my hacked-up Sony DVP-NS500V SACD player

dorkus · 10th June 2002, 01:18 AM

i'm currently hacking up my Sony NS500V DVD/SACD player. here is a picture:

http://www.dorkus.org/junk/sony.jpg

i haven't really changed anything yet but i wanted to get the thing in an open-chassis, top-load configuration so i can play around with it more easily. i'm trying to decide if it is worthwhile rebuilding the whole thing - new chassis, analog boards, power supplies, etc. etc. at the moment i'm inclined to plunge head-first into project... i think the sound of this sub-$200 unit is quite promising.

believe it or not, i think it sounds quite a bit different when ripped apart like this; a little smoother and warmer, with richer bass and better dynamics. it might be from removing the flimsy tray assembly completely and fixed-mounting the transport block onto a piece of wood, or maybe removing the steel top panel. i bolted the transport down to the wood with 3 aluminum PCB spacers and 6-32 screws; the wood is held in place by two screws through the back panel and a plastic cable-tie in the front pulling up on the wood with a rubber eraser as a spacer.

tubesguy · 17th June 2002, 08:15 PM

I take it you're not married, huh?

- Pat

dorkus · 17th June 2002, 08:17 PM

no, but my girlfriend actually thought it was sorta cool.

jam · 17th June 2002, 08:22 PM

Marc,

How goes the son of Dork?

Jam

dorkus · 17th June 2002, 08:25 PM

hi jam,

i had a hiatus from all my hobbies (audio or otherwise) due to a project at work, but i'm getting everything going again now. i ordered the rest of my parts from digikey and they should arrive today or tomorrow. i'm going to build the power supply and the borbely SE circuit first, hopefully by the weekend. we'll see how that sounds.

cheers,
marc

Peter Daniel · 17th June 2002, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dorkus
i'm currently hacking up my Sony NS500V DVD/SACD player.

believe it or not, i think it sounds quite a bit different when ripped apart like this; a little smoother and warmer, with richer bass and better dynamics.

The transport will sound better when out of chassiss. It's like Sumiko Blue Point cartriges, the naked one sounds better.

That's why I'm also building my transport without chassis.

dorkus · 17th June 2002, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by HPotter

The transport will sound better when out of chassiss. It's like Sumiko Blue Point cartriges, the naked one sounds better.
That's why I'm also building my transport without chassis.

what about ambient light interfering with the laser pickup? particularly since DVD/SACD wavelengths are in the visible spectrum (red). i think the transport may just sound a little better at night when there isn't so much light shining down on it, though it's hard to tell (there are other factors, such as less ambient noise and cleaner AC power late at night). as well as induced vibrations due to the lack of acoustic isolation. also, the laser servo is quite noisy, so i am going to need to put it in a sealed enclosure of some sort to make the machine quiet again. i'm thinking of making a big MDF platform for the unit, then build a metal/MDF enclosure with copper plating. the original tray mechanism will be converted to a sliding cover for the transport.

dorkus

jam · 18th June 2002, 12:57 AM

Light up the underside of the mechanism with a few blue LED's.

Jam

Peter Daniel · 18th June 2002, 02:12 AM

I've heard about blue LEDs and I want to use them in my transport. I'm not shure about an inclosure. I think that even in spite of air induced vibration no door or cover would sound better. I made some remarks on that in my other thread about making CD PRO.

dorkus · 18th June 2002, 02:42 AM

i checked out your CD PRO project HPotter. very, very nice.
i would like to do a full rebuild of my cheap Sony DVD/SACD but i'm not sure if it's worthwhile. i actually would rather mod a audio-only Sony player so i don't have unnecessary video circuits, but the only single-disc Sony SACD is the 777 ($3000). i think the Sony transports are pretty good, they track well and seem reliable. i think the 6-channel AKM DAC IC used in this player has great potential, and i'd actually like to use 6 of them, one for each channel of SACD... i'd parallel all 6 DACs per chip into one channel. it has differential outputs as well. i would probably feed a pair of Borbely complementary buffers per channel, or if i'm lazy maybe an AD825 with a Borbely buffer for summing (single-ended output). but i think i'll wait and see if i can find a more suitable player to mod before going to the point-of-no-return with this unit.

10th June 2002, 01:18 AM	#1
dorkus diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: NYC	my hacked-up Sony DVP-NS500V SACD player i'm currently hacking up my Sony NS500V DVD/SACD player. here is a picture: http://www.dorkus.org/junk/sony.jpg i haven't really changed anything yet but i wanted to get the thing in an open-chassis, top-load configuration so i can play around with it more easily. i'm trying to decide if it is worthwhile rebuilding the whole thing - new chassis, analog boards, power supplies, etc. etc. at the moment i'm inclined to plunge head-first into project... i think the sound of this sub-$200 unit is quite promising. believe it or not, i think it sounds quite a bit different when ripped apart like this; a little smoother and warmer, with richer bass and better dynamics. it might be from removing the flimsy tray assembly completely and fixed-mounting the transport block onto a piece of wood, or maybe removing the steel top panel. i bolted the transport down to the wood with 3 aluminum PCB spacers and 6-32 screws; the wood is held in place by two screws through the back panel and a plastic cable-tie in the front pulling up on the wood with a rubber eraser as a spacer.

17th June 2002, 08:25 PM	#5
dorkus diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: NYC	it is going to go again soon... hi jam, i had a hiatus from all my hobbies (audio or otherwise) due to a project at work, but i'm getting everything going again now. i ordered the rest of my parts from digikey and they should arrive today or tomorrow. i'm going to build the power supply and the borbely SE circuit first, hopefully by the weekend. we'll see how that sounds. cheers, marc

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17th June 2002, 08:15 PM	#2
tubesguy diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Madison, WI	I take it you're not married, huh? - Pat

17th June 2002, 08:17 PM	#3
dorkus diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: NYC	no, but my girlfriend actually thought it was sorta cool.

17th June 2002, 08:22 PM	#4
jam diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2001 Location: Charlotte,NC,USA	Marc, How goes the son of Dork? Jam

18th June 2002, 12:57 AM	#8
jam diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2001 Location: Charlotte,NC,USA	Light up the underside of the mechanism with a few blue LED's. Jam

18th June 2002, 02:12 AM	#9
Peter Daniel diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Toronto, Canada	I've heard about blue LEDs and I want to use them in my transport. I'm not shure about an inclosure. I think that even in spite of air induced vibration no door or cover would sound better. I made some remarks on that in my other thread about making CD PRO.

18th June 2002, 02:42 AM	#10
dorkus diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: NYC	i checked out your CD PRO project HPotter. very, very nice. i would like to do a full rebuild of my cheap Sony DVD/SACD but i'm not sure if it's worthwhile. i actually would rather mod a audio-only Sony player so i don't have unnecessary video circuits, but the only single-disc Sony SACD is the 777 ($3000). i think the Sony transports are pretty good, they track well and seem reliable. i think the 6-channel AKM DAC IC used in this player has great potential, and i'd actually like to use 6 of them, one for each channel of SACD... i'd parallel all 6 DACs per chip into one channel. it has differential outputs as well. i would probably feed a pair of Borbely complementary buffers per channel, or if i'm lazy maybe an AD825 with a Borbely buffer for summing (single-ended output). but i think i'll wait and see if i can find a more suitable player to mod before going to the point-of-no-return with this unit.