[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by LamerDeluxe (tm) I don't really think the D-25s sounds metallic though, it can be a bit too bright with music that has harsh treble. I don't know what you are using for a powersource, but IMO using an external batterypack helps the sound in this area as well.

I use the internal battery BP-2EX or a radioshack 9V-800mA...still sounds metallic to me, funny though, i wasn't the one to bring it up regarding how metallic it sounds. I only noticed it more and more after i picked up various other Sony pcdp's, like the D-33, D-121 and D-141. The "jaggies" you describe maybe what i'm referring to as "metallic sounding." Try listening to a pair of V6's or Grado headphones with it, it's a rather painful experience.

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

My Philips earbuds already seem to have very good treble response, compared to the MX-500. But I still need to locate some good larger headphones. I don't have a headphone amplifier though (yet?

) and I'm still not sure what kind of headphones would suit me.

I think it's indeed jaggies, the 'pixels' if you will, of the waveform that cause a metallic sound. If you listen to audio with a small number of bits or low frequency, it sounds very metallic.

The D-25s has 4x oversampling, which I think would mean the frequency of these jaggies becomes four times as high as 22kHz, or 88kHz, with 8x oversampling this would be 176kHz, quite a difference. If you don't apply enough filtering to the treble, some of these jaggies remain. Apply too much and the result is smooth, but detail is lost. So the D-25s might indeed be echoing the limits of the original 16-bit waveform, if the brightness isn't artificially added by some kind of preset equalizing.
The D-555 uses the same DACs, but two of them instead of one, with 8x oversampling, so I really wonder how it compares.
Maybe they used the exact same filter, which would work better on the D-555 because it has more oversampling.

Also, not directly related, the sound of 1-bit DACs is considered smooth. I've read quite a bit about 1-bit DACs in relation to SACD. It seems they really smooth out frequencies below 1000Hz a lot and have a very low amount of distortion. However, at higher frequencies the bitstream cannot keep up (it would need to use a GHz frequency for that and it doesn't) and accuracy is lost. The result still sounds smooth, but is inaccurate (wrong values are interpolated). A lot of noise-shaping is used to make the sound smooth, but that is detail that is being 'made up' by interpolation.
Reason why this loss of detail would be acceptable is that people wouldn't be able to hear the difference at those higher frequencies anyway, which in practice apparently isn't correct.
BTW: the clockrate is very important with 1-bit converters, as the bitstream has a much higher frequency, so jitter becomes more of a problem.

(SACD's bitrate is even inferior to a bitstream converter of a regular CD player, there seem to be a number of things wrong with the ideas behind SACD, but that's another topic

)

EDIT: Is the radio shack powersupply stabilized? I'm using a 1000mAh Sega Gamegear batterypack by Goldpeak, works like it was made for it and improves the sound.

EDIT2: Scaringly, the D-25s seems to use a lot of power while it's off, it seems to drain the batterypack in a very short time (less than an hour) when it's not in use.

 

[redshifter]

epithetless,
if you are looking for a cd player for your desk, and won't be moving it much, why not just buy a good cd player (non portable)? for the money you would spend on some of the more expensive classics, you'll get a better player with much better sound.

 

[epithetless]

redshifter,

Now there's an idea...

I guess I was thinking portable because of limited desk space...It holds my laptop and not much else. But a stationary player isn't out of the question, I suppose. Any recommendations there? A quality headphone out is a must...

...considering I won't have speakers...

...or the money to buy them...

...and I'm addicted to headphones...

(It's the kind of illness you never want a cure for, ya know?)

Thanks for all your responses, people. You're a big help.