Well, the PS2 doesn't sound good at all... I've tried it. I haven't tried PS3, but some people report great sound with it.
As to PS1 SCPH-1001, I'd say it was mostly fortuitous luck that Sony cooked up the PS1. Obviously, they weren't looking to create a top-notch CDP for high-end, but a game machine to be mass marketed. We have to realize that years went by before certain audiophiles noticed the PS1's capabilities, also by freak chance, b/c who would think of feeding the PS1 into his high-end chain without having smoked a spliff or seven?
If Sony had known what they were doing with PS1, sound-wise, they would have continued down that line probably.
Again: on subjectivist/objectivist thing. No one's completely subjectivist or objectivist when listening to music. Listening to music isn't as clean-cut or simple as doing long division. Most of us like what Transporter or Resolution Audio can do, at the same time as what the PS1 does, or what a good SET does vs. mega-wattage monoblocks.
And the statement that PS1-preference is induced by aesthetics & suggestion? Again, logically false. Aesthetics-wise, PS1 is pretty crap. And like Chesebert, I measured it against other players, in my case the 840C. The sheen in the high mids & treble that was annoyingly noticeable with the 840C in my system disappeared. That's objective enough. And you'd notice that most of us discover PS1 DESPITE the fact that we didn't want to believe it was good. I'm a natural skeptic, so I refused to believe that the used game machine that cost $25 can better a $1600 player. But after an objective evaluation, that was what happened. (If I'd listened subjectively, with bias, then I'd probably have been closed-minded against such a possibility... White Mike, no offense, but I'd say that given the context, you're the subjectivist. Seems like you haven't really tried PS1 either, but are basing your judgment based on conjecture and bias. Not really an objectivist approach...
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On suggestion: please don't tell me you don't purchase components based on the power of suggestion. People buy EMM Labs or Esoteric or dCS or whatever, largely because of suggestion, too. Otherwise, other players that cost as much at that price-point, offering similar performance, would sell equally as well. That's how any market system works. You tend toward a certain approach because of 'suggestion' or whatever you might call it. I'd say that there is even a greater resistance to purchasing PS1 based on suggestion. Just because it's a crap $25 used game console. Who can swallow that bogus theory whole? You need open-mindedness and OBJECTIVE criterion to get over that level of skepticism.