[Duncan]

I feel a bit of a let down, the Sony fanboy that I am, the only item I have is the BDP-S1000ES (albeit it is called the BDP-S760 outside of the US)...
 
However, it is now relegated to CD spinning duties (due to upscaling to 24/96)...
 

 

[SonyESFan]

Restoration starts today on a CDP-555ESD

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Restoration starts today on a CDP-555ESD

Let us know how it goes...
 
I'm eyeing up one of these beasts myself

 

[SonyESFan]

So far its torn down for restoration:
 
 
 
Part below was how the copper looked before I polished it and the top part is after, what a difference! 

 
All shiny again!

 

[SonyESFan]

A bit more progress made:

 

[jorwed]

Sony TA-N77ES x 2
Sony TA-E77ESD
Sony CDP-X55ES
Thorens TD 160
Sonos Connect
 
Looking for new speakers for this set up...

 

[Anda]

  Looking for new speakers for this set up...

 
Looking for your pictures of this setup

 

 

[SonyESFan]

Sadly having to part out the CDP-555ESD as the main controller IC has died a death so its rendered it unusable, BU-1E laser should still be ok in it along with chassis and other parts if anyone needs spares!
 
Here is my current system top to bottom:
 
PS-X600
STR-VA555ES
TC-K808ES
CDP-557ESD
TA-N55ES x 2
 

 

[music_man]

999es,scd-1. both fully modded. too dirty for pics. thing with 999es if you leave it on 24/7 psu board fries in six months. learned that lesson. first had it on standby after five burnouts then made better psu. the scd-1,especially modded is one of the greatest transports ever imo. the parts and labor is unheard of from sony now.

 

[Winno]

I've had a couple of CDP-XA5ES CD players.

I had a champaign one first;

But I sold it as I prefer black;

I've modded the black one with a better power cable and I replaced all the op-amps on the audio board with Burson discrete component op-amps. An easy mod to do that nets a MASSIVE improvement to the sound.

I've held off doing power supply mods because I don't know what to do.
I've also held off doing clock mods because people have reported mixed results with this player and it's more expensive version, the XA7.

 

[purk]

I've had a couple of CDP-XA5ES CD players.

I had a champaign one first;

I've held off doing power supply mods because I don't know what to do.
I've also held off doing clock mods because people have reported mixed results with this player and it's more expensive version, the XA7.

Impressive mod.  That gotta set you back quite a few bucks!

 

[Winno]

Cheers.
The op-amps were about AU$460 all up (6 in total - 4 doubles and 2 singles) from memory.
My wife's birthday present to me.
Labour was free because I fitted them myself.

 

[purk]

  Cheers.
The op-amps were about AU$460 all up (6 in total - 4 doubles and 2 singles) from memory.
My wife's birthday present to me.
Labour was free because I fitted them myself.

What sort of improvements sonically did you get from these discrete op-amps?

 

[Winno]

My summary of sound improvements - copied from my mod thread on Stereo.net;
 
On the sound;
Like I said, I was impressed!
My system's depth of field, and stage width was pretty good to start with. The Burson mod has made the stage much, much wider though and I can look right at each speaker without feeling that sound was actually coming from them at all. 

Where things sit in the stage is so much more clearly defined. The central image is striking! I can move my head around and the centre stays in the centre. 
At first I also thought that the whole stage was bought forward significantly. Further listening allowed me to see that layering is far superior now. What's supposed to be at the front of stage really is at the front of stage now, with other performers layered further back. Previously, everything was placed a fair way back and in a shallower plane.

Bottom end is now very ample indeed. Those who know my speakers, know that they're not known for their lower frequency drive. Their reputation really rides on their ribbon tweeter. The speakers are sitting with just over a hand span between the wall and the back of the speaker. I'm now considering pulling them out further now because there's so much more power and drive down low. It's not just that though, there's so much more detail coming from low down and I can hear much of what I have been missing before.

This upgrade absolutely should be considered by anyone contemplating a change to their cd player. This change has elevated performance to many levels above what I had before and I would say has saved me a lot of money by giving my cd player a new lease of life.
 
My player modification thread is located here;
 
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/24545-winnos-sony-xa5es-op-amp-upgrade/

 

[Paul Graham]

Wonderful thread! Loving the ES porn...
I just killed two birds with one stone and landed my first ES seperates and DAT recorder.
DTC 60ES. I'll get pics and impressions up once it's here. It's black with the wood panels and in mint condition.
I've just put a bid on a TC-K870ES tape deck, We shall see. If I win it I'll need wooden panels for it