PS1 RCA output?

Can you back up your claims by actual evidence please? I'm trying to learn about this stuff, and at least I have taken the effort to actually modify the system and purchase higher grade capacitors (just regular Mundorf M-caps, I'm not made of money). So I'll be able to judge for myself when it gets here. I can't tell if you actually have any experience with this or you are just jumping to conclusions. So please, links.

Are you asking me? As I already stated I've never owned a really expensive CD-player. This sounds much better than the analog out from my Denon DCD-920, and it sounds much better than the DAC in my Yamaha RX-A1010 receiver too. Some might prefer the sound of those, but to me the PS1 sounds much richer. Again, this is subjective I know. But you can't argue that there isn't a huge difference in how it sounds.

 

Audiofile caps are only a marketing claiming. All caps less or more have alla the same structure, the big difference is the raw materials used, but nothing that can magically improve sound output!

The psx like high-end CD-player (because of this mistical DAC) it's true if we compare the psx to some old and outdated high-end CD-player of mid 90' era... But nowdays have absolutely no sense.
If you want a real high-end CD-player you must use somethind without transistor, but with old valves. Here's you can hear a "true" sound with an old vinil...But also this can be a my opinion.

 

Valves just colour the sound. For transparency you don't want valves - but as you state master991, people have different preferences.

 

Back in the 90's a modified PS1 probably did sond very good (comparable to a high end player) BUT THATS WAS ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO, I hate to break it to all the hipsters out there but technology has moved forward quite a bit.. A high end CD player from the 90's won't be as good as a high end player made even with in the last 5years..

So look at it this way, 20 ish years ago a fully modifed PSX was ALMOST as good as a high end CD player BUT now that high end player it was being compared too isn't soo high end now (we have better more tight quality products). Where does that leave out "audiophile" Playstation?? Pretty far down the line ....


HOWEVER!! This does NOT mean you shouldn't still do this mod, it will be a great way to learn about how this stuff works (that's how I like to lern about electronics, start off in the deep end). It's your time and money so do as YOU please. The most important thing is what you want to do.

Make something you will be proud of.

 

What if I record the audio on my computer before and after I install the Mundorf capacitors? I mean, if I can hear a difference in the sound, then surely the waveforms should look slightly different, right?

EDIT: That's not going to work. I just tried to record a song just now, but the sound is completely distorted and sounds just awful when recorded in Audacity. I wonder if it has something to do with the 2.3 Vrms, as described in the guide? The waveforms are all maxed out.

 

Use a line level input, I'm assuming you are trying to use a mic input

 

For best line level compatibility the output should be 500 mVrms (1.414 Vpp) into 47k ohms.

The fact of the matter is that a PS' DAC is quantitatively worse than today's commodity audio DACs (same delta sigma technology, newer processes, better noise shaping). "Audio" capacitors were always snakeoil; where capacitors matter for audio is their linearity within filter applications since they introduce distortion. Even low-end equipment today has low distortion figures compared to the olden days (where most audiophile's heads are at) so it's basically irrelevant.

If you can hear the difference over a capacitor, it's probably because you're replacing an ac-coupling capacitor between amplifier stages. Ac-coupling caps aren't critical components, they just need to be large enough to have very low impedance through the frequencies of interest, so most of the time they're just cheap, large electrolytics. Old electrolytics lose their capacitance and depending on the input impedance of the following stage may cut off the low end of the frequency spectrum, or develop significant ESR issues perhaps introducing some distortion. That doesn't mean you need to splurge for an exotic audio cap though, just a standard replacement.

 

That is correct I don't think I have any other means of inputting sound into my computer. But I can check later

EDIT: This is my motherboard, and the blue audio connector does say Line-in:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8Z77V/

Recording audio has always been limited to microphones for me, so to be honest I don't know what the difference is

I've been looking online for high end CD-players last night. I found a few that are interesting to me, so maybe after reading some reviews I'll consider picking one of them up. So I can do some comparisons between it and the modified PS1.

Calpis>

How would I change the output from 2.3Vrms to 500 mVrms?

 

I got the capacitors today. Installed them using a switch on each one so I could easily switch between the regular kind and the high ends. I did this by turning off the console each time. Not sure if it mattered but I wouldn't take any chances, not so much because I care about the PS1, but I do care about my AV Receiver

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/Konsolkongen/Various mods/DSC_0135_zpsprrakzia.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/Konsolkongen/Various mods/DSC_0136_zpsc3iipcae.jpg

Now, to be fair I should say that I tested this around 9:30PM so I didn't want to turn the volume up too high. I'll do some more testing tomorrow where I can listen properly. But yeah, I couldn't hear any difference at all.

I also did some recording with Audacity (Line in helped, thanks ) but again, there was no really big differences to be seen between the two, so I'm not even going to upload the screenshots.

However, I am sure there must be a tiny, tiny difference at least, because the Mundorf are much more precise. Whether or not it's noticeable is the question, but using my APPA 205 multimeter I measured values ranging from 9.3-10.27uF on the regular caps, and 9.86-9.94uF on the Mundorf. So quite a big difference. And I know from experience that 15uF does sound much different in the PS1 (and in my opinion better than 10uF), so with almost 1uF in difference between the lowest measured regular cap and the highest, there _MIGHT_ be a very small chance that you could hear some difference. But I highly doubt it.

I also bought two 10uF Wima MKS4 capacitors at 63V that will go to the output of an OPA2132 I have put in my Mega Drive 1. These probably won't make any difference either, but now that I have bought them, I might as well use them. The Wima caps measured at 10,11uF and 10,13uF which is amazingly precise, but probably more a coincidence than anything else, since they are rated at 10% tolerance.

Of course there's the very real possibility that the APPA 205 isn't the most precise capacitance measuring tool in the world, but it should at least give us an idea of the precision in the capacitors

I'll let you know once I've given the Mundorf capacitors a good listen tomorrow, but I don't think they'll change my mind. I know there are capacitors there are much, much more expensive than the ones I bought. But these are already about 30 times the prices of the regular capacitors, and IF these Mundorf M-caps sound exactly the same as regular capacitors, then I don't see the point in the super expensive ones either. Other than the fact that they are probably insanely precise. But I highly doubt they will sound much different, and sure as hell not enough to be worth their price. Not for me at least

Anyway, I'm trying to be as objective in my findings as possible, as I hope you can see

EDIT: My setup shouldn't be the problem either. I don't have super audiophile speakers and amplifiers, but it should me more than decent enough to hear a difference here. Yamaha RX-A1010 and JBL L 8000 (anniversary editions of L 80), and I use good quality cables all around.

 

The precision of ac coupling capacitors doesn't matter at all, it only has to be "large enough". Higher values will always work better because there is more "headroom" preventing low frequencies from being attenuated.

If your line input is only 10k ohms you'll need a 10x bigger capacitor than if it's 100k ohms. 10 uF gives >10x headroom into 10k so it should be good enough. 22 uF might be better when considering long term aging though.

 

Well 15uF sounds a lot different, so I just thought a possible difference of almost 1uF could actually be noticeable, but probably never enough that you would think about it.

By line input, do you mean input impedance? It's 47K on my Yamaha AVR.

 

Yes the input impedance. Today you can expect any line input to be above 10k, but 47k is typical.