PlayStation 1: The Audiophiles Dream?

[blessingx]

See article here.

 

[oicdn]

Haha...

 

[thread]

Yea I found that in the feeds today as well! Crazy!

Anybody tried it?

 

[choomanchoo]

I was about to throw one of these bad boys out this weekend, Glad I didn't now,

 

[Ubel]

This makes me wonder what's different on the inside of the newer PS1s (besides the lack of RCAs) That makes the 1001 model so much better.

Could this be modded perhaps? I have a newer model PS1 and it sounds tempting.

Joseph

 

[kikkomang]

this article was on digg. if you read the comments all you see was nothing but audiophile bashing.

 

[GTroy]

I had been using a chaintech av-710, and yeah...there's a difference. I'm hearing things I haven't before on a mogwai cd. very interesting stuff. can't hurt to try it for 14 bucks. I'm impressed.

I guess this has been floating around a while. it was on arstechnica a while ago

 

[Singapura]

Funny that this subject crops up once in a while. It was discarded as a myth a long time ago.

 

[Chu]

I believe I have a PS1 Revision 1 lying around somewhere, would be interesting to try. If my memory serves me right though it really isn't any better of a source then my $300 Aiwa system I used in high school (which admittedly does have a headphone jack that rivals some of the mid range amps I've heard, albeit the speakers are horrible).

I always find these articles a little humorous though, because if a PS1 really does equal a $6000 transport, it means someone is getting massively ripped off moreso then the PS1 is such an amazing value

 

[SysteX]

Yeah, I'm not buying it. Why does 6moons always seem to be involved in these sorts of things?

 

[Joshatdot]

...so its only the RCA jacks make the SCPH-1001 so wonderful sounding?

 

[Chu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshatdot /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...so its only the RCA jacks make the SCPH-1001 so wonderful sounding?

I spent a little time googling about this and have had trouble finding exactly what I am looking for (high res pictures of the motherboards of different PS1 revisions). I know they are out there though.

From what I've found though it looks like the Rev1 and Rev2 PS1's had almost identical motherboards, since the mod chip instructions appear to be the same for both. As for the RCA jacks themselves, they look like your standard nickle plated affair, so it is doubtful.

 

[Chu]

Also found this interesting site : Link.

It's a long list of mods that take a PS1 from a "remarkably good CD player" to a "audiophile piece of equipment." If you really put that amount of work into a PS1 it better!

That being said the heart of a transport really is the DAC, and according to the site the models in question use an Ashahi Kasei Microsystems (AKM) AK4309AVM.

I'm having trouble finding any other equipment that uses said DAC, but if someone gets lucky with google it might give us an idea of what sound quality we are really talking about.

It is interesting though that the two transports google tossed up that use AKM DACs as the brain retail around the $2000 mark. There might actually be something here.

 

[Ahriman4891]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chu /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is interesting though that the two transports google tossed up that use AKM DACs as the brain retail around the $2000 mark. There might actually be something here.

This really has nothing to do with the DACs--most modern DACs cost cents to produce and several bucks in mass orders. ESI Juli@, EMU 0404 usb, and tons of other stuff use AKM.

EDIT:
It's a single-bit delta-sigma modulated DAC, which supposedly is vastly inferior to modern multi-bit delta-sigma ones (I never heard a single-bit DAC myself). It's limited to 16 bit 48KHz, has 90 dB dynamic range and -84 dB THD+N. Compared to modern DACs, it's so obsolete it's not even funny. Another thing: PS1 is a low-cost product, and millions upon milliions were made. Which means 1) cheap components; 2) lack of consistency in components between different PS1's, since they were probably produced at multiple factories all over the world. Draw your own conclusions.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

This could be the BOSE effect.

Although it is not of "audiophile-quality" sound, the sound signature is pleasing to the ears.