Playstation as CD-player

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#2,104
As I have 3 PS1's (having had my interest awakened as a result of doing the justblair article) I am just about the go through my parts bin and build another PS, so if you can hang on a day or two, I'll let you know how I get on.

The PS's on dogbreath set the voltage by zener diodes, whereas the vellman's use an adjuster. I think the velleman's are O.K. I upgraded the main caps to 4,700uf, Samwha AudioGrade.
 
#2,105
Pics

I am just setting off for a week in Wales. When I get back I shall post some pics of what I built. At first sight there appears to be no way that I could get a new PSupply inside my case unless it (sizewise) could be a repalcement for the current supply, and that would have to include the transformer.

The SCD-1 goes on eBay just after the pics of its new and cheaper replacement go on this website.

Please let me know how you get on with the new PS

George
 
#2,106
Plundered another PS for the 7.6v (well it's 8v actually so close enough). Made up a variable feed for the 3.6v, plus a buffer. Had enuf now and vegging out watching tele!

By the time you get back from the land of the Leek, it should be completed and compared against the other one.
 
#2,109
Guess who's been shopping?

I picked up a scph-5552 in a second hand shop. Puffin's article on my site has given me ideas as well.

I want to compare the USB DDDAC I have against more traditional technology. I am looking forward to trying out and documenting the modifications to mine.

I didn't need another project right now, but hey!
 
#2,110
My modded Sony playstation 1

Hi,

Well now that I have had time to sort out my projects, here are the photos that I promised.
Firstly, for me at least, the biggest problem in DIY HiFi is making a box which looks anywhere near half as good as some junk form Comet. Luckily my local shop donated a dead Musical Fidelity chassis to me and this is what I used. It just fitted the shallow Sony player. I managed to cut the case lid so that the Sony top fitted through it. The entire top is slid via grooves in the left and right panels into place and held with just one screw, this design courtesy of Musical Fidelity. If it had been one of my usual designs it would have ended up with Allen bolts and looking like Frankenstein! I (sort of ) felt entitled to stick a Sony badge on the front when I came across one in my box of bits.

In my tests I found the DAC output from the PS1 to my pre-amp rather low so I decided to include a local line-amp driven from its own balanced supply. This particular kit came from Oz, Elliott Sound actually, and performed first time and faultlessly. The balanced supply, also from Elliott, gave the opportunity of including a relay to protect the system from bangs and pops when turning on/off. This also drives the red LED that you see on the right of the chassis. The red on/off on the left is inherited from the original Musical Fidelity chassis. The LED shows when the system is stable; the on off switch shows just that.
The pre-amp has a set of dip-switches to allow you to set overall sensitivity. This is a very nice pre-amp, absolutely silent and appears to add nothing to the sound. I have never heard anything distorted through it at any level, unless it started out as distorted.
I also have a pair of controls for volume and balance, all cut down from the original chassis.
Although I did not try for a screen to display track information I did want remote control, so I butchered a PlayStation remote (AMZINGLY cheap) and tested it for working within the chassis. That was OK, so I embedded that together with the small green LED that confirms receipt of the remote signal.

I decided to preserve the PS1 case (although I rehoused it in a see-through version for all of £1!). To handle (some) of the issues with the power supply, I removed most of one side of the case and cut holes in the top to improve ventilation. One fine day, if someone can convince me, I might add an external supply, but I am now out of space (I think).

The PS1 is bolted into the case but the way I have built it, for test purposes, it can operate outside of the case too. This made test and assembly very easy and the weight of this method seems to help stability.

So what is the result. Well apart from the fun of doing this I do prefer the sound to my current CD player. I believe that I am hearing more detail and there is definitely foot-tapping feature in much of my music which I thought I had lost. I am not quite sure what the next step will be… perhaps the power supply or perhaps try some of the Chinese DAC kits with a more upmarket CD drive. Any thoughts?

George

I seem to having problems attaching the zip file of photos of the work on the PS1. If I cannot get them on to the forum, email me if you want a copy.
 
#2,113
Upmarket CD Drive

Hi Serge,

I guess what I meant by that was to use a SOTA deck where some of the electronics are dated, and to use a current DAC design to complement it.
Pioneer 93, a Linn, Marantz and so on all make suitable models for starting from. The idea of getting one which is partially dead is to keep costs down to something which allows you to experiment and then to fail without having to kick yourself. Do you have any ideas on a good quality drive to use as a sarting point?
George
 
#2,114
George.

Sorry to mess your day up, but the linear PS is a definite improvement IMO. Both power supplies I have made seem to make the same positive difference.

Until I dug out the PS1 after a period of retirement, I had been using :-

Shigaclone DIY transport.
Cheap Chinese Dac converted to take a 96Khz signal, balanced out.
96Khz up-sampler.

I cannot detect a lot of difference with the modded PS1 and Power Supply!!
 
#2,118
Whoa!!! there George, don't do anything rash. Lets discuss this rationally! Ha Ha.

I think you would have a problem shoe-horning a PSU into your chassis. However. You can blag another enclosure and attach an "umbilical" cord to it, et Voila!!
 
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