[isamu]

Hello everyone, nice to be here

,

For those of you over 25, you may remember a portable CD discman from Sony called the D-555 Discman. I purchased a Sony D-555 back in 1990 shortly after its debut. It was/is a great portable CD player. Soundwise, the best ever made with INCREDIBLY crystal clear, detailed sound and fantastic bass!


But it's starting to get a bit long in the tooth now, and in the age of hard disk mp3 players, I really do not have the patience for 1 disc CD players anymore.

So what I am looking for, is a hard drive mp3 player that has a DSP sound mode that faithfully recreates the "surround sound" mode of my D-555 CD discman. The closest thing I have found is the "concert hall" modes on certain receivers like the Yahama RX-493 I own, but even that doesn't produce the same effect like the surround mode in the D-555

You see here's the thing....this discman has a surround mode unlike any others I've heard before. Whilst in this mode, it transforms the sound into sort of an echo-ey, "deep tunnel/cavey" like sound. It's not a reverb or a traditional echo sound. The level is adjustible and the higher you put it, the more "cavey" it gets, and the more faint the vocals become. It gets "cavey" without the reverb, if that makes any sense. This "effect" works wonders on some songs that were already recorded and meant to be listened to with this style. For example, there is a ballad by the old 80s rock band Simple Minds called "Let it all Come Down" off the Street Fighting Years album. Listening to this track off the D-555 discman in surround mode delivers a beautiful, "cavey", echo-ey, dreamy-like effect that has to be heard to be believed. It sounds really REALLY good, and I guarantee puts ALL your iPods to shame!

Anyway not sure if anyone here owns/owned this discman since it is a dinosaur but I figured why not post it anyway and see. Maybe someone here knows about the D-555 and can help me find an alternative mp3 player with the same kinda "surround" effect.

Thanks in advance and any suggestions are welcomed

 

[D555]

Have the D-555 and purchased it new. This device is *very* early digital audio processing. The "Surround" mode is more of a phase cancelling device. Using it I can take some narrowly separated stereo tracks (Creedence Clearwater Revival comes to mind) and "widen" them by cancelling out the center material.

I don't know of another portable device that has a feature that works this way.

Paul

 

[isamu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by D555 Have the D-555 and purchased it new. This device is *very* early digital audio processing. The "Surround" mode is more of a phase cancelling device. Using it I can take some narrowly separated stereo tracks (Creedence Clearwater Revival comes to mind) and "widen" them by cancelling out the center material. I don't know of another portable device that has a feature that works this way. Paul

thanks for the reply Paul.

Quote:

I don't know of another portable device that has a feature that works this way.

Well I certainly hope there's one. What about Winamp plugins? I have heard there are a few DSP effect plugins for Winamp that deliver some cool echo-ey/phasey effects. Know any good ones?

 

[squirt]

my D555 today, still works but i haven't used it to any degree in many years. i also have the faux leather case and wall wart but the battery is long gone. made in may 1990. i remember the surround sound on this player but never really used it much since it made the center channel a bit too distant for my likes but it certainly was a cool dreamy effect. i don't remember hearing any other players surround sound like that either.

 

[Mano]

is that effect similar to SRS 3D WOW? maybe you should try that one (many iriver and other korean daps have it); my friend has an Iriver IFP 799 and the effect is kinda entretaining for a while.

 

[isamu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by squirt my D555 today, still works but i haven't used it to any degree in many years. i also have the faux leather case and wall wart but the battery is long gone. made in may 1990. i remember the surround sound on this player but never really used it much since it made the center channel a bit too distant for my likes but it certainly was a cool dreamy effect. i don't remember hearing any other players surround sound like that either.

Yeah, there's no denying the uniqueness of the D-555's surround mode. You came up with the perfect word..."Dreamy". That's exactly what it is, and one of the reasons why unless there's a DAP out there offering the same "phasey/distancey" effect, I will never part with mine. Damn you Sony! Why not put this effect in your DAPs?

Oh yeah guys by the way I forgot to mention this....

If you bought your D-555 back in the day, you may know about its accompanying cans, the MDR-CD 555 headphones. Man...Sony was on a sound quality roll back then! These were the absolute BEST headphones EVER!! Coupled with the D555, these cans delivered a sound clarity that was nothing short of SUPERB! I currently own some Sony studio cans....the model# escapes me at the moment. They're really good, but they're not as good as the MDR-CD 555.

Can anyone of you tell me where I might be able to purchase these oldskool cans? I really want a pair, but they gotta be in pretty good condition. If you have a pair that you're willing to part with, or know of an outlet that may have them, please let me know

 

[isamu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mano is that effect similar to SRS 3D WOW? maybe you should try that one (many iriver and other korean daps have it); my friend has an Iriver IFP 799 and the effect is kinda entretaining for a while.

Interesting....can you describe what the SRS 3D WOW sounds like? Is it kinda a reverby effect or is it more cave/tunnel-ey/echo-ey? What players have this SRS 3D WOW effect?

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

The Nomad Jukebox 3 has multiple spatial and reverb effects.

The spatial effects didn't work very well when I tried them, but that might be because most modern music has those kinds of effects in there already.

I have the D-555 as well but I don't like it's spatial effect that much either. Same thing with my D-515 (IIRC).

Apart from that the NJB3 has very nice bass, coupled with my modded MDR-E888 earbuds I never feel the need to use any kind of bass boosting anymore.

 

[ah_long]

get the sound card, extigy/audigy 24bit..

under the EAX control panel, you could choose from a variety of effects which i recall there should be a few which meets ur needs

 

[bangraman]

Things have definitely moved on.

I've always felt the opinions of it classing it as 'legendary' to be more of a case of nostalgia and the design colouring opinions rather than any reference to the actual sonic abilities of the 555. All I know is that it's not that hot soundwise... there's a decidedly gritty edge to the 555's sound. Dunno, maybe that's what gives it it's uniqueness.


I've been listening to the Surround mode with the D-555 (horribly 'crunchy' IMHO BTW) and it strikes me that rather than the 3D-effects on modern Korean players / JB3 that actually work to an extent, you need the "which version of listening out of a drainpipe would you like?" effect that the Virtual Surround Engine equipped Sony's offer.


I'd recommend the NW-HD5 if this effect is what you want. You'll need to encode your tunes in ATRAC for the FX to happen. It's not a duplicate of the Surround mode, but it's probably the closest you'll get on a fully functional current player... although a broken / partially shorted headphone jack would give similar effects on most modern players

 

[isamu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman Things have definitely moved on. I've always felt the opinions of it classing it as 'legendary' to be more of a case of nostalgia and the design colouring opinions rather than any reference to the actual sonic abilities of the 555. All I know is that it's not that hot soundwise... there's a decidedly gritty edge to the 555's sound. Dunno, maybe that's what gives it it's uniqueness. I've been listening to the Surround mode with the D-555 (horribly 'crunchy' IMHO BTW) and it strikes me that rather than the 3D-effects on modern Korean players / JB3 that actually work to an extent, you need the "which version of listening out of a drainpipe would you like?" effect that the Virtual Surround Engine equipped Sony's offer. I'd recommend the NW-HD5 if this effect is what you want. You'll need to encode your tunes in ATRAC for the FX to happen. It's not a duplicate of the Surround mode, but it's probably the closest you'll get on a fully functional current player... although a broken / partially shorted headphone jack would give similar effects on most modern players

Thanks for the reply. What is the NW-HD5? A DAP?

Also how could you call the SQ of the 555 "not so hot"? It was rated in several magazines back in 1990/91 as the one of the best sounding CD players during that time.

I also own a Nomad Jukebox 3(as you probably knew already from the other thread) and I too, think the SQ is good....but nowhere near as good as the D-555 player(which is a given, being that we're talking about CDs and MP3s here). But I really dislike the DSP effects of the Nomad Jukebox 3. The "Concert Hall" and "Arena" effects don't sound authentic or convincing in the least.

I am also taking a look at certain DSP effect plug-ins for WinAmp. I have been using a plug-in called DFX for Winamp recently and it is really good. There is also one called "Surround Sound Remixer" that alledgedly allows for some funky and quirky surround effects.

 

[bangraman]

The NW-HD5 is Sony's current DAP. The way which the "Acoustic Engine" modes work are similar in basic sound concept to the Surround mode on the D-555, They aren't individually adjustable, but there are a variety of effects to choose from. As I said, in order to take advantage of them you'll need to encode your music as ATRAC.


I call the sound not that hot because IMO it's not that good compared to what's available today... including the JB3 when used with WAV source data (which I also have). Regardless of how it was voted in '91, the 555 is easily the roughest-sounding CD player I own right now. Not terribly so, but I'd have to say that.

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by isamu Also how could you call the SQ of the 555 "not so hot"? It was rated in several magazines back in 1990/91 as the one of the best sounding CD players during that time.

in 1990 a 15mhz computer was HOT and screaming fast. nobody actually had one at home...

in 1990 a 1987 cadilac was a decent car to have...

in 1990 a gameboy (black and white) was expensive, and unique....

i could go on if you need me to.

in 1990 lots of stuff which is now viewed as absolute garbage was considered good.

 

[isamu]

D-555....what do you think about Bangraman's comments on the D555 not sounding too great these days? Would you agree, and say that it doesn't match the SQ of the current DAPs offered by Creative, Archios, etc?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ah_long get the sound card, extigy/audigy 24bit.. under the EAX control panel, you could choose from a variety of effects which i recall there should be a few which meets ur needs

Link please?

 

[D555]

Those are his thoughts and views. He's had a good listen and didn't think it so great. That's the way it goes.

I still have my D-555, I liked it then, I like it now. It's a product from a different age in portable audio when CD was still trying to shake the perceptions of cold, analytic sound and brick wall filter effects. "Portable" audio was beginning to move out of the "boom box" era.

I don't have the DAPs mentioned. I'm basically using only CD/CD ATRAC or MD ATRAC.

I've been pleased with the sound of the recent D-NE10 and the MZ-RH10.

Paul