View Full Version : S'ony a pretty good CD player
Some years ago I modded a few Sony PS1's following a cult following on Diyaudio. These were picked up for around a tenner each and sounded pretty good. Sadly they will not play all CDs and really don't like CDRs. I was up in the loft recently looking for something that could not be found :rolleyes: and came across a PS2 that my son must have had in the past. It has an optical dig out and I thought I would give it a go as a transport.
Well blow me, it has made me want to play CDs again. A very musical and full bodied presentation. The fan was making too much noise for me, so I swapped it out for quieter one.
If you see one at a car boot for a tenner I would buy it and see what you think....oh you will need a controller as well. You can also get remote control plug in doodahs which I got when messing with the PS1s (they are PS2 remote controllers, but work with the PS1 as well)
So against what price level of conventional player would it compete?
Audio Al
11-09-2019, 08:32
Some years ago I modded a few Sony PS1's following a cult following on Diyaudio. These were picked up for around a tenner each and sounded pretty good. Sadly they will not play all CDs and really don't like CDRs. I was up in the loft recently looking for something that could not be found :rolleyes: and came across a PS2 that my son must have had in the past. It has an optical dig out and I thought I would give it a go as a transport.
Well blow me, it has made me want to play CDs again. A very musical and full bodied presentation. The fan was making too much noise for me, so I swapped it out for quieter one.
If you see one at a car boot for a tenner I would buy it and see what you think....oh you will need a controller as well. You can also get remote control plug in doodahs which I got when messing with the PS1s (they are PS2 remote controllers, but work with the PS1 as well)
Rob , you need to offer £5 bargain hard :D , Nice offer of you buying it for me ;)
Chris, that's a very difficult one to quantify. However, if I were to pit it against a heavily modified Marantz CD63 that I picked up for £25. Again this was the subject of a thread on Diyaudio running to hundreds of pages. The mods I did were, upgraded PS caps, voltage regulators to replace current limiting resistors (16 or 17) removing the HDAM stage, adding a Trichord Clock and power supply. Lining the whole case with adhesive bitumen pads and other mods that I have probably forgotten about now. It is not bad but a bit bright for my tastes, some would say "detailed"?
I had a Trichord Genesis some years ago (a modified Pioneer stable platter machine) that cost a fortune for what I subsequently knew was inside it. I would politely call it a "pleasant" sound....or a bit dull :)
I have had several other CD players, Cambridge, Marantz (not the 63) but I just like the way the PS sounds, detailed and musical, but not in your face, unless it is a badly mastered CD. You can use the analogue outs of the PS2 if you get an AV lead.
Rob , you need to offer £5 buargain hard :D , Nice offer of you buying it for me ;)
Your very welcome Al.
What buttons on the controller do you use to get it to play :scratch: (I've tried PS1 & 2 controllers)
(wondering if the one I've got is faulty, although the blue & green lights are on & the fan's working)
Cheers
What buttons on the controller do you use to get it to play :scratch: (I've tried PS1 & 2 controllers)
(wondering if the one I've got is faulty, although the blue & green lights are on & the fan's working)
Cheers
Hi Roy, the wired games controllers have controls for which the knowledge as to which button does what is not available for those over the age of 16. Those that are over that age have to stab blindly at any or all (or a combination) of the buttons in the hope that the CD starts to play. Once you know what does what WRITE IT DOWN because the next time you use it......... I will take a pic of a controller and add tags as to what works for me. With the remote control unit I have I have to press ENTER once and then again and the CD will start.....unless it doesn't like it, in which case it wont. PAUSE uses the play button, the STOP button for some unknown reason stops the CD!. The EJECT button does not EJECT or open the drawer.
I have played a DVD without access to a screen....now that was fun!!!!
Hi Roy, the wired games controllers have controls for which the knowledge as to which button does what is not available for those over the age of 16. Those that are over that age have to stab blindly at any or all (or a combination) of the buttons in the hope that the CD starts to play. Once you know what does what WRITE IT DOWN because the next time you use it......... I will take a pic of a controller and add tags as to what works for me. With the remote control unit I have I have to press ENTER once and then again and the CD will start.....unless it doesn't like it, in which case it wont. PAUSE uses the play button, the STOP button for some unknown reason stops the CD!. The EJECT button does not EJECT or open the drawer.
I have played a DVD without access to a screen....now that was fun!!!!
:lol:
Tried all the buttons on the PS1 & PS2 controllers & it made some noises so it's plumbed in right. I guess if you did it once when it was connected to a telly you could write down the sequence of buttons to press to use when it wasn't?
I have a PS2 and tried it as a cd player some time ago but I had the same issue. There's nowt wrong with it, only has a few hundred hours on it. But I couldn't get it to audio output with a cd no matter how many buttons I stabbed. Even strong language didn't help, which was unusual.
Managed to get some farty noises out of the left speaker, so it’s good if that’s what you’re after
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190911/472d6e4dedcb23b14fd232d54797c453.jpg
Lawrence001
11-09-2019, 15:47
I should try my PS2 will try in the next week or two and report back. IIRC the PS1 mods are for using as a CDP rather than transport?
Sent from my POT-LX1 using Tapatalk
I should try my PS2 will try in the next week or two and report back. IIRC the PS1 mods are for using as a CDP rather than transport?
Sent from my POT-LX1 using Tapatalk
Yes, there is a mod to get digital out from the PS1, but I never bothered.
Managed to get some farty noises out of the left speaker, so it’s good if that’s what you’re after
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190911/472d6e4dedcb23b14fd232d54797c453.jpg
I don't know why it doesn't work. I mean it's covered in dust so that's spot on. Weird.
Needless to say it didn’t get dusted before it went back in the cupboard. I did toy with the idea of playing gta but not for very long.
That was the only reason I got mine. The four games that came with it are still in the shrink-wrap.
Roy, I plugged in one of my PS1/2 controllers to the PS2 today. Here is a pic of mine.
https://i.imgur.com/HZALfau.jpg
I have to say that things did not go too well. The buttons that worked with the PS1, did odd things on the PS2. What I did establish is that nothing happens to the CD until you hear some sort of mystical warbling and thunder style rumblings through your speakers. I assume that this is the start up procedure (the remote control functions don't seem to induce this other wordly experience) I then tried pressing the START button which would start a CD on the PS1......nothing happened. I then tried all of the 4 buttons on the right, Triangle - Square - O and X, I then got some communications from cosmic beings...a sort ethereal (again) Sonar type sound of differing tones. On another occasion I managed to summon up the mystical warbling and floorboard wobbler (yes, again) after which I was just pressing buttons like a demented twat having got totally pissed off with it all. All of a sudden the CD started to play!!!!!
With the PS1 the four buttons on the back of the controller changed the track and did FF......the Right Hand 2...Top selects next track and the bottom FF. the left is the same but the tracks go backwards. This was the same with the PS2.......progress.
The SELECT button stops the CD.
Given the above I would get a remote control and receiver......unless you have given up on life and and you derive immense pleasure out of endless random button pressing.
Ebay link to RC's https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Sony+PS2+remote+control&_sacat=0
Thanks for that. It’s gone back in the cupboard for now.
Audio Al
12-09-2019, 03:09
Roy, I plugged in one of my PS1/2 controllers to the PS2 today. Here is a pic of mine.
https://i.imgur.com/HZALfau.jpg
I have to say that things did not go too well. The buttons that worked with the PS1, did odd things on the PS2. What I did establish is that nothing happens to the CD until you hear some sort of mystical warbling and thunder style rumblings through your speakers. I assume that this is the start up procedure (the remote control functions don't seem to induce this other wordly experience) I then tried pressing the START button which would start a CD on the PS1......nothing happened. I then tried all of the 4 buttons on the right, Triangle - Square - O and X, I then got some communications from cosmic beings...a sort ethereal (again) Sonar type sound of differing tones. On another occasion I managed to summon up the mystical warbling and floorboard wobbler (yes, again) after which I was just pressing buttons like a demented twat having got totally pissed off with it all. All of a sudden the CD started to play!!!!!
With the PS1 the four buttons on the back of the controller changed the track and did FF......the Right Hand 2...Top selects next track and the bottom FF. the left is the same but the tracks go backwards. This was the same with the PS2.......progress.
The SELECT button stops the CD.
Given the above I would get a remote control and receiver......unless you have given up on life and and you derive immense pleasure out of endless random button pressing.
Ebay link to RC's https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Sony+PS2+remote+control&_sacat=0
:lol::D
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