[beerguy0]

I have an old CD ROM drive, manufactured in 1996. It has a headphone jack, which actually sounds pretty good. (It uses a BA3530FS for the headphone amp). The chassis is fairly heavy duty, at least compared to the stuff made today. Does this have potential as a source?

 

[CMasten]

I have a Sony CDP-302 from 1985 that I was just able to resurrect (again) its 21 years old and while it still functions well, I have noticed that the electrolytic caps inside are starting to disintegrate, I also notice a huge falling off (+2 or 3 db) on the output around 3k-5k so the middle has kind of fallen out of this unit. It was the bomb in its heyday, but I just ordered a new Marantz CD5001 and unfortunately while I cherish my old Sony it just doesn’t cut it as a source any longer.. but heck 21 years of service, I won’t complain.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Does it even have controls to pause or fast forward? IMO without a screen to display current track and stuff like that, it isn't going to be convenient.

 

[Icarium]

Er is that Sony thing a portable player? Can you compare that to a CD ROM drive? This is an interesting source comparison... I'm curious as well.

 

[beerguy0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmmtn4aj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does it even have controls to pause or fast forward? IMO without a screen to display current track and stuff like that, it isn't going to be convenient.

Actually, it does have Play/Track Skip and Stop/Eject buttons, so it is usable as a stand alone unit, although the controls are limited. As you point out, not having track information is kind of limiting. My actual plan was to put in a computer, and add an external DAC. I was wondering if an older CD-ROM drive has any benefits over current models, like jitter, etc.

Alternatively, is the transport itself useful?

 

[DocHamm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beerguy0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have an old CD ROM drive, manufactured in 1996.

1996<--Vintage??? I hate to think what you'd call me!!

 

[kramer5150]

A couple members use external CD ROM as source. I forget the details though.

 

[Killercrush]

Probably the Nec Multispin 6x units.

 

[Seaside]

Old does not necessarily means "vintage", IMO.

Oldies but goodies => possibly vintage. but
Olideis that stinks =>

I know there're a lot of good old CD players, but I am not sure if there's any vintage CD players, because I think CD technology is kinda old, but too new to be called as vintage. Ok... just a thought. Please don't be pissed by that.

I used to have a Sony CDP, looks slightly differ from what Cmasten showed above. Think I got it at flea market somewhere in western Pennsylvania. Do not remember its model number and stuff but sounded alright. Only difference b/w mine and his is like.... mine's are broken about a year ago, went to trash. It has cheap JRC OPamps in it when I took it apart before I put it into the can.

Also have 4X CD-rom from Ricoh and 2X CD-burner from Memorex(Mitsui OEM?). Not sure if it has any worth in these days though, it still sounds alright.

 

[fordgtlover]

Vintage = 1996... LOL. Most of my kit is pre '96 and it all works fine, including my NAD 5320 CD player circa 1988.

 

[Amarok]

My main criterion for selecting audio components is "do I (we) like the
sound?"
Secondary are things like price, build quality, functionality.

My wife had an old Emerson cd player (~$99) that was the best sounding player we had until I killed it by blowing out dust with a can of air that I didn't hold vertically and so doused the insides with whatever fluid that they use. Others didn't sound as good, so we must've gotten some kind of manufacturing fluke. We didn't surpass the sound until we bought our Krell (~$1900).

So you never know what's going to sound good to you until you listen to it. Our preconceptions have been blown away a few times.

 

[uraflit]

he put vintage in quotation marks... he meant no harm! =D

 

[AndrewFischer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beerguy0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have an old CD ROM drive, manufactured in 1996. It has a headphone jack, which actually sounds pretty good. (It uses a BA3530FS for the headphone amp). The chassis is fairly heavy duty, at least compared to the stuff made today. Does this have potential as a source?

Most of those older computer drives with the headphone jacks have really terrible DACs. In 1995 I was on the design team for a set top box. The team selected a DAC used in CD-ROMs to save money. It was the cheapest part we could find. I don't recall the exact specs but they were not good.


As long as the drive still works well, it should be fine in a computer with a decent external DAC and amplifier.