Actually they are behind the 8 ball here. Samsung are the leaders and Sony is trailing. I recall reading that they sat on their laurels with the trintiron as it was better image than flat panels. It probably still is but no one cares for crt any more.
They seem to have lost the innovation spark, I think apple is dealing to them too.
Sony often uses the CXD1244 digital filter. It's very bad sounding and clips on a 0 dB square wave.
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anyway if you realy wanna keep the cd player , some cap and opamp changing might improve it alot. you might even find a new laser cheap
+1
My Sony Cd player sounds sick compared to my Marantz . All the same complaints as the other posters re the sound .
hard , glassy , distorted etc.
My Sony Cd player sounds sick compared to my Marantz . All the same complaints as the other posters re the sound .
hard , glassy , distorted etc.
Digital filter chips used by Sony are... different. Most of the manufacurers avoided using them from the beginning - they used Philips, Yamaha, TI, etc...
I used to have a Sony CDP101 and at the time of course sounded great... but... the Philips players (the cheapo 14 bit ones such as CD150 etc) I reluctantly admitted were perhaps sonically better.
A Denon DCD1500 replaced the Sony after several years and that was subjectively better.
And 17 years ago a Micromega Stage 2 replaced the Denon... and there was no going back.
Its all relative isn't it. What are seen (or heard rather) as important and large differences in musicality, some folk can't pick up on. To me and I guess many other on here its all the difference in the world though.
Was the Sony a "bad" player... I don't think so in real terms and given a sympathetic system it could probably sound pretty decent. I wish I had kept it tbh, if only to tweak and play around with.
To answer the question about whether the Sony is "hard or glassy sounding". I would probably say yes, it can appear that way.
A Denon DCD1500 replaced the Sony after several years and that was subjectively better.
And 17 years ago a Micromega Stage 2 replaced the Denon... and there was no going back.
Its all relative isn't it. What are seen (or heard rather) as important and large differences in musicality, some folk can't pick up on. To me and I guess many other on here its all the difference in the world though.
Was the Sony a "bad" player... I don't think so in real terms and given a sympathetic system it could probably sound pretty decent. I wish I had kept it tbh, if only to tweak and play around with.
To answer the question about whether the Sony is "hard or glassy sounding". I would probably say yes, it can appear that way.
For cheap and decent sounding, the Marantz CD-5001 isn't bad. For vintage, if you can find a Kyocera DA-710x, it's first rate if in good shape and tuned up properly. I emphasize those two conditions! It used individual Burr-Brown converters rather than shared or single bit, had a superior analog filter and a far better than average headphone circuit.
Any Sony gear that is not "ES" usually can't be called high-end. There are a few exceptions; I have a 'normal line' SACD player that has some really high end design and components inside, and it sounds really nice (to me). It has a sister model in the ES line and despite aesthetic differences, it is mostly the same internally. On the other hand, some of their ES stuff also isn't great, being based on a 'normal line' model (instead of the other way around) and dressed up with a fancy aluminum front panel and so on. But much the ES line is really good, and a precious few pieces of it are superb. Other than the SACD player I mentioned I have never been too thrilled with my non-ES Sony gear.
Honestly, no, they weren't.
Possibly.
That definitely could help. Digital filters and DACs have undergone dramatic changes in the 2 decades since this player was built. FWIW, Sony no longer uses in-house designed digital filters and DACs like they used to.
A square wave should look clipped at 0 dB, or any other level for that matter.
After the digital filter it does not look like a square wave any more. The top "swingers" are cut off, clipped
Panasonic and Pioneer absolutely dwarf SONY in the TV market.
In my TV repair days I used to see so many SONY TVs that I lost count. I never saw a Mitsubishi.
Fisher was always the Hi-End of Samsung, Panasonic the High-End of Technics and Marantz the Hi-End of Philips. JVC was the Hi-End of Ferguson, the list is endless.
Marantz SE and then Marantz (Gold) SE were the real Hi-End of Philips. Try chasing the threads of upgraded Marantz gear and you will start seeing real Hi-Fi.
I live with an Arcam CD36, but even so, there are companies that will relieve me of $Thousands to improve that. There is no end until you can hear no more improvement.
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Higher-end Sony cd-players have a great reputation guys. My current CDP-557ESD is an absolute joy to listen to. It replaced my 'humble' but also great sounding CDP-X222ES which is an absolute bargain in the secondhand market today. For sale for under 80-100 euros. The 557 is quite rare but an engineering marvel, just google for the innards. Engineers of the day absolutely knew what they were doing.
Still, my 557ESD has not made way for the Shigaclone with all the fancy mods I build recently. They live happily next to each other and get equal playtime. For the interested, there is fortunately a lot to find on Ebay and the like without breaking the bank. Including nice sounding Sony ES players from the past.
I have never owned a sony cd player, but I do have sony fm tuner, the dirrect comparator with current output, the famous one, and it sounds incredibly good
it replaced my technics top of a line fm tuner
and that sony tuner must be 20 years old and still sounds fantastic, so its not always capacitors to blame
I remember some cd players just sounded horribly back than in 80ties...
that time six op's in a row was a norm on the output, and in 80ties those operational amplifiers sucked, low slew rate, high tim...could not handle the digital rash comming out of DAC
it replaced my technics top of a line fm tuner
and that sony tuner must be 20 years old and still sounds fantastic, so its not always capacitors to blame
I remember some cd players just sounded horribly back than in 80ties...
that time six op's in a row was a norm on the output, and in 80ties those operational amplifiers sucked, low slew rate, high tim...could not handle the digital rash comming out of DAC
those are great cd players , they had a line in mid 90´s (i think it was their highest end ) 5000$ for each element , amplifer preamplifier and cd player , i can remenber the model , but should be bloody good 😀
found it Sony CDP-XA7ES 3000$ , 5000$ in Portugal but everything was twice the price in 1996 here.
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