CRESCENDOPOWER
Headphoneus Supremus
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- Sep 15, 2004
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[size=small]REVIEW: SONY SCD-1 CD PLAYER [/size]
Associated Equipment
Digital source : Sony SCD-C555ES
Interconnects : Cardas Golden Cross
Headphones : Sennheiser HD-600s, and Beyerdynamic DT-770 pros
Headphone cable : Stephan AudioArt Equinox
Music used
Shakira – Laundry Service
Tool – Anemia
John Tesh – Avalon
ZZ Top – Eliminator
Jennifer Warnes – The Hunter
Introduction
It's really too bad that the only other CD player I have to make a direct comparison to the Sony SCD-1 is the Sony SCD-C555ES which retails less than 6 times the cost of the SCD-1. So, in no way will this comparison be fair, but it might give an idea into what 6 times the money can give with a source component upgrade.
Appearance
I’m sure that a large percentage of the cost to build this unit was spent on the exterior. A lot of the time when a manufacturer bothers to build a product that is brawny on the outside usually is an indication, or mirroring of what’s on the inside. Weighing in at almost 60-pounds with 5 feet underneath tells me that Sony was not playing any games.
This is a very clean, simple, and industrial looking CD player. Throughout the entire enclosure you can clearly see all the screws, and the front of the player consists of only the display, and power button. I find the display to be large, and very easy to read. The back of the player is quite simple also. There are two pair of line level analog outputs one balanced, and the other unbalanced with a switch to turn on, or off the balanced outputs. The command mode selector on the back gives the ability to control the SCD-1, and another Sony CD player with the same remote. In addition, there is one coaxial digital output, and one optical digital output. I might add that all connectors on the SCD-1 are very well constructed, and for stock the power cable looks pretty good too. As for the remote control, I have seen much sturdier ones on units of this price range.
Sound
A lot of people let their components burn in for a while before they listen. I prefer to hear the changes as I go along. Right out of the box it sounded a little bright, but was still leagues ahead of the SCD-C555ES, and very well should be for the asking price. Early on I noticed a lot of spitting in the upper midrange, but with time it seemed to go away. One thing is for sure though, if you put in a bad recording that is exactly what you’re going to get back. I find it amazing how bad actually most of my recordings really are. Maybe I need to change the music I listen to. Another thing that I noticed right away was that my extremely tubey sounding amp didn’t quite sound so tubey anymore. The midrange magic was still there, but with a lot more extension in the frequency extremes. There was a lot more tick, tick, tick going on in the treble, and bass simply sounded like a tight, and tuneful subwoofer was added. The pace of the music just flew faster with a huge improvement in transient speed. Also, the SCD-1 was a huge step up over the SCD-555ES in background blackness, refinement, and transparency. The sound staging was also larger, and more airy. I think a lot of that can be contributed to the increased treble extension. But, I feel the most noticeable improvement was in the bass slam. I remember my Denon DCD-1650AR being extremely strong in this area, but not this dynamic.
Picky me
There were a few things I dislike about the SCD-1. Every disc I put in takes me forever to get it going. Got to wait for the door to open take out the stabilizer take out the disc put the new disc in replace the stabilizer then close the damn door. Then, it takes a little while before the disc actually gets going. Believe me; don’t ever buy a 5-disc changer it will make you lazy.
Not only is the remote cheap for a $5000.00 unit; I can’t believe that there are no buttons on the remote to turn the unit on, and off, or to open the door to replace a disc. I hate having to put my grubby hands on the unit itself to do all this.
The SCD-1 has caused me to completely rearrange my room. Can’t put a 60-pound CD player on my computer desk, so in comes the big audio rack. Then, I find myself listening at a much lower volume level, because of the low level detail, so now I need to put my noisy computer case with all its fans out in the hall. Unbelievable!
Also, with the SCD-C555ES I could pretty much set the volume, and leave it alone from disc to disc, but not with the SCD-1. Many of the older discs from the early 80’s required me to bump the sound up quite a bit more in the SCD-1.
Conclusion
Well, the big question for me is did the SCD-1 make 6 times the improvement to my musical enjoyment in comparison to the SCD-C555ES? Probably not 6 times, but I certainly feel it is well worth its asking price. It certainly made a huge improvement to my headphone system that’s for sure. It improved the exact areas that my system needed. Now it’s time to just sit back, and enjoy the music!
Associated Equipment
Digital source : Sony SCD-C555ES
Interconnects : Cardas Golden Cross
Headphones : Sennheiser HD-600s, and Beyerdynamic DT-770 pros
Headphone cable : Stephan AudioArt Equinox
Music used
Shakira – Laundry Service
Tool – Anemia
John Tesh – Avalon
ZZ Top – Eliminator
Jennifer Warnes – The Hunter
Introduction
It's really too bad that the only other CD player I have to make a direct comparison to the Sony SCD-1 is the Sony SCD-C555ES which retails less than 6 times the cost of the SCD-1. So, in no way will this comparison be fair, but it might give an idea into what 6 times the money can give with a source component upgrade.
Appearance
I’m sure that a large percentage of the cost to build this unit was spent on the exterior. A lot of the time when a manufacturer bothers to build a product that is brawny on the outside usually is an indication, or mirroring of what’s on the inside. Weighing in at almost 60-pounds with 5 feet underneath tells me that Sony was not playing any games.
This is a very clean, simple, and industrial looking CD player. Throughout the entire enclosure you can clearly see all the screws, and the front of the player consists of only the display, and power button. I find the display to be large, and very easy to read. The back of the player is quite simple also. There are two pair of line level analog outputs one balanced, and the other unbalanced with a switch to turn on, or off the balanced outputs. The command mode selector on the back gives the ability to control the SCD-1, and another Sony CD player with the same remote. In addition, there is one coaxial digital output, and one optical digital output. I might add that all connectors on the SCD-1 are very well constructed, and for stock the power cable looks pretty good too. As for the remote control, I have seen much sturdier ones on units of this price range.
Sound
A lot of people let their components burn in for a while before they listen. I prefer to hear the changes as I go along. Right out of the box it sounded a little bright, but was still leagues ahead of the SCD-C555ES, and very well should be for the asking price. Early on I noticed a lot of spitting in the upper midrange, but with time it seemed to go away. One thing is for sure though, if you put in a bad recording that is exactly what you’re going to get back. I find it amazing how bad actually most of my recordings really are. Maybe I need to change the music I listen to. Another thing that I noticed right away was that my extremely tubey sounding amp didn’t quite sound so tubey anymore. The midrange magic was still there, but with a lot more extension in the frequency extremes. There was a lot more tick, tick, tick going on in the treble, and bass simply sounded like a tight, and tuneful subwoofer was added. The pace of the music just flew faster with a huge improvement in transient speed. Also, the SCD-1 was a huge step up over the SCD-555ES in background blackness, refinement, and transparency. The sound staging was also larger, and more airy. I think a lot of that can be contributed to the increased treble extension. But, I feel the most noticeable improvement was in the bass slam. I remember my Denon DCD-1650AR being extremely strong in this area, but not this dynamic.
Picky me
There were a few things I dislike about the SCD-1. Every disc I put in takes me forever to get it going. Got to wait for the door to open take out the stabilizer take out the disc put the new disc in replace the stabilizer then close the damn door. Then, it takes a little while before the disc actually gets going. Believe me; don’t ever buy a 5-disc changer it will make you lazy.
Not only is the remote cheap for a $5000.00 unit; I can’t believe that there are no buttons on the remote to turn the unit on, and off, or to open the door to replace a disc. I hate having to put my grubby hands on the unit itself to do all this.
The SCD-1 has caused me to completely rearrange my room. Can’t put a 60-pound CD player on my computer desk, so in comes the big audio rack. Then, I find myself listening at a much lower volume level, because of the low level detail, so now I need to put my noisy computer case with all its fans out in the hall. Unbelievable!
Also, with the SCD-C555ES I could pretty much set the volume, and leave it alone from disc to disc, but not with the SCD-1. Many of the older discs from the early 80’s required me to bump the sound up quite a bit more in the SCD-1.
Conclusion
Well, the big question for me is did the SCD-1 make 6 times the improvement to my musical enjoyment in comparison to the SCD-C555ES? Probably not 6 times, but I certainly feel it is well worth its asking price. It certainly made a huge improvement to my headphone system that’s for sure. It improved the exact areas that my system needed. Now it’s time to just sit back, and enjoy the music!
