Thinking about upgrading my CD player

[Elite-ist]

Sony SCD-1

As I spied Douglas' (Nick Danger) signature, I see that he recently added a wish list to his profile. On that list is a Sony SCD 777ES. Here is an SCD-1, which is very comparable to the one he wants. ​This one sold relatively quickly at Innovative Audio. I took these pictures in April of this year.

And a video of the loading mechanism. Click on image to play video:

Nando.

 

[Nick Danger]

As I spied Douglas' (Nick Danger) signature, I see that he recently added a wish list to his profile. On that list is a Sony SCD 777ES. Here is an SCD-1, which is very comparable to the one he wants. ​This one sold relatively quickly at Innovative Audio. I took these pictures in April of this year.

And a video of the loading mechanism. Click on image to play video:

Nando.

Thanks for the motivation, Nando. Been looking for one of these locally but no luck yet. May have to do the eBay thing down the road.

 

[Elite-ist]

A few words of caution though: it is reported that parts for this player are virtually non-existent. But, it sure is a beaut to experience in person.

The Pioneer RT-909 might come first on your wish list.

Nando.

 

[Nick Danger]

A few words of caution though: it is reported that parts for this player are virtually non-existent. But, it sure is a beaut to experience in person.

The Pioneer RT-909 might come first on your wish list.

Nando.

Thanks for the head's regarding the scarcity of parts for this model. Can't imagine a ton of these were made and I'm sure some of these parts are unobtanium. Vintage Knob claims a production run of 700 units per month for the time it was made.

The 909 is definitely first on the list and I would actually like to grab a couple of these(nice to have the spare machines/ parts). Of course wouldn't mind grabbing a couple 777's either.

 

[gamve]

Be careful upgrading old DAC's as some of the older ones are the best and despite modern technology the so called advancements actually went backwards in sound quality. Many believe that the old Phillips TDA1541A chips are still the best sounding DAC chip set ever made. Problems with the very early players was that the DAC chipset was not very well supported in the way of power supplies and output circuitry and it did not reach anywhere near its full potential. These chip sets when well supported still sound excellent today. Proof is in the pudding with old Marantz CD94MkII players still pulling over a $1000 dollars on average on Ebay, These players are nearly 30 years old !!!!
I saw a thread where people are looking for the older 14 bit 1540 dual mono chip players and doing a non oversampling mod on these old original first released players with apparently excellent results.
I use a stand alone DAC with a digital board running a TDA1541A Dutch double crown chip. The output stage has a valve regulated power supply using a U52 rectifier and a valve output stage using Phillips ECC88 tubes. To my ears this is state of the art digital using technology from the 50's and the early 80's.

 

[orange]

Maybe that's what I like about my Maggies and Sonys. Just not the way the Sonys don't like vibrations. Still, I seemed to have solved that for the most part with a piece of felt covered plyboard underneath.

 

[Master Tasuke]

Dave: My daily driver is an antique in comparison - it's a Sony X7ESD from the late 80's. I believe it was only produced in 1988 and 1989. There are old units out there which are every bit as good as the current offerings. This Sony weighs as much as a vintage receiver at 35 pounds. It would have set you back more than $1900 USD back in 1988.

Not only is the CD transport silky smooth, look at the effort built into the chassis and components. This is mine pictured with the top cover off.

Nando.

pretty much the same here with my 1987/1989 PIO ELITE PD-91. damn good CDP. get a fresh laser pick-up in one (still available from PIO PARTS DEPT.)
and the player will pretty much read any CD-R you throw at it. $1300.00 back in it's day,
my own copy was a very low use one-owner example i paid a realitive premium for at around $600.00 shipped;

one of my LD Pickup spares, a PWY1004;

 

[premiumplus]

Another example of beautiful engineering. I love functional beauty.

 

[Elite-ist]

Nice Pioneer Reference series PD-91! I use a Reference series Pioneer CLD-95 in my AV system. For a short time, I used it as my CDP for my main stereo system in the master bedroom.

Nando.

 

[laatsch55]

Beautiful pieces of industrial engineering..

 

[Elite-ist]

Thanks Lee. I have an appreciation for nice stuff which can last a long time and perform as well as something decades newer.

Nando.

 

[laatsch55]

Amen Nando.

 

[Elite-ist]

Lee: With a line like my previous post, you could take it to mean old romantics like ourselves.

Nando.

 

[premiumplus]

Thanks Lee. I have an appreciation for nice stuff which can last a long time and perform as well as something decades newer.

Nando.

Well said, Nando. I just didn't think (until I saw a couple of pictures in this thread) that it held true in the CD realm too. All my components are from the 70's except my CD player, which is a Pioneer Elite DV-45A. I've got three of 'em. It's a fine sounding unit, at the time I bought it all the current knowledge said that it has great sounding DAC's...but it's been my understanding that digital products have grown as fast as, say, the microprocessor/memory field has, which is a doubling of power every 3 years or so. I always thought that the DAC's in our CD players were under the same type of development...I guess I better rethink my thinking!
Dave

 

[Gepetto]

Well said, Nando. I just didn't think (until I saw a couple of pictures in this thread) that it held true in the CD realm too. All my components are from the 70's except my CD player, which is a Pioneer Elite DV-45A. I've got three of 'em. It's a fine sounding unit, at the time I bought it all the current knowledge said that it has great sounding DAC's...but it's been my understanding that digital products have grown as fast as, say, the microprocessor/memory field has, which is a doubling of power every 3 years or so. I always thought that the DAC's in our CD players were under the same type of development...I guess I better rethink my thinking!
Dave

Lee knows that I have an old saying about this Dave...

 

[laatsch55]

Old digital is just old digital.......Joe have you read gamve's post?? And is that relative?

 

[laatsch55]

Lee: With a line like my previous post, you could take it to mean old romantics like ourselves.

Nando.

Couldn't have said it better myself Nando...

 

[orange]

Nice Pioneer Reference series PD-91! I use a Reference series Pioneer CLD-95 in my AV system. For a short time, I used it as my CDP for my main stereo system in the master bedroom.

Nando.

Is that a 5-CD pick loader like the CLD-M series?

 

[Gepetto]

Old digital is just old digital.......Joe have you read gamve's post?? And is that relative?

It sure is Lee. I run as far and fast away from anything that says Philips on it for reliability reasons. As a matter of fact, I just dumped a physically beautiful Philips SACD 1000 on flea bay for 25 bucks...just to get it out of my way and to clear up space in the lab (gets out of hand as you know). Philips suspended servicing these even though it failed under warranty, a fatal flaw in one of the ASIC chips inside it that caused the chip to over write itself and go crazy Ivan. It was a nice player and had top of the line DACs in it plus pure class A processing downstream of the DAC. BUT, the lowly OPPO beats it hands down, newer digital... and it wasn't $1000!!

Close to rule number one, nothing beats new digital compared to old digital (unless you are keeping it for its build quality and looks). Analog does not follow this rule.

 

[premiumplus]

It sure is Lee. I run as far and fast away from anything that says Philips on it for reliability reasons. As a matter of fact, I just dumped a physically beautiful Philips SACD 1000 on flea bay for 25 bucks...just to get it out of my way and to clear up space in the lab (gets out of hand as you know). Philips suspended servicing these even though it failed under warranty, a fatal flaw in one of the ASIC chips inside it that caused the chip to over write itself and go crazy Ivan. It was a nice player and had top of the line DACs in it plus pure class A processing downstream of the DAC. BUT, the lowly OPPO beats it hands down, newer digital... and it wasn't $1000!!

Close to rule number one, nothing beats new digital compared to old digital (unless you are keeping it for its build quality and looks). Analog does not follow this rule.

So I am better off getting a new DAC for my Pioneer DV-45A transport, instead of buying a new player.
Dollar for dollar?
My original thoughts on the subject are that the DAC is the way to go, since the transport does indeed only spin the disc and provide 1's and 0's.