After reading the Stereophile review of the Playstation 1 in the July 2008 issue, I had to get one of these and try it out. I'm posting my observations here for others.
First of all, I ended up trying out 4 separate playstation 1's in my system, 3 of them the correct SCPH-1001 model number and one of a newer SCPH-5501 model. The first one of these I tested was the SCPH-5501 model that I used originally with the Sony AV muti-connector to get to the RCA outs. This model didn't have separate RCA outs on it's own but reportedly does use the same DAC as the 1001. It sounded better than a typical modern $100 player, but nothing amazing. It had a reasonable midrange sound, but that was about it.
Then I put in the first sample of the 1001 using the same AV multi outs. This sounded much better than the 5501 model, with some imaging and smoother sound. Very decent and about as good as my (originally about $550 retail price) Sony cd recorder RCD-W500C, which I use as my main cd player, in some respects but not all. I use a Yamaha 5 disk sacd/dvd-audio player for those formats. Ok, I thought that was it. I was disappointed based on the review describing this. Was that it??
Well, this playstation sample, which I got at a goodwill for all of $9.99, turned out to not play all cds properly. It is weird, but some cds would play fine, or seem to, and others would create a skipping noise, similar to the earlier bad playstation Stereophile had in the first review. Note that it does this on some cds, not others, but none of them had any scratches on them! It just didn't want to play all cds right! I've read that the cd lasers on these need to be adjusted sometimes. I'm going to try that on this sample and see if I can bring it back.
The 2nd and 3rd samples I pickup up off ebay and apparently, that is a much better source than goodwill because these took my breath away! BUT, not using the AV multi out. Using that, they were about like the first 1001 sample but without any odd noises in the ouput. I don't know if this is because the stock Sony AV Multiouts are horrible cables or if the normal RCA outs and their slightly different output stage circuitry is necessary, but this is what I observed. Only when using the normal RCA outputs of these (like Stereophile did in their review), and *note* only when NOT using the memory chip plug in on the front, which degraded sound, and using high quality rca interconnects too, did these shine.
And shine they did. Better stereo imaging than I've ever had in my system. My Linn Sara's sounded almost lifelike on singers and drums and guitar with the playstation 1! Super smooth midrange and voice. Very "fluid" sounding cd sound, great DAC. Very tight and realistic transients. Very musical. Holy cow. Did I get this sound for $20 off ebay!?! Yes, I did. Better by far than my Sony cd recorder. Better than my entry level Yamaha when playing SACDS! About comparable to DVD-Audio on the Yamaha, but these are redbook CDs! Better than my old Rotel cd player I used to use. What's missing? Well, bass and extreme treble are a little rolled off as advertised, but not much. I highly recommend everybody to try these playstation 1s for themselves! I put them in the B class myself and easily comparable to $1000 range cd players! Note, I usually listen to cds in Dolby ProLogic II these days, which gives you the 5.1 discrete channels. I usually listen to SACDs in direct analog 5.1 mode and DVD-Audio in that or Prologic II also. I much prefer DTS to Dolby Digital most of the time, but Prologic II is my favorite format, occasionally I'll prefer DTS. The playstation is the real deal, however you want to process the stereo signal.
Here's something too: The 2nd and 3rd samples are a little different in sound! The 2nd has slightly more top end brightness, the 3rd has a little less but a little more bass as a result! I think the quality of these, especially after many many years in service, varies! The lasers may need adjusting a little! (There are articles on the web on how to do this. I'm going to try it myself). I'm eager to hear from anyone who has tried modifying the circuits on these. What were the results? Let's get a good thread going on this thing! If you want to try these, get 2 or 3 yourself! They are cheap enough! Many thanks to Stereophhile for turning me on the the playstation! It is one of the best Cheapskate reviews I've heard in a long time, even if Sam didn't do this one!
My system: 3 Linn Sara Isobarik fronts on stands (rare), 2 rear AR M1 surrounds on stands, 2 subs (PSB audio 10", and Infinity 12" wired in series [Infinity gets the bottom end to 30 hz, PSB gets the more musical higher bass to 60 hz) Acurus modified 7.1 Act3 theatre preamp (rare), Acurus Amps for 5 channels, lots of wires and interconnects!, AR turntable, Yamaha DVD-C750 universal player, Sony RCD-W500C changer/cd recorder, AR ES1 turntable (kindof rare these days), other gear.
- LinnSaraFiend
After reading the Stereophile review of the Playstation 1 in the July 2008 issue, I had to get one of these and try it out. I'm posting my observations here for others.
First of all, I ended up trying out 4 separate playstation 1's in my system, 3 of them the correct SCPH-1001 model number and one of a newer SCPH-5501 model. The first one of these I tested was the SCPH-5501 model that I used originally with the Sony AV muti-connector to get to the RCA outs. This model didn't have separate RCA outs on it's own but reportedly does use the same DAC as the 1001. It sounded better than a typical modern $100 player, but nothing amazing. It had a reasonable midrange sound, but that was about it.
Then I put in the first sample of the 1001 using the same AV multi outs. This sounded much better than the 5501 model, with some imaging and smoother sound. Very decent and about as good as my (originally about $550 retail price) Sony cd recorder RCD-W500C, which I use as my main cd player, in some respects but not all. I use a Yamaha 5 disk sacd/dvd-audio player for those formats. Ok, I thought that was it. I was disappointed based on the review describing this. Was that it??
Well, this playstation sample, which I got at a goodwill for all of $9.99, turned out to not play all cds properly. It is weird, but some cds would play fine, or seem to, and others would create a skipping noise, similar to the earlier bad playstation Stereophile had in the first review. Note that it does this on some cds, not others, but none of them had any scratches on them! It just didn't want to play all cds right! I've read that the cd lasers on these need to be adjusted sometimes. I'm going to try that on this sample and see if I can bring it back.
The 2nd and 3rd samples I pickup up off ebay and apparently, that is a much better source than goodwill because these took my breath away! BUT, not using the AV multi out. Using that, they were about like the first 1001 sample but without any odd noises in the ouput. I don't know if this is because the stock Sony AV Multiouts are horrible cables or if the normal RCA outs and their slightly different output stage circuitry is necessary, but this is what I observed. Only when using the normal RCA outputs of these (like Stereophile did in their review), and *note* only when NOT using the memory chip plug in on the front, which degraded sound, and using high quality rca interconnects too, did these shine.
And shine they did. Better stereo imaging than I've ever had in my system. My Linn Sara's sounded almost lifelike on singers and drums and guitar with the playstation 1! Super smooth midrange and voice. Very "fluid" sounding cd sound, great DAC. Very tight and realistic transients. Very musical. Holy cow. Did I get this sound for $20 off ebay!?! Yes, I did. Better by far than my Sony cd recorder. Better than my entry level Yamaha when playing SACDS! About comparable to DVD-Audio on the Yamaha, but these are redbook CDs! Better than my old Rotel cd player I used to use. What's missing? Well, bass and extreme treble are a little rolled off as advertised, but not much. I highly recommend everybody to try these playstation 1s for themselves! I put them in the B class myself and easily comparable to $1000 range cd players! Note, I usually listen to cds in Dolby ProLogic II these days, which gives you the 5.1 discrete channels. I usually listen to SACDs in direct analog 5.1 mode and DVD-Audio in that or Prologic II also. I much prefer DTS to Dolby Digital most of the time, but Prologic II is my favorite format, occasionally I'll prefer DTS. The playstation is the real deal, however you want to process the stereo signal.
Here's something too: The 2nd and 3rd samples are a little different in sound! The 2nd has slightly more top end brightness, the 3rd has a little less but a little more bass as a result! I think the quality of these, especially after many many years in service, varies! The lasers may need adjusting a little! (There are articles on the web on how to do this. I'm going to try it myself). I'm eager to hear from anyone who has tried modifying the circuits on these. What were the results? Let's get a good thread going on this thing! If you want to try these, get 2 or 3 yourself! They are cheap enough! Many thanks to Stereophhile for turning me on the the playstation! It is one of the best Cheapskate reviews I've heard in a long time, even if Sam didn't do this one!
My system: 3 Linn Sara Isobarik fronts on stands (rare), 2 rear AR M1 surrounds on stands, 2 subs (PSB audio 10", and Infinity 12" wired in series [Infinity gets the bottom end to 30 hz, PSB gets the more musical higher bass to 60 hz) Acurus modified 7.1 Act3 theatre preamp (rare), Acurus Amps for 5 channels, lots of wires and interconnects!, AR turntable, Yamaha DVD-C750 universal player, Sony RCD-W500C changer/cd recorder, AR ES1 turntable (kindof rare these days), other gear.
- LinnSaraFiend