Hey, I'm curious to know what the absolute best cd player ever made is. There must be a single machine which which is the benchmark........
For jazz, easy. The first version Sony PlayStation.
If it's the "suckiness" of the PlayStation (like vinyl) that makes the music come alive, I don't know. But I do know that I find the "Head Hunters" CD a lot more pleasurable on the PlayStation than on any other CD player. My experience is that the synthesiser can sound teeth-grindingly harsh on CD. But where I think the PlayStation really excels is with the "Time Out" album. It was such a revelation for me, it's almost embarrassing.
For "benchmark" all-round redbook player, possibly the EMT 982.
Now, your question assumes that there actually is such a thing as a benchmark player and that it doesn't come down to personal taste. Equally many will swear by Naim as hate it. You decide. (Hint: there's probably a good reason there's not just one CD manufacturer out there.)
If it's the "suckiness" of the PlayStation (like vinyl) that makes the music come alive, I don't know. But I do know that I find the "Head Hunters" CD a lot more pleasurable on the PlayStation than on any other CD player. My experience is that the synthesiser can sound teeth-grindingly harsh on CD. But where I think the PlayStation really excels is with the "Time Out" album. It was such a revelation for me, it's almost embarrassing.
For "benchmark" all-round redbook player, possibly the EMT 982.
Now, your question assumes that there actually is such a thing as a benchmark player and that it doesn't come down to personal taste. Equally many will swear by Naim as hate it. You decide. (Hint: there's probably a good reason there's not just one CD manufacturer out there.)
ok, ive heard the greystations were good transports.......where can i get one? ive looked on ebay and no-one is selling
Well, I got my PSX from a Swedish auction site similar to eBay. It's model SCPH-1002 (I guess 1001 is NTSC), the one with RCA jacks. The problem is that sellers make no distinction between models. And I guess the SCPH-100X is the scarcest one, being that it's ten years old now. I would think many got trashed once the laser stopped working.
The PSX has quite a distinct sound. The bass is lacking and it doesn't have the attack of even an average CD player. Hence, it's not very good with rock music. In a sense I would like to compare it to one of my favourite turntables, the Thorens TD-160. They are very different, of course. But the TD-160 has a very distinct sound as well. I love the sound of the floating suspension Thorens. Others love the Rega sound. Which takes us back to my original point of personal taste.
I did a quick search on eBay UK. The only SCPH-1002 I could find is part of this lot of defect PSXs. It has two SCPH-1002s.
The PSX has quite a distinct sound. The bass is lacking and it doesn't have the attack of even an average CD player. Hence, it's not very good with rock music. In a sense I would like to compare it to one of my favourite turntables, the Thorens TD-160. They are very different, of course. But the TD-160 has a very distinct sound as well. I love the sound of the floating suspension Thorens. Others love the Rega sound. Which takes us back to my original point of personal taste.
I did a quick search on eBay UK. The only SCPH-1002 I could find is part of this lot of defect PSXs. It has two SCPH-1002s.
wow! look at all those playstations! theres two in there that look like they might be just right. im thinking of builing a cd player witha psx transport and with suspended PCBs etc, got the idea off Naim....... make a big fat chunky case out of anodized aluminium annd use copper plated screws all over it......
should i take the DAC from the psx?
should i take the DAC from the psx?
Yes, there are two SCPH-1002s.
I'm not very good at answering questions about electronics. (If I knew that stuff I would have disabled the start up score on my PSX.) I wouldn't know my way around the busy PSX circuit board. Here you can see how the various versions of the PSX look like. Here is some further info. It's in German. Use some Internet translation tool. My experience is that you will have hard time making sense of the translation, being that the grammar is very different.
I'm not very good at answering questions about electronics. (If I knew that stuff I would have disabled the start up score on my PSX.) I wouldn't know my way around the busy PSX circuit board. Here you can see how the various versions of the PSX look like. Here is some further info. It's in German. Use some Internet translation tool. My experience is that you will have hard time making sense of the translation, being that the grammar is very different.
Hallo,
I have seen SCPH-10xx (xx different from 02 or 01).
Are they similar? Or what is the main external feature, the RCAs?
Laci
I have seen SCPH-10xx (xx different from 02 or 01).
Are they similar? Or what is the main external feature, the RCAs?
Laci
Well, I'm no expert on the PlayStation. I picked it up because it was cheap. But the RCAs are telltale signs. Apparently there are 4 (or 5) versions, all with significant design changes. But those others (sans RCAs) start with 5, 7 or 9.
The best cd player would need the best digital to analog conversion. Thats what its all about.
Now I see many problems with this...
What would be the best sampling rate?
How is the signal converted to digital?
Obviously 48khz is not enough for some people's satisfaction. But that is neither here nor there.
We do live in a day where computers have gotten into the gigahertz magnitude, why not use some of that processing power!
I know you can buy a 1+gigahertz computer for less than 500 dollars. I'm sure that the "best CD player in the world" costs more. But which is really worth it?
Now I see many problems with this...
What would be the best sampling rate?
How is the signal converted to digital?
Obviously 48khz is not enough for some people's satisfaction. But that is neither here nor there.
We do live in a day where computers have gotten into the gigahertz magnitude, why not use some of that processing power!
I know you can buy a 1+gigahertz computer for less than 500 dollars. I'm sure that the "best CD player in the world" costs more. But which is really worth it?
The best transport even built is the philips CDpro2M . Its ability to play virtually any disc, be it CD, CD-R, or CD-RW and even read very badly scratched disks is unmatched, basically its a workhorse. It is interesting to note that most Bang&Olufsen players utilize the CD pro 2 because of its build quality, and ability to read virtually any disk in any conidition. There are even some kits out there, you should be able to find more info if you search the archived threads here.
The best CD player in the world is probably Sony's laboratory reference player or something such. If you want a more attainable "reference" redbook player, the EMT 982 probably comes as close as any. If you have some personal favourite flavour, you go with Naim, Krell, Meridian, Mark Levinson, or some other box of hype.
And, yes, the CD pro 2 is great. Currently as good as it gets. And who made it? "Mid-fi" maker Philips.
And, yes, the CD pro 2 is great. Currently as good as it gets. And who made it? "Mid-fi" maker Philips.
By reputation, among the "best" comercial cdp's are the bg Teac Esoteric transport & dac, the Reimyo (or s/thing like that), the EMM labs transport & dac combo; Goldmund also offers a T&Dac combo that's moderately priced at ~100k. Surely there are others in the running as well.
Whether any or all of these (other than the expensive Goldmund) are worth the EUR: 15-20k asking price is in the eyes/ears of the beholder, I suppose.
Whether any or all of these (other than the expensive Goldmund) are worth the EUR: 15-20k asking price is in the eyes/ears of the beholder, I suppose.
Now, I can't speak for low-price CD/DVD ROMs. But if you buy, say, a Plextor you get the exact same high quality motor and laser as in the CD Pro 2. That's what Meridian uses.
So no matter if you buy a €10k CD transport, a €200 CD Pro 2 or a €60 Plextor CD burner, you get a €10 CD unit.
What you pay for when you buy the CD Pro 2 from www.daisy-laser.nl is the modification. And it's a fair price. You couldn't buy a CD unit directly from Philips (figuring they would sell to you) and have it customized to a top-loading drive for €200.
But as said in my original post, I don't believe in "best" when it comes to audio. I believe in taste, status, image. I didn't get a Garrard 301 or a first version PlayStation because I think they are the best. I got them because I think they do their things at least as well as any other deck or CD player out there.
I also would like to add that I feel that music lovers and audiophiles look for very different things. I'm not knocking damping or any such thing. But my experience is that much "high-end" gear is so effectively dampened and filtered the music gets killed. It sounds dead and sterile. I think music should sound like it was made by fallible humans and not like it was made by machines. I feel that the PSX does the latter better than any other CD player I have ever heard. (No, I haven't heard every CD player and transport-DAC combo out there.) And because of that, as I have written elsewhere, I'm positively sure that music lovers will prefer the PSX. By the same token, audiophiles probably won't.
While you shouldn't put too much value on this quote by Junji Kimura of 47 Laboratory, it does share my opinions. "In the process, by selecting and eliminating all impurities as much as possible, it reached to the point where the resulted sound lost all the infinite tentacles they originally had and became a very static presentation of the sound in an unrealistic virtual space."
I am not an audiophile.
So no matter if you buy a €10k CD transport, a €200 CD Pro 2 or a €60 Plextor CD burner, you get a €10 CD unit.
What you pay for when you buy the CD Pro 2 from www.daisy-laser.nl is the modification. And it's a fair price. You couldn't buy a CD unit directly from Philips (figuring they would sell to you) and have it customized to a top-loading drive for €200.
But as said in my original post, I don't believe in "best" when it comes to audio. I believe in taste, status, image. I didn't get a Garrard 301 or a first version PlayStation because I think they are the best. I got them because I think they do their things at least as well as any other deck or CD player out there.
I also would like to add that I feel that music lovers and audiophiles look for very different things. I'm not knocking damping or any such thing. But my experience is that much "high-end" gear is so effectively dampened and filtered the music gets killed. It sounds dead and sterile. I think music should sound like it was made by fallible humans and not like it was made by machines. I feel that the PSX does the latter better than any other CD player I have ever heard. (No, I haven't heard every CD player and transport-DAC combo out there.) And because of that, as I have written elsewhere, I'm positively sure that music lovers will prefer the PSX. By the same token, audiophiles probably won't.
While you shouldn't put too much value on this quote by Junji Kimura of 47 Laboratory, it does share my opinions. "In the process, by selecting and eliminating all impurities as much as possible, it reached to the point where the resulted sound lost all the infinite tentacles they originally had and became a very static presentation of the sound in an unrealistic virtual space."
I am not an audiophile.
I have access to one or two of the ps1's with the rca audio outputs. If anyone is interested I may be able to hook someone up.
well, it has been build but they just didn't finish the job - it needed a better clock, a better powersupply and black gates all over........😉
phn said:
Sad but true, that is one of the reasons I would not pay 416 Euro for just a mechanics and some loose pcb's with the extra expenses, labour, time etc ( and of course the eternal drag to find a case for it )...
http://www.daisy-laser.nl/homeoptics/page37.html
The only way you can say a CD player is best is by using measurements. Which then means that low jitter (preferably none), supersonic noise (non-filtered DACs are out) and whatever are more important than musicality. Then we truly have taken the music out of the equation.
Not that any of that means anything.
Jean Baudrillard makes no distinction between the user-value of a product and its symbolic value, meaning that a consumer doesn't primarily buy a physical product, but a symbol, an image.
Not that any of that means anything.
Jean Baudrillard makes no distinction between the user-value of a product and its symbolic value, meaning that a consumer doesn't primarily buy a physical product, but a symbol, an image.
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