[Ham Radio Nut]

These days, you get more 'bang for the buck' with the current crop of CD players, given the much improved resolution and built-in DAC's many have. If you are on a budget, and want an excellent sounding player, check out the CD5001 with a Cirrus Logic chip. It's only like 300 bucks, but if you can spend more, 'the sky is the limit'.

 

[hciman77]

Conclusion, perfectly listenable as a CD player, the lack of a display makes it impractical for everyday use but I did connect the video out to my 5 inch LCD monitor to test it out. Doesnt do anything disturbing, probably not worth the $6000 in the sense that it wasnt detectably better than my Marantz but if was a CD player and I had paid $100 - $200 for it I doubt I would be complaining.

 

[earwicker7]

If I'm not mistaken, the "Audiophile Quality Playstation" thing was originally an April Fool's Day prank on the Audiophile Luddites, kind of the equivalent of Motor Trend doing an April Fool's Day joke where they "found out" that an AMC Gremlin had cornering ability that was just as good as a Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes, etc.

Apparently this crowd is so willing to believe that their cheap equipment is no different than the rig in Steven Spielberg's house that they bought this nonsense hook, line, and sinker, and it is now an established urban legend, although they would prefer it be called "science".

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif If I'm not mistaken, the "Audiophile Quality Playstation" thing was originally an April Fool's Day prank on the Audiophile Luddites, kind of the equivalent of Motor Trend doing an April Fool's Day joke where they "found out" that an AMC Gremlin had cornering ability that was just as good as a Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes, etc.

Interesting, many a true word spoken in jest. I cant judge the PS1 against anything other than what I own and it genuinely sounds good (no worse) pitched against my sources, just goes to show that CD players all sound much the same anyway

I spent several weeks trying to persuade myself that my NAD was worth the extra $350 over my Philips DVD player, I am happy to say I failed

Quote:

Apparently this crowd is so willing to believe that their cheap equipment is no different than the rig in Steven Spielberg's house that they bought this nonsense hook, line, and sinker, and it is now an established urban legend, although they would prefer it be called "science".

On the other hand there are just as many folks who would refuse to not hear a difference between two items just because they know one is better than the other, mostly read more expensive. Its a funny old world.

Does anybody have any audio measurements for the PS1

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif If I'm not mistaken, the "Audiophile Quality Playstation" thing was originally an April Fool's Day prank on the Audiophile Luddites, kind of the equivalent of Motor Trend doing an April Fool's Day joke where they "found out" that an AMC Gremlin had cornering ability that was just as good as a Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes, etc. Apparently this crowd is so willing to believe that their cheap equipment is no different than the rig in Steven Spielberg's house that they bought this nonsense hook, line, and sinker, and it is now an established urban legend, although they would prefer it be called "science".

Those that believe that the PS1 will beat a good 2k$ player are indeed idiots but there are plenty of very bad CDP's out there that are supposed to be "audiophile quality" and people pay a lot for them.

The PS1 is so popular because it is so different from other players. It has many positive points modded with a very simple output stage, no opamps in sight.

 

[hciman77]

I spent a lot of sunday listening to the PS1. I have to say I was impressed with it. It certainly compares well with my modest sources. I started it up and got engaged with the music and it didnt get in the way at all, I tried it with a variety of CDs inc

The ELectric Prunes : Mass in F Minor

R.E.M : Automatic for the People

Schumann : Symphonies 3 & 4
(Vienna Philharmonc, Bernstein)
Gabrieli · Monteverdi ·
Vivaldi : Venetian Church Music
Taverner Consort, Choir & Players · Andrew Parrott

Crowded House : Recurring Dream

One thing I did (seem to) notice a few times was a *very* slight channel imbalance, only noticeable at lowish volumes (I dont know if that is a known issue) , now if I had paid $6000 for it or even $300 or $200 I would be sending it back for that - at $20 who cares

It wont be my daily source as it is a pain to use without a display but other than that I cant complain too much.

Anyone who wants to try this themself send me a PM and I will send it to you, free (but you pay shipping - $10) , it has the unit, power cord, one controller but no supplied RCA I am afraid.

First PM gets it...

 

[kipman725]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blitzula /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can we hear more from people who have actually used the PS1 as a player? There are way too many posts saying it can't sound the same as expensive players from people who seemingly haven't even heard it. You're brainwashed by high-end pricing if you think the dollars spent directly correlate with the sound that's returned to the point where this isn't even possible.

ps1 as I player I have used while on holiday. Works better than a crappy goodmans portable (no skiping) quite a clear sound and was good fun to play along to. but compared to an actual hi-fi cd player... nothing like. IF you want a cheap cd player better than a boom box it's very much worth it though and has a quite nice interface which allows you to fast forward through tracks and set bookmarks (a freature many hi-fi players lack).

Btw the whole ps1 is the best player ever was started as an april fools about 4-5 years ago so you look pretty silly claiming it's the awsome

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kipman725 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Btw the whole ps1 is the best player ever was started as an april fools about 4-5 years ago so you look pretty silly claiming it's the awsome

Yep, I brought the same point up earlier.

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yep, I brought the same point up earlier.

Have you actually ever listened to one though ?

 

[Sarchi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham Radio Nut /img/forum/go_quote.gif These days, you get more 'bang for the buck' with the current crop of CD players, given the much improved resolution and built-in DAC's many have. If you are on a budget, and want an excellent sounding player, check out the CD5001 with a Cirrus Logic chip. It's only like 300 bucks, but if you can spend more, 'the sky is the limit'.

That's certainly a plausible assertion. Have you compared redbook CD playback on the Marantz and the Sony PS1? I'm not doubting your advice, but just wondering if you did.

I for one continue to enjoy this little experiment, the PS1 is consistently a very involving player in my system (especially since I fried an IC in my phono stage, lol). That it apparently has no 'audiophile cred' does absolutely nothing to dissuade me.

 

[Scrith]

I am intimately familiar with the PS1, PS2, and PS3 (as well as other video game consoles) because I program them for a living.

The real advantage of the PS1 is that it is using a CD-ROM drive with a memory buffer to get the data off the CD. In this respect it is indeed better than most CD Players out there, including those that cost $10,000 or more. This isn't really saying much, however, because the computer you are using right now has the potential (when used with the right software) to be even better at extracting data from a CD than the PS1.

On the other hand, the DAC it is using for audio playback is nothing special (though certainly not bad). So the sound you get from it is probably not going to sound very special compared to the carefully massaged (for better or worse...some people are much more interested in the final sound even if it has been manipulated by analog or digital means) sound of "high-end" CD players.

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrith /img/forum/go_quote.gif On the other hand, the DAC it is using for audio playback is nothing special (

What DAC does it use ?

 

[Sarchi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrith /img/forum/go_quote.gif The real advantage of the PS1 is that it is using a CD-ROM drive with a memory buffer to get the data off the CD. In this respect it is indeed better than most CD Players out there,

Probably a dumb question, but related to your point: I've read that PS1's had to be modded in order to read CD-R's, i.e. ripped games (and music, presumably). So is the stock CD-ROM drive a "normal" unit? Or something different.

thanks

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hciman77 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you actually ever listened to one though ?

I've owned almost every video game console that's been made in the last fifteen years

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've owned almost every video game console that's been made in the last fifteen years

That isnt answering my question. The question isnt about any other video game console, it is about the PS1.