sony bdp 550/560 as transport - some findings and a ps3 related queery

[leo]

I'd be interested to hear your views on the new ps3's internal dac Leo ...

The one I'm hoping to borrow is a mates and will be brand new so I won't be taking it to bits , Damn!!
I'll have a search to see if theres details of the guts

[leo]

Could you not do the relevent modifications to give it a coaxial output... What about improving it as a transport, is that something you would be capable of?

I'd imagine so yes, almost anything can be modded
My Sabre dac is Co-axial input so I had to knock up an optical input source on a piece of vero, the main problem was that the PS3 wouldn't play the higher than 24/96 WAV files, it just said unsupported data file

[SteveW]

I think I might buy one of these new ps3's and see how it compares to the majik

Yeah.. those are the options I'm REALLY interested in. Mind you, the PS3 has a leg up already as I've heard Dunc's playing streamed movie files. Who needs surround sound when you can get two channel that good?

But...the Linn DS players are very very good

Which is better..

Only one way to find out ..

[electric beach]

Hi Hamish

I made a little comparison for you last night:

External hard drive via USB through Mk1 PS3 to Williams Audio Brass DAC
Consonance Linear 120 to WA Brass DAC
PS3 internal hard drive to WA DAC
PS3 transport to WA Brass DAC
PS3 internal DAC direct to preamp.

I judged the performance to be in this order, but the PS3 as a transport was concisely described earlier as "ragged" and I certainly couldn't live with it. Even one of Duncan's DACs couldn't save it.
This model of Playstation seems to do something special with WAV files but don't give up your Majik for it unless the new model is considerably better as a transport. I even tried messing about with the mains lead and supports but nothing seemed to make an improvement, only worse.

In theory I'm told the Blue laser should offer benefits as a transport but it seems that other elements are letting the potential down. At least I can say that it's not the optical output because the CDs that I ripped with EAC, then fed from a portable hard drive and played simply using the PS3 menu selection, were absolutely stunning and removed a digital layer compared to the Consonance which has delivered something quite addictive. It's not subtle either and I will be persuing this route further.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

well there you go... cheers for that! when my current money drout ends i will look into the new ps3 i think, it will be interesting to see what it can do ... its gonna have to do something very very special to take the linn of the rack though!

im guessing you sorted you hifi woes then steve? what did it turn out to be in the end?

[electric beach]

well there you go... cheers for that! when my current money drout ends i will look into the new ps3 i think, it will be interesting to see what it can do ... its gonna have to do something very very special to take the linn of the rack though!

im guessing you sorted you hifi woes then steve? what did it turn out to be in the end?

To be honest Hamish I'm really not sure - and that worries me because if it's intermittent then it could happren again. My heart says it was a connection or component problem but I moved and changed so much that I can't pinpoint one action that resolved the problem. Getting the channels accurately balanced was what I did at the time - but that makes little sense to account for the issue. Anyway, sounding better than ever now!

That DAC is seriously awesome ( Duncan: ). When I changed from the Trivista 21, there were some things that I missed; a certain muscle and solidity and a dark, ominous, theatrical soundstage.
Although overall the results from the Brass Boy with CD replay are superior, in a lighter but more refined presentation, with the WAV files everything is immediately balanced - in a 2-dimensional way from bass through treble, in a 3-dimensional way in the solidity, dimension and seperation of the soundstage and in a musical way that I can't begin to describe.

For me this is showing the degree that Duncan fine tuned the design to suit his use of PS3 and the playing of files rather than from CD.