I hereby take back all the bad things I've said about PS1.....

[chesebert]

So I was just browsing through the latest Stereophile issue with the recommended list and bang I saw an editorial on PS1, which I have never noticed before! The editorial basically said PS1 sounds better than some $1k Music Hall player....ok..interesting..and the article concluded saying the PS1 transport is noisy and the writer can't work the controller to change tracks (stupid).

Now that's interesting...since I was home studying I thought screw this..I am gonna really load up my PS1 and see what it can do.. So I introduced the PS1 to my reference rig.

I used Herbie's tender feet for isolation, Herbie's stabilizer for better HF extension, connected to the Ayre amp with Grover Sc RCA, and connect the power to the PS conditioner and that's wired with VD Power one; in other words loaded up the PS1 with tweaks.

So I thought I would start with something easy..so I popped in DK's "Girl next door" ....and my jaw literally dropped....I can't believe how transparent and natural her voice sounds...the mid range performance is excellent (it pretty much as transparent as Saturn...rather how I remembered Saturn to sound)....feeling like WTF.....I A/B between the SD Transporter cuing up the same CD...from my server. Well...Transporter is just as transparent, but with a little more pronounced attack and little better articulation of the inner detail of her voice. PS one tend to round off the edges, if you know what I mean, but the details are mostly there, just not as clear and pronounced as the Transporter. The bass is very clear, albeit a little rounded, but still clear with clean bass notes; and it goes almost as deep as TP, about the same as Saturn.

at this point I was like... no way...so I cued up Mahler #3 by Boston symphony orchestra (RCA red label)...ha..now PS1 has met its match... PS1 was not able to follow the bass notes, and when the things gets busy and dynamically challenging it's starting to mush things together and is having a hard time getting the musical message across; of course Mahler is no problem for the TP.

So if you can stay with music that's not complicated, fewer instruments, not too dynamic, PS1 is probably very close and next best to TP and Saturn. And its also great at making some of those badly mastered CD sound good (remember the rounding of the attack)

But the downside is look the # of tweaks I have added

I will try to get one of those Power cord converter and plug a VD David in there and see if the dynamics and low level detail retrieval improves.


minor update: I just listened to Mahler #3 again and thing have improved (now the machine has been on for about 4hrs), the dynamics is getting better and the bass line is not hard to follow anymore, but the over all dynamics is still not as sure as TP and TP can still resolve more inner details (like the drum all the way in the back sounds like real drums rather than just a hit)

[Hi-Finthen]

Well, thank you (a member I have quite a bit of confidence in), disproving my obviously rash assesment and skepticism of the PS1 vs the 840c over in that one thread the other day. Difficult to believe, but none the less I owe an appology to the gentleman who concluded the same as you, Bert...That being, the S.Q. of the PS1 must have included a high degree of R&D as well as implementation of high quality and near SOTA circuitry boards as one could imagine, due to mass production and sales when vying for a competitive edge and in market share in the highly lucrutive gaming hardware arena. Still quite amazing!

This is not to at all say, I will be returning my 740c, obviously for many reasons.

[chesebert]

yeah..its one of those WTF moment that you end up wasting a whole afternoon on A/Bing instead of doing really important work.

[tfarney]

nor update: I just listened to Mahler #3 again and thing have improved, the dynamics is getting better and the bass line is not hard to follow anymore, but the over all dynamics is still not as sure as TP and TP can still resolve more inner details (like the drum all the way in the back sounds like real drums rather than just a hit)

How do you account for the improvement? Was this an NOS PS1 that required burn-in?

Tim

[chesebert]

Originally Posted by tfarney

How do you account for the improvement? Was this an NOS PS1 that required burn-in?

Tim

no, probably just warming up the machine.

I have had this player ever since PS1 first came out... has it been 10 years or more?

I am guessing having PS1 running through the PS UPC plugged into a dedicated circuit via VD cable is necessary to get great sound from PS1.

[jonnywolfet]

i wasn't impressed with my spch-1001 until i bypassed the output stage (hooking up straight from the dac) with a high pass filter. it greatly improved the sound from the thing. i now use my ps1 as my only cdp! good to see others hearing good things too!
now i am not going to claim that its the greatest cdp ever or anything, but on a budget its amazing!



P.S. check out Mick Feuerbacher Audio Projects for cheap mods to do on the ps1.

edit; Also Thread at DIYaudio

[tfarney]

Anyone have any idea what chips are in the PS1? Output stage in particular?

Tim

[kpeezy]

Did you try the PS-1 stock?

-Kyle

[jonnywolfet]

Originally Posted by tfarney

Anyone have any idea what chips are in the PS1? Output stage in particular?

Tim

the dac is a relatively unknown chip marked AKM-AK4309AVM. it is only found in the series marked spch100X or spch550X

[chesebert]

Originally Posted by kpeezy

Did you try the PS-1 stock?

-Kyle

stock plugging into the wall with the freebie RCA sounds bad..sound stage suffers and slight forward midrange and muddy sound. (there is a fine line between muddy and musically natural