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Anyone else use an old Sony PS1 SCPH-1001 as a cd player?


hron61

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Around 2001 I had built some tube gear from kits.

Welborne Labs Laurel ll mono blocks, A Bottlehead Foreplay preamp, and a Bottlehead phono preamp with a pair of Forte l's. Wired in a subwoofer output in the preamp. I made all my own interconnects and speaker cables also, mostly raw beldon cable was used. Had rewired a vintage Thorens TD 160 turntable as well. I heard about the Sony PS1 scph-1001 with the rca jacks was a pretty killer budget cd player.

Well, they were not wrong, sounds pretty dang good. But these days im using it with an older Rotel receiver and a pair of Kg2's. Sounds closer to analog than digital.

Just curious if anybody else uses on too.

Edited by hron61
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Yep, thats the one I have, the scph-1001 with the rca connections.

The other version has a different connection, I think its called a bus connection.

Long ago I read that they can be modded further for even better sound, mine is the stock version.

It's been many years since I was deep into the building and modding gear so i'm a bit rusty.

I did make a bunch of different Jon Risch cable designs back then.

 

 

Edited by hron61
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  • hron61 changed the title to Anyone else use an old Sony PS1 SCPH-1001 as a cd player?

The bus that is used on the PS1, PS2, and PS3's are all the same interconnects.  What is different is this is one of the unique situations where the cabling matters.  Another thing you need to remember is that the PS1 was not built for any kind of digital output.  It used its own onboard DAC for everything.  The 1001 had the benefit of being able to accept cabling that was larger than the 22GA RCA interconnects that were typically used as well.  Sony saw a marketing opportunity and took it by using the unified bus A/V cabling.  The only thing the PS1 had going against it was the disc tray which was notorious for chewing up discs (the 2nd and 3rd generation PS2's also did this, it's why I got rid of my slim).  Fortunately by the time they came out with the slim PS3's they used a soft-tip spindle instead.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/28/2023 at 10:36 PM, hron61 said:

Around 2001 I had built some tube gear from kits.

Welborne Labs Laurel ll mono blocks, A Bottlehead Foreplay preamp, and a Bottlehead phono preamp with a pair of Forte l's. Wired in a subwoofer output in the preamp. I made all my own interconnects and speaker cables also, mostly raw beldon cable was used. Had rewired a vintage Thorens TD 160 turntable as well. I heard about the Sony PS1 scph-1001 with the rca jacks was a pretty killer budget cd player.

Well, they were not wrong, sounds pretty dang good. But these days im using it with an older Rotel receiver and a pair of Kg2's. Sounds closer to analog than digital.

Just curious if anybody else uses on too.

 

 

You and I have nearly the same setup, turntable, speakers an all. I kept reading more and more about the PS1 because of several specific reviews about how the sound was. Recently my 30 year old Magnavox CDB-650 finally took a dive. I was in search specifically for another one but had no luck until just a few days ago, but between that time I got myself and SCPH-1001 PS1 and wow! This is an outstanding player, nothing like any digital player I've heard. I also have a LEAK CDT coupled to a Denefrips Ares II and in one of my rooms, I prefer this $50-$100 player over my CDT and Ares II costing a combined total of about $2000 now. Even though the PS1 is said to measure badly, it performs as quietly as anything I have and I absolutely love the mechanics and simplicity of it. This PS1 is a hidden treasure. The sounds is warm, sweet and slightly rolled off so it's an excellent match for the Heritage series or open baffle! Absolutely love this thing and the bass it produces is unmatched by anything I've compared! Thanks for posting the topic and here's my review. 

 

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The Magnavox CDB-650 s already a great CD player we've compared to numerous others and it's older than any of the PS1's.  I don't know that this really has anything to do with then vs now. The PS1 just has a particular sound signature and others may or may not like it. I have CD players already that produce more subtle details I didn't post in my review, but ultra detail may not necessarily be the goal in every case because of the issues of matching components. I'll give an example, the Willsenton R8 with open baffle speakers is just a bit too analytical in my opinion and very revealing in sound. After a while, it starts to sound a bit fatiguing to some, not necessarily all, but some. In my opinion, it's really just more about matching components rather than advancements.

 

There's a lot of over priced, low build quality products being sold today that's far from any improvement all because of this stupid pandemic that's been milked to death financially. Tube gear is very old technology that measures badly and kick's the sh....... out of just about anything solid state made even today when it comes to jazz, it's no contest.  I've just never understood why people get so hung up on the newer is better bandwagon anyway. It's like when CD's hit the scene, everyone abandoned LP's and Neil Young said, why? Now, countless audiophiles are scraping for any LP's they can get their hands on. A lot of stuff is made far more cheap these days. Those CD players mentioned are far more expensive, but even so, it's really just a particular sound taste one would need to decide for themselves, whatever their preferences are. 

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23 hours ago, moray james said:

you can buy the now top of the line Sony bluray player for a few hundred dolllars plays everything sound excellent as a transport. sorry I forgot the model.

 

 

Sony Premium Home Entertainment - 4K Blu-ray UBP-X800M2

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On 2/23/2023 at 6:31 PM, moray james said:

you can buy the now top of the line Sony bluray player for a few hundred dolllars plays everything sound excellent as a transport. sorry I forgot the model.

 

Glad to see you back. A shame our schedules didn't jive when I was down in Calgary a couple years back. You still in Cow Town?

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9 hours ago, YK Thom said:

Glad to see you back. A shame our schedules didn't jive when I was down in Calgary a couple years back. You still in Cow Town?

yes still in Calgary but not presently. I am helping my daughter with two little ones in Nova Scotia where I will be for another year. I would not mind a visit to YK to hear your Walsh but I am going to be traveled out by the time I get back home to Calgary. I am helping my brother with advice to refurbish an old pair of JBL SR mkll 4726a two way PA speakers now we are in the final tweaking phase. I am astounded at how they have turned out. When I get back the plan is to begin a build of a pair of CBT24 shaded line array speakers based on Don Keele's work using a single array of SB Acoustic 2.5" full range drivers so I will be busy. Here is a photo of what the JBL look like today.

9 hours ago, YK Thom said:

Glad to see you back. A shame our schedules didn't jive when I was down in Calgary a couple years back. You still in Cow Town?

 

202301_IMG_1981 (33).JPG

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