I have a Sony CDP-XA20ES, and I can honestly say that it sounds excellent. It has some of the circuitry of the top end CDP-XA7ES I believe. You can pick the XA20ES on up Ebay from time to time for about $200-$300, but make sure that they come with the aluminum puck that sits on the drive spindle on top of the CD.
-Charlie
-Charlie
There's some real jewels in the ES series and I too have a CDP-X55ES. Modding the output stage gives sonics not too far off my Cambridge 840C. With some op-amp rolling I ended up with 4x LM4562, output caps changed to BG NX (by-pass MKP removed), power supply caps for the analogue stage changed to Panasonic FC for larger caps and Nichicon FG for smaller caps. I also had a NOS TDA1543 DAC attached to it but in the end preferred the internal DAC and output.
I like the ST-S550ES tuner as well and bettered any other tuner I owned, even though I have not had too many.
On Sony televisions... I thought they sold all their television manufacturing plants and now only have a minor holding in these.
Thanks fo the advice, everyone.
I'm going to try replacing the op-amps and caps in line with the suggestions in this thread: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/104487-sony-cdp-990-op-amps-replacements-now.html
If that doesn't help, I'll think about a new DAC...
I'm going to try replacing the op-amps and caps in line with the suggestions in this thread: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/104487-sony-cdp-990-op-amps-replacements-now.html
If that doesn't help, I'll think about a new DAC...
I would seriously consider the OPA2604 opamp as a replacement for the 5532.
Be aware that any high speed opamp other than the 5532 may be subject to instability and require a compensation cap to be added, it all depends on the configuration...if you could post a circuit of the output stages of the CDP990 perhaps could advise better.
The OPA2604 could be just what you are after as it has a warm musical sound and is genuinely different to other devices in my experience. Perhaps fit sockets and experiment and see if you can hear the differences.
Be aware that any high speed opamp other than the 5532 may be subject to instability and require a compensation cap to be added, it all depends on the configuration...if you could post a circuit of the output stages of the CDP990 perhaps could advise better.
The OPA2604 could be just what you are after as it has a warm musical sound and is genuinely different to other devices in my experience. Perhaps fit sockets and experiment and see if you can hear the differences.
Mooly
I haven't tried it but would there be any benefit in changing R409, R509 from 220R to 100R to achieve a lower output impedance? I mention this as with LM4562 buffers that I built I've used 75R to 100R without issues.
I haven't tried it but would there be any benefit in changing R409, R509 from 220R to 100R to achieve a lower output impedance? I mention this as with LM4562 buffers that I built I've used 75R to 100R without issues.
I recall buying several mid-fi Sony players in the 90s, I cant recall the models now.
I had an average nad at the time and bought the Sonys because what hifi rated them.
They were plain awful and I sold them immediately. I never really gave it much thought at the time, but it seems What hifi were embellishing the virtues of these players. I think they were 500 and 900 series.
I had an average nad at the time and bought the Sonys because what hifi rated them.
They were plain awful and I sold them immediately. I never really gave it much thought at the time, but it seems What hifi were embellishing the virtues of these players. I think they were 500 and 900 series.
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Those resitors are there just for mutting purpose. You don't need "lower" impendance there, you don't feed headphones from those exists. You feed inputs that have 10-40 kilomhs impedance...
Thanks for the circuit,
I don't think lowering the resistors would achieve much tbh... wouldn't do any harm but no benefit either so I would leave them.
There should be no problems swapping the opamps looking at the circuit.
It might be worthwhile looking at replacing the muting transistors with FET's which some have done with success. See round about post #13 here.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...sa8001-modification-eliminate-distortion.html
You can remove them altogether to listen to it and see if you can detect any difference with them out of circuit.
Why does my 'highend' Sony CD player sound so poor?
It´s a sony (old sony slogan)
just joking dont be mad at me 😀
It´s a sony (old sony slogan)
just joking dont be mad at me 😀
Out of curiosity just dusted down my old Sony CDP-770 (c. 1988..?), plugged in my headphones and it still sounds great to me. No hard edged glassiness. No problem from dried up shrivelled electrolytics just yet!
For its era, it's a nice looking machine, black, brushed effect with a clean monochrome white (very slightly cyan) display which is probably something to do with my total non-hatred of it. Still got the remote somewhere.
For its era, it's a nice looking machine, black, brushed effect with a clean monochrome white (very slightly cyan) display which is probably something to do with my total non-hatred of it. Still got the remote somewhere.
I have that same model (CDP-990), that I bought some 20 years ago and its still working perfectly. Never failed on me and it gave me many hours of use. However, I'll be updating the op-amps, in order to find out if its worth the change.
I also have a Marantz CD player and it sounds brighter than the Sony.
Anyway, I have found a few glitches with the Sony player. There's a bit of noise coming from the transformer, due to bad isolation with the chassis, I guess. And the display is also adding a bit of undesired noise. But, once I turned it off by means of the remote controller, that noise goes away, and it sounds better, so I can live with that.
But, in overall its a very good CD player with a good transport mechanism, and many other features, like CD sound peak search, which is great when you want to record to tape or minidisk (though almost no one uses it these days). Also MD synchro, optical output and you can even create a data bank of up to 200 records, not sure of the actual limit, among other interesting features. Oh, and all the buttons are still on place and working very well, which is something the Marantz failed on, long time ago 🙂
I also have a Marantz CD player and it sounds brighter than the Sony.
Anyway, I have found a few glitches with the Sony player. There's a bit of noise coming from the transformer, due to bad isolation with the chassis, I guess. And the display is also adding a bit of undesired noise. But, once I turned it off by means of the remote controller, that noise goes away, and it sounds better, so I can live with that.
But, in overall its a very good CD player with a good transport mechanism, and many other features, like CD sound peak search, which is great when you want to record to tape or minidisk (though almost no one uses it these days). Also MD synchro, optical output and you can even create a data bank of up to 200 records, not sure of the actual limit, among other interesting features. Oh, and all the buttons are still on place and working very well, which is something the Marantz failed on, long time ago 🙂
The main reason only Sony ES players like the 337es are cheap is because the lasers are irreplaceable. I've got a couple of old players with dead lasers which I would love to get working again. As a transport they were pretty much unbeatable, If you ,ever take one apart you'll see what I mean. Audio Synthesis amongst others,used them as basis for their transport.
Where Sony fall down is their lack of commitment and support for their innovative ideas e.g.SACD, HATS etc.
I have a DVP-NS9100es heavily modified (just need to upgrade to a zapfilter or similar) which sounds better than my turntable.
Ultimately maybe cd players may become dinosaurs, unfortunately, as more and more music is from PCs. Sony were a great company, back in the Akio Morita days, but seem to have lost their way, joining the big corporation and the problems associated with their culture.
Where Sony fall down is their lack of commitment and support for their innovative ideas e.g.SACD, HATS etc.
I have a DVP-NS9100es heavily modified (just need to upgrade to a zapfilter or similar) which sounds better than my turntable.
Ultimately maybe cd players may become dinosaurs, unfortunately, as more and more music is from PCs. Sony were a great company, back in the Akio Morita days, but seem to have lost their way, joining the big corporation and the problems associated with their culture.
I have a theory why Sony sounds as it does. You have to listen to Japanese speech and music, in order to understand the sonic characteristics of Sony. These sources seem too high-balanced to our ears. Consequently the Japanese consumers find it natural if the high-frequency is emphesized. This is not rising frequency response, but sonic character.
"This is not rising frequency response, but sonic character."
Hmmmm. Which, of course, only ears can detect as the effect is beyond our primitive measurement capabilities. 😱😱
Hmmmm. Which, of course, only ears can detect as the effect is beyond our primitive measurement capabilities. 😱😱
I'd say this thing probably has a sound typical of CDPs of the time, ie harsh, digital and unpleasant. If you look at the board you can understand why, no ground plane, no decoupling, no quality oscillator, all the analog supplies are probably full of RF noise, etc.
At least it has decent DAC chips (not early one-bits like CD63SE which were really annoying) but if the implementation is crap, well...
I suggest resell it.
This player has it.
I don't know if this is the famous SONY filter that actually overflows and wraps around if the digital value is too high, or if it simply clips like it should... it clips a bit on 0dB square wave it is not a problem... but the one that wraps around is really trash...
At least it has decent DAC chips (not early one-bits like CD63SE which were really annoying) but if the implementation is crap, well...
I suggest resell it.
This player has it.
I don't know if this is the famous SONY filter that actually overflows and wraps around if the digital value is too high, or if it simply clips like it should... it clips a bit on 0dB square wave it is not a problem... but the one that wraps around is really trash...
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