Hi Guys,
I have been a great fan of 14 bit CD players for some time - I've owned many CD-104s, CD-304s, CDXs, DAD7000s, Marantz CD-74 etc. I usually convert them to NOS because to my ears it sounds better.
The sound is fantastic in NOS mode and I couldn't wish for better! I finally bought a Marantz CD-73 at a high price but the sound is horrible! Very forward and harsh (not pleasant to lsten to for hours like other 14 bit players).
It is a Belgium made player and I've recapped the PSU as it needed it. I found that it has the Sony parts in the Decoder which might explain why it tracks CDRs so well with no errors at all.
I thought all these 14 bit players sounded simillar - Smooth, organic, warm, but this CD-73 sounds far from warm and organic like a CD-104. I do really like the CD-73's looks and the way it plays all my CDRs without a problem but if I hadn't opened it up myself I would swear it used another DAC than the TDA1540Ds.
Question: What could be stealing warmth, sound stage and bass from this 14 bit player?
Also, more importantly, I would like to mod it to NOS but this player doesn't have a SAA7000 to convert it to 14 bit mode - Instead it uses the Sony arrangement. Is there anyway of setting a Sony component to 14 bit mode? I understand that 14 bit mode setting is necessary as part of the NOS conversion when removing the filter.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated!
I have been a great fan of 14 bit CD players for some time - I've owned many CD-104s, CD-304s, CDXs, DAD7000s, Marantz CD-74 etc. I usually convert them to NOS because to my ears it sounds better.
The sound is fantastic in NOS mode and I couldn't wish for better! I finally bought a Marantz CD-73 at a high price but the sound is horrible! Very forward and harsh (not pleasant to lsten to for hours like other 14 bit players).
It is a Belgium made player and I've recapped the PSU as it needed it. I found that it has the Sony parts in the Decoder which might explain why it tracks CDRs so well with no errors at all.
I thought all these 14 bit players sounded simillar - Smooth, organic, warm, but this CD-73 sounds far from warm and organic like a CD-104. I do really like the CD-73's looks and the way it plays all my CDRs without a problem but if I hadn't opened it up myself I would swear it used another DAC than the TDA1540Ds.
Question: What could be stealing warmth, sound stage and bass from this 14 bit player?
Also, more importantly, I would like to mod it to NOS but this player doesn't have a SAA7000 to convert it to 14 bit mode - Instead it uses the Sony arrangement. Is there anyway of setting a Sony component to 14 bit mode? I understand that 14 bit mode setting is necessary as part of the NOS conversion when removing the filter.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated!
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I do not have knowledge to comment the peculiarities of a digital part of that kind of player based on Sony components but some months ago I gave a slight "facelift" to a (not Sony components) player of a friend of mine (mostly enlarging reservoir capacitors of the analogue output stage IC-s, replacing output lytics with film capacitors and slightly tweaking the analogue stage filter to get rid of the originally present drop above 10 kHz).
The sound did get audibly better (I would put my personal emphasis on improved crosstalk).
In your player case it could be also something as simple as partly dried lytics in signal path (solder them out and measure them with some LCR-meter) or "almost missing" reservoir caps on power rails of the output IC-s.
Or it could be more complex ...
Have you tried measuring your players with RMAA and comparing the results?
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I was a big fan of 1541s but much prefer the sound of the 1540 although a B&O CD-6500 I bought a while back with a 1541 sounds very good. Sony didn't subscribe to the 14 bit method so I'm beggining to doubt I can set their chip to 14 bit in the same way as the SAA7000 - This is a shame because I really like the CD-73 and was after one for ages; but sound quality is the driving factor for me and my modified DAD7000, CDX and CD-304 just sound better.
Cheers anyway,
Phil
Cheers anyway,
Phil
CD-6500 has 68R/100uF RC-filter per each output opamp and its power rail.
Can make some difference ..
Thank you for sharing (you have shared before with me if you remember, and we had a descussion about whether to clock all data rather than just a clock) but my CD-73 does not have a SAA7000 chip to set to 14 bit mode - that circuit is handled by Sony chips on my version. The Sony chips give far better handling of errors with scratched CDs etc but no ability to set the chip (which ever one does the same job as the CIM) to 14 bit as far as I can acertain.
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I think I have sorted the harsh sound - the smaller of the two 100uF electrolytics in the power supply measured 11uF. I had already replaced the main caps in the supply but neglected to check/replace the most important one for the DAC. I would like to at least implement my reclock circuit even if I can't do the NOS mod - I suppose that means making a small PCB incorporating the filter and the logic chip.......
I don't think anyone knows about how to do the NOS mod on a CD-73 with Sony/Philips Decoder board.
I don't think anyone knows about how to do the NOS mod on a CD-73 with Sony/Philips Decoder board.
I recapped the Decoder board with Vishay 22uF 50v (about 7 caps) and the bass and warmth came back! Some of those electrolytics were out of spec with ESR values between 2.5 and 4.8 ohms. On listening however, the vocal (centre stage) seemed to be drowned out by the instruments so I decided to put the NE5532 op amps back in (removing the BB OPA2604) and it is sounding much better now (so much for the Burr Brown advice). I don't think the DAC decoupling caps are all that good so I may replace them - The CD-73 is definately no longer sounding horrible but not quite up to the Philips CD-104 standard yet (possibly because it is not NOS yet; someone gave me a clue about setting the Sony front end to 14 bit, I might try that but can't yet verify whether it is going to work). I am going to double check all the electrolytics, as there have been a few that have measured bad - Something I never had on any one of the many CD-104s I have serviced.
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