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

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I use my sony bdp-s550 as a cd transport sometimes - mostly for playback of fourtet 'rounds' that despite playing perfectly will not rip.
(if anyone has a copy i could borrow to try id pay for postage to me and back to you ???)
i have found my self not unimpressed by the results through the copper dac, although have never done any direct comparisons i have never found my self picking at the quality of that particular cd playback...
didnt think much of it until i demoed a bdp-s560 through a musical fidelity v-dac against a nad c545bbe cd player today ... the bd/dac combo pretty much killed the nad cd player!
the customers came in wanting something "better than basic, but not ott" and said they didnt have the most dicerning ear.
i prefer to let people make thier own mind up on what sounds better rather than putting words in thier mouths and when we swaped back from one to the other on the very first ocation on the same track they both said the blueray/dac combo was a lot better, which i completely agreed with!
much much better bass - less bloated, and more open sounding!
now i accept that the blueray player/dac combo is £100 more... but it is a blue ray player !!!

im wondering if this has any link to the reasons why people are finding the ps3 such a good streaming transport and if any of you can comment on the ps3 as a cd transport compared to it as a streaming transport?

[themystical]

I use a Samsung Bluray player as a transport into my DIY Buffalo DAC and this comfortably beat an Electrocompaniet EMC1 CD player costing something like £3k. Noel Keywood reckons that the Samsung Bluray has one of the lowest jitter measurements of any transport which might explain why this is the case. The PS3 which I also own is an excellent CD transport too but not quite to the same standard as the Samsung. I suspect whether one can or cannot hear a difference between the two is dependant upon how ultra-revealing the rest of the system is.:)

[technobear]

I use a Samsung Bluray player as a transport ... <snip>... Noel Keywood reckons that the Samsung Bluray has one of the lowest jitter measurements of any transport ...<snip>...

Samsung seem to make quite a few Bluray devices. Any particular one or is it all of them?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Have you used the ps3 to stream?
Out of interest which samsung bdp is it?

[themystical]

The Samsung Bluray that I have is the BDP2500 which is a year or so old but I believe all of their blu-ray players have extremely low jitter transports so should work equally well. I also use the PS3 to stream and IMHO, this does not sound quite as good as using the Samsung as a CD transport with the DAC. Having said that the difference is not massive and is splitting hairs really.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

samsung are good for something then?? ;)
(sony and panasonic sales man)

[themystical]

samsung are good for something then?? ;)
(sony and panasonic sales man)

Hamish
You should be able to confirm or deny my impression that the bulk of the Sony and the Panasonic stuff majors on video quality with generally very average audio performance? I think Samsung seem to have recognised that audio quality is a selling point and appear to have improved their kit in this regard. As an example, the Bluray player that I have uses a Sabre DAC which is recognised as an audiophile DAC.:)

[Dave Hewitt]

Hi
I also have a samsung bdp which gives a very good performance as a transport,also sounds pretty good as a cd player.I was quite surprised how good it is.
Cheers Dave.

[Marco]

Hi Avinash,

You should visit Ian again soon, as he's just bought the new PS3, which apparently has a new 'souped-up' internal DAC fitted, and to Ian's and Duncan's ears (although I haven't heard the comparison myself yet), it sounds better on its own streaming than through any of the off-board DACs Duncan's built so far! :eek:

Marco.

[Dave Hewitt]

Hi Marco
Avinash and myself have been comparing the ps 3 and cambridge dac today,IMHO the sony had the edge in the bass but was a bit ragged elsewhere.This could be down to the cheap lead supplied with the sony,but I think the internal dac was ok.
Regards Dave,and these sandals are still too tight.

[Marco]

Hi Dave,

Shlip yer shlippers on then, old chap! :lol:

Interesting on the PS3 - I'll offer my thoughts when I hear the comparison myself (against Dunc's valve DAC) :)

Marco.

[leo]

What OS and software are you guys using for streaming audio with the PS3?
I'm trying Tversity with dreaded Vista, not running that great though yet:doh:

Also still unable to get the PS3 to play high res WAV files:scratch:

[Ian Walker]

Hi Leo,
Ps3 media server is free and far better.

Ian.

[Ian Walker]

Hi Marco
Avinash and myself have been comparing the ps 3 and cambridge dac today,IMHO the sony had the edge in the bass but was a bit ragged elsewhere.This could be down to the cheap lead supplied with the sony,but I think the internal dac was ok.
Regards Dave,and these sandals are still too tight.

Ah yes dave thats your problem..too tight sandle straps cause excessive clenching of the botty cheeks which in turn causes the listener to imagine the ps3 to be ragged......daftee:mental:

Avinash maybe The Mystical but i am the Guru:)

[Jonboy]

Ah yes dave thats your problem..too tight sandle straps cause excessive clenching of the botty cheeks which in turn causes the listener to imagine the ps3 to be ragged......daftee:mental:


seconededed ded ed, chaffing and clenching a big probleme ma chere


off to bed me thinks, god i love Mr Bells

[leo]

Hi Leo,
Ps3 media server is free and far better.

Ian.

Thanks Ian, will give that a go.
Have you tried hi-res WAV files yet? I've asked a few folks and none of those had any luck getting the to play either

[leo]

Thanks Ian, will give that a go.
Have you tried hi-res WAV files yet? I've asked a few folks and none of those had any luck getting the to play either


Just installed PS3 media server, this is STACKS better than that other rubbish:lol:

[themystical]

Hi Avinash,

You should visit Ian again soon, as he's just bought the new PS3, which apparently has a new 'souped-up' internal DAC fitted, and to Ian's and Duncan's ears (although I haven't heard the comparison myself yet), it sounds better on its own streaming than through any of the off-board DACs Duncan's built so far! :eek:

Marco.

Rumours from the renowned Guru :eyebrows: Mr Walker had filtered through so we compared the PS3's internal DAC with Dave Hewitts external Cambridge Isomagic DAC yesterday. The Isomagic was a clear winner IMHO, the internal DAC sounding lightweight and thin in comparision. This is with Dave's Impulse H2 speakers which are extremely sensitive to the feeding electronics and are ultra-revealing.:)

[dave2010]

Hi Marco
This could be down to the cheap lead supplied with the sony,but I think the internal dac was ok.Very possible. When I was comparing my CD, SACD, SB3 and a DACMagic recently, the biggest improvement I made was substituting the cheap supplied interconnect for the SB3 with a better quality one. That was the most significant audible difference I could discern in that particular series of comparisons.

It's sometimes tempting to just get things working, and use what comes out of the box, and it may sound very good - despite some cheapo cables, but improvements can still be had on occasion by upgrading those.

[Getgaff]

One point to make about the PS3 - it can be damn noisy once those cooling fans kick in. It could never be a completely silent transport and that might be important to some.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Anyone fancy hazarding an answer at my query

[Ian Walker]

One point to make about the PS3 - it can be damn noisy once those cooling fans kick in. It could never be a completely silent transport and that might be important to some.

I'm using the latest version with the 250 gig HD which seems quiet enough to me.

I must say even the previous 80 gig version i had wasnt too noisy either certainly not enough to spoil the music.

Glad you like the PS3 media server Leo:)

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Ian, can the ps3 stream high Rez files?

[Ian Walker]

Hi Hamish,

I'm streaming FLAC files which i believe the PS3 transcodes to WAV on the fly.

I also stream divx,xvid and blue ray movie files,this is more successful when ps3 is wired though music(FLAC) works fine wireless.

If you google that question there is shitloads of info on there.

Sorry i cant be more help mate.

Ian.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

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

[Ian Walker]

Be very interesting to hear your views on that Hamish.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Indeed, I just need to find a bit of moolar, and il get on it!
Would be quite nice if it was better, I could take hannah on the holiday with the money from selling the majik!!

[leo]

Ian, can the ps3 stream high Rez files?

Since installing PS3 media server it seems to play 24/96 but won't do anything higher which is a damn shame, Its still much better than it was when I was using Tversity though.
Sorry I can't help with your other questions

Sound as a transport isn't bad, I just wish it was co-axial output instead of optical, the analogue output imo is total shite, the dacs kick seven bells out of it, I'll hopefully be trying a mates newer PS3 soon

[The Vinyl Adventure]

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

[The Vinyl Adventure]

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?

[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!! :lol:
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 :eyebrows:
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 ..:lolsign:

[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. :eyebrows:

[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: :youtheman: ). 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.

:confused: