Dear all,
I have a Sony cdp-557esd which i would like to upgrade a things on. I was thinking about the coupling caps. Maybe the clock. Maybe the opamps. I have been looking on the forum for info on this but couldn’t find it. Hope that somebody is able to support.
I allready have a question. In my understanding the coupling caps are c413, c421, c446, c521, c545, c546. is this correct? please see picture and copy of schematic for this section.
Why are the coupling caps rated at 50V, it seems so high, i was considering Elna Silmic II or AN Kasei but 50V are quite big and more expensive than lower Voltage counterparts.
Further, is there a simple method of switching to better opamps in this player without having to use a scope (don’t have one) to see if compatible.
What about the crystal? any recommendations?
Help would be greatly appreciated!
I have a Sony cdp-557esd which i would like to upgrade a things on. I was thinking about the coupling caps. Maybe the clock. Maybe the opamps. I have been looking on the forum for info on this but couldn’t find it. Hope that somebody is able to support.
I allready have a question. In my understanding the coupling caps are c413, c421, c446, c521, c545, c546. is this correct? please see picture and copy of schematic for this section.
Why are the coupling caps rated at 50V, it seems so high, i was considering Elna Silmic II or AN Kasei but 50V are quite big and more expensive than lower Voltage counterparts.
Further, is there a simple method of switching to better opamps in this player without having to use a scope (don’t have one) to see if compatible.
What about the crystal? any recommendations?
Help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi simsalabim,
I have a collection of Sony ES CDP players and I am familiar with the 557.
The CDP-557ESD is a gorgeous top level player and far too nice to mess about with. I recommend you leave it in standard spec and just enjoy it.
Sony already fitted best quality parts so unlike on cheaper machines there's no need to upgrade any parts.
The coupling caps on the output are C434 and C534. These are already 10uF film caps so are already about as good as it gets. Changing them will bring no benefits.
I have a collection of Sony ES CDP players and I am familiar with the 557.
The CDP-557ESD is a gorgeous top level player and far too nice to mess about with. I recommend you leave it in standard spec and just enjoy it.
Sony already fitted best quality parts so unlike on cheaper machines there's no need to upgrade any parts.
The coupling caps on the output are C434 and C534. These are already 10uF film caps so are already about as good as it gets. Changing them will bring no benefits.
Hi Mike,
thank you for your reply!
indeed it is a gorgeous player, however with other players i have had good experiences with upgrading the coupling caps around the DAC chip, but i have difficulty in finding out which caps are the DAC coupling caps.
Do you know?
There is no block diagram in the service manual which makes it difficult to read the schematic for me.
Also i have heard that it could be benificial to replace the crystal oscilator (the clock) with a more recent model which should be a bit more precise, but as i do not have a scope i cannot measure which clock would be best, so i hope someone has this information for me.
Also opamps could be interesting, but again it needs to be a benefit otherwise, as you stated, it is not worth the effort.
Appreciate your help!
thank you for your reply!
indeed it is a gorgeous player, however with other players i have had good experiences with upgrading the coupling caps around the DAC chip, but i have difficulty in finding out which caps are the DAC coupling caps.
Do you know?
There is no block diagram in the service manual which makes it difficult to read the schematic for me.
Also i have heard that it could be benificial to replace the crystal oscilator (the clock) with a more recent model which should be a bit more precise, but as i do not have a scope i cannot measure which clock would be best, so i hope someone has this information for me.
Also opamps could be interesting, but again it needs to be a benefit otherwise, as you stated, it is not worth the effort.
Appreciate your help!
Hi simsalbim,
Do you mean coupling caps or decoupling caps?
I've tried a wide selection of expensive opamps in my own Sony ES players (555ESD, 337ESD, 227ESD, and 33ESD) including: Muses02, twin OPA627 on browndog adaptors, Burson Audio discrete etc etc.
I spent hundreds of $$$ before eventually deciding that the standard equipment JRC5532DD is my favourite so that's what I use now.
If you want to try something different then I would recommend LM4562 or OPA2604 as safe choices as substitutions for the JRC5532DD.
I've tried several clock upgrades including Tentlabs, Audiocom and the PFM Flea and I didn't think the difference was worthwhile.
Do you mean coupling caps or decoupling caps?
I've tried a wide selection of expensive opamps in my own Sony ES players (555ESD, 337ESD, 227ESD, and 33ESD) including: Muses02, twin OPA627 on browndog adaptors, Burson Audio discrete etc etc.
I spent hundreds of $$$ before eventually deciding that the standard equipment JRC5532DD is my favourite so that's what I use now.
If you want to try something different then I would recommend LM4562 or OPA2604 as safe choices as substitutions for the JRC5532DD.
I've tried several clock upgrades including Tentlabs, Audiocom and the PFM Flea and I didn't think the difference was worthwhile.
Sorry, you are right, decoupling caps is what i meant.
Thank you about the recommendation regarding opamps.
I had read somewhere that it would be worthwhile to replace the clock but it seems you are not of that opinion.
I do have good experience with changing decoupling caps around the dac chip in other players so i would like to do that in this player also, however i do not know which ones these are, as the service manual does not contain block diagrams of the audio board section, just the control board etc.
Also, 50V seem high for decoupling caps? (if i am right about the C’s that i suspect to be the decoupling caps as stated in my opening post).
Thank you!
Thank you about the recommendation regarding opamps.
I had read somewhere that it would be worthwhile to replace the clock but it seems you are not of that opinion.
I do have good experience with changing decoupling caps around the dac chip in other players so i would like to do that in this player also, however i do not know which ones these are, as the service manual does not contain block diagrams of the audio board section, just the control board etc.
Also, 50V seem high for decoupling caps? (if i am right about the C’s that i suspect to be the decoupling caps as stated in my opening post).
Thank you!
It looks to me like the power supply decoupling caps for the DAC chips would be C406 (-15v 220uF) and C408 (+5v supply 470uF).
Pin 19 is the +5v and pin 21 is -15v so trace back on those pins to confirm.
The Elna Durorex fitted are already very good parts though, so personally I would just leave them. Like I already said, the parts fitted to this player are top quality so there's no need to change anything.
You don't need 50v caps, 25v or more will be fine for C406/408.
Pin 19 is the +5v and pin 21 is -15v so trace back on those pins to confirm.
The Elna Durorex fitted are already very good parts though, so personally I would just leave them. Like I already said, the parts fitted to this player are top quality so there's no need to change anything.
You don't need 50v caps, 25v or more will be fine for C406/408.
Thanks Mike,
agreed that components used are top notch, however i thought, as this player is quite old, it could be benificial changing some caps to new ones.
But i agree, if it aint broke don’t fix it.
The player sounds good, albeit a bit on the soft side when i compare it to my modified XA5400es.
But that player just looks and feels very cheap compared to the beast that is the 557es..
I wished it sounded a bit less vintage though, well can’t have it all it seems..
Cheers!
agreed that components used are top notch, however i thought, as this player is quite old, it could be benificial changing some caps to new ones.
But i agree, if it aint broke don’t fix it.
The player sounds good, albeit a bit on the soft side when i compare it to my modified XA5400es.
But that player just looks and feels very cheap compared to the beast that is the 557es..
I wished it sounded a bit less vintage though, well can’t have it all it seems..
Cheers!
Elna Durorex is what fails on those players. Those caps are leaking on most of those players and should be changed ASAP to prevent catastrophic damage to the PCB.
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