I2S-I2S at some point ) and it is a tough call which is actually better. I have not yet determined if this is due to my lack of design skill in getting the best out of my DAC or if the PS-1 is in actuality as good as some suggest but having both DOES make the A/B comparisons a snap and those are my current findings in MY system so it is PS-1 : Music CD PS-2 : Video Player oh yeah.The fan noise from the PS-2 is LOUD and in a quiet room damn near aggravating so I added a rear-pane fan- cut-off switch that so far has not led to frying the transport but being a coward I turn the fans back on for movies at volume even though the player has plenty of breathing room.At some point,if i get around to it,i think i may do a temp sensor/fan trigger to turn the fan on when needed but otherwise off without having to actually GET OFF MY ASS and feel the cabinet for too much heat
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