A tale of three digital audio players

The players:
Microsoft Zune HD 16GB
HTC One M7
Malaysian 4GB mp3 player

Headphones: Focal Spirit One Professional

Music:
Sting - Fields of Gold
Feist - 1234
Yo-Yo Ma - Appassionato
Kansas City Symphony/Michael Stern - Britten's Orchestra
Nicki Minaj - Starships
Thomas Fersen - Au Café de la Paix

For listening to classical, pop music, I prefer the Zune HD 16GB slightly more than the HTC One M7.

With this headphone and music, the HTC sounded a little boomier compared to the Zune which was crisp. I turned off Beats audio on the phone since it usually annoyed me, except on specific headphones.

As a versatile device, it is hard to compete with the HTC. Plays all formats I have tried. The HTC has an IR transmitter - use as a universal remote control. And I like the Zoe camera app. 1080p Screen. However the OLED screen on the Zune though small, is outstanding: vivid colors and blacker blacks. No wave playback though. The Zune HD is one of the few portable HD radio receivers . Depending on your area, this can be useful.

The no-name malaysian 4GB mp3 player tried to swallow the jack of my headphones (too tight). That and the funny interface and screen disqualified it. But its audio quality was surprisingly good for the price.

A bonus comparison between two setups using Sennheiser HD 280 Pro:

(1) HTC One M7

(2) Micromega Mydac -> Schiit Vali -> voltage divider (for hiss)

The phone was somewhat more shrill. Interestingly again, closer than I expected. The low end is nicer to me on the Mydac/Vali combo and the orchestra sounds more layered. 

Modding a Pioneer DV-400V

Inspired by the goldmundizator (Pioneer DV-300) from Lampizator (see link for details), I wanted to try my hand at something similar. 

I tried the usual places: Craigslist. No luck. ebay. No luck. So I found other models that had the same DVD drive at Pioneer.

I found a DV-400V on ebay. Bonus it has USB input. I checked the main chip number, it was the same as the one in the DV-300 (I thought at the time). 

Ok. Got the player. Got the service manual. Got the RCA sockets. Got the cable. 

Still unaware that the chip is different (MT1389FE/E-L vs MT1389FE/S-L, the DV-300 service manual had inconveniently cropped the first page at MT1389FE and yes, I was not careful enough) until I start counting pins and looking at the schematic closely (64 pins per side vs 54, maybe it is the HDMI, USB). Thankfully, there was a pin with SPDIF in the schematic (215) and I was able to wire the new RCA socket to it. And there was music. Good music. Both from CD and USB. Yes !

I used to believe in function with no attention to form (Sockets and interconnects are for sissies). With a little extra care, I have to admit this does look better.

The willing and able

 We want pin 215. Shared between the blob on the corner of the AV box and one end of B4007 (Yes, it was my first SMD. Removal is easy)

Before

After

2014 April:
This digital output -> Grace m901 -> Grado SR60 = :)

Helping a Rotel RCD 855

I found this on craigslist and a buddy picked it up (Thanks Sim). Reportedly no spin.

On opening it up, helping it with a finger during TOC read made the thing work most of the time. From many places online, the suggestion was to replace the spindle driver transistors.

After a quick look at the service manual (Problem #1 understand what you need), these were one each of BC328-25 and BC338-25. Ebay had BC328-40 and BC338-40 from overseas. A quick look at some specs (Problem #2 understand what you are getting) I ordered these.

After replacing the transistors (and being as bad as I am in soldering, I destroyed one trace, used the long leg of a transistor to make the connection to the next spot), nothing.

Look at specs again. -40s have higher gain than -25s. The local shop was helpful and had recommended replacements for -25s. But they were not complementary NTE Cross reference (Problem #3 really understand what you are getting). Anyway, I bought 3: NT123AP (rotate 180degrees), NT298, NT297. The rotation note made me realize that transistors could have terminals changed. So maybe this was the problem with the -40s (Nope). Anyway, I tried the complementary ones first; it was a real kludge because of the changed terminals. I destroyed a couple of other traces but worked around with a wire and more transistor legs.

Just before I turned power on, I noticed that the spindle motor header was not connected. Argh (Problem #4 Record what you undo, so that you can redo it). Connect it. Did I say I damaged two of the legs of the transport ? Brittle 90s plastic.

After all this, it works. And it sounds good. Maybe the hype about the TDA1514A DAC is not misplaced.

In the end, I don't know if I connected the motor header or not, when I had the -40s. Maybe this was good (it could have blown up something?). Maybe this was bad (it could have worked?). In any case, it works now and it sounds good.

Digikey does not have exact replacements (unless you order 18000 :)). Mouser does. I should have got the correct parts and saved myself some trouble. Live, Learn.

Next. NOS (non-oversampling) mod. Maybe :)

2014/02/24
Attempt 1: NOS from http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/16770-rotel-rcd-855-a.html
Zero-oversampling mod is trivial- Desolder the pins 1, 2 and 3 of the TDA1541, i.e. so that there is nothing connected to these pins. Now connect, either above or below the board, pin 1 of SAA7220 to pin1 of TDA1541, pin2 of 7220 to pin 2 of 1541 and pin3 of 7220 to pin3 of 1541. Zero-oversampling mod done!
Spins, no TOC

Attempt 2: NOS from http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/165343-rotel-rcd-855-cd-player-err-message-2.html
... 3 traces cut between SAA7220B & TDA1541A (Connections between Pin 18/16/15 on SAA722B
 (Terminals 1/2/3 on 1541A) and connect directly from SAA7210 37/38/39 to 3/2/1 respectively on TDA1541A. To maintain the MUTE function I connected from Pin 11 on SAA7210 to Pin 23 on SAA7220B.
Spins, no TOC

Attempt 3: Revert to stock
Spins, no TOC

Attempt 4: R108 from http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/165343-rotel-rcd-855-cd-player-err-message-2.html#post3796913
Changing this pot a little and plugging everything back in made this functional. I am not sure what the real cause was. Tempted to try NOS again, but resisting.

2014/03/09
It continues. After a couple of days, it would not play on the stack. Error. Open it up on the table, it would play. I repeated this a couple of times. Then tightening screws all the way seemed to cause it to not play. Finally converged on what seemed to be the solution. I had broken the ends of two plastic standoffs for the CDM that screwed into the chassis. The misalignment was enough to cause funniness. I assumed that since it screwed into the PCBA at 4 places and in the chassis at 1, it would be sufficient. No. When I approximated the height alignment correctly, it started to play again. :) Perhaps R108 from before was not required.

2014/05/09
NOS again. Redo attempt 2. It works. I skipped the muting function. Maybe I did not have the correct pins connected earlier.
Does it make a difference? Yes. Highs are excellent. That is the first thing I noticed. More detailed also. Try it.

2014/10/18
Removed the original output board with 2 analog and 1 digital RCA output. Connected the 2 new analog outputs via a 0.82 uf MKT to Pin 1 on the output opamps. I think it sounds better :). Unfortunately, the old player is starting to have trouble on some CDs. Perhaps it is time for an adjustment. Perhaps it is time for a DAC :).

2014/11/07
I finally gave in and opened it up all the way. Most CDs would seek and start playing but stop after a minute or so. Then the CD spun down. R108 alone did not help. So R129 a tad clockwise. This changed the symptoms. Now, no spin down after a minute, but short distance skips. I also read somewhere that wear in the ball contact of the ball bearing may be an issue. I know there was one layer of tape here. So I used a few more layers of cellophane tape. Seems ok for now :)

For reference
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/254017-rotel-rcd-855-cdm-4-19-replacement.html
According my srv/man. R129 (22K) foc. R108 (6K8) Laser supply.

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm#cdspp

and
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/226861-rotel-rcd-855-diagnostics-need-help.html#post3316894

2015/02/21
For a while, CDs played for about a minute, then stopped spinning. Lately, no power on, no red LED. Fuse was blown. So I fixed that. Then Power LED came on but no front panel. I re-soldered the power connection (3 cables, E118 I think) on the PCBA. I used the service instructions for the Philips 582 and set total resistance of R108, R109 to 1KOhm. The rest of the measurements didn't make sense. But wonder of wonders, the thing played. In the process of putting everything back together, I think I nudged E118 again - result: no spin. So I redid E118 using write extenders and now it played a whole CD . wow :)

2015/03
Back to ~ 30 s of playing.

C717 and C702 seemed to have residue below. So I wanted to replace them. I replaced C717 16V/1000uf with 16V/1500uf. C711 16V/10000uf with the same. C702 turned out to be 470uf/35V. Maybe I'll replace that another day.

Performance seems better now. Plays more than 30s :)

2016/11
No problem reading TOC or seeking. Only played tracks for a few seconds.

I used the service manual for RCD-955AX to set laser current and focus offset. It seems like the component numbers are the same as RCD-855.  I only went to step E. That was sufficient to play one CD all the way through.

My favorite "Scan" button that plays 10s of each track works well too.


2018/11
TOC still works. Back to playing tracks for a few seconds.

I tried to do all steps of the service manual setup as above. Even though the last step is to adjust for 400mV +/- 20 mV, playing was ok at ~ 10mV . When I tried to get close to 400, no spin with disc.

No spin also fully assembled.

Poop.

I did the procedure again, this time, stopping short of 400, without measuring. Play is ok, but TOC was not always working. I let it go. Reassembled and - no output on right channel.

Poop.

Checking the voltages on the two output opamps, I found that one was missing. R418 seemed to not be working right. So I soldered a 33 Ohm to it and there is music. Both channels. :)

A tale of two ear/headphones and 3 disc spinners

Headphones: Monoprice 8320 IEM

Amp: Electric Avenus PA2V2

Sources:
Sony Playstation SCPH-1001 (PS1)
Pioneer Elite DV-38A             (38A)
Sony DVP-S7000                  (S7000)

The Hat, The Way I am/Girls and Boys/Ingrid Michaelson (IM)

Tracks 1, 2/The Best of Tchaikovsky/Point Classics (TY)

The PS1 blew away the other two on the IM CD. Yes, I heard other things with S7000 but the vocals were outstanding with the PS1. I expected the 38A to be better at classical music and S7000 to be better in Pop/Rock. What I found was different. Surprisingly, the S7000 was excellent with this TY CD. Nice details. The 38A was a distant third in this setup. I generally like its smoothness, with good detail.

I wonder how much of this is a synergy thing. Perhaps this is confirmation that you really have to listen to your choices, together, to discern differences.

My memory of previous listening experiences is not great. So I'll try a similar test again with the Grado SR60.

The plastic office carpet protector charged me up so much that every move I made zapped me in the ear (cable touching ear). I had also never noticed a hum with the PA2V2. It seemed to build up when I was on the plastic.

This hopefully bodes well for the coming mods to the S7000.

With the Grado SR60, things got more interesting. Everything was a lot closer. I still preferred the S7000 for the TY CD and the PS1 for the IM CD. However the 38A seemed to be flexing its muscles. Not a distant third, but a very close third now. The TY track 2 airy triangles were still best on the S7000. These headphones made the IM CD sound a tad loudly recorded. Still the PS1 had the most pleasing presentation of the IM CDs. Perhaps it is more forgiving.

What did I learn from this? It depends :)

A list

Yamaha CDC 705. 5 Disc. weak laser. Nice golden display

NAD 5220. No playback. Red Display

Pioneer DV 59 AVi . ilink sounds good. Does CD, SACD, DVDA. The problem strangely when connecting this to a Pioneer 74 TXVi was a firewire cable that was not good enough. A genuine Sony cable seemed to work better. That said, having an alternate, Sony DA7100ES helped too.
Yamaha S2500. Ebay. once around. returned. Didn't seem as impressive as the Pioneer.

Sony PlayStation. Impressive playback. Not really a flat frequency response. But who cares.

Pioneer DV 38A . Impressive internals. Now plays CDs well. No DVDA. Changed laser. VNP1713 is a good match. Actual Pioneer part number is VXX2653 for DVD Mech (Pickup and Spindle motor). Just watch 4 springs during reassembly. rods. springs on top. Not the other way. Otherwise you'll hear a once around - disc hitting the laser / tab on the laser.

Pioneer DV 434 . For parts for above. Ended up not using. 

Sony DVP S7000. To mod. Sounds good. Headphone amp inbuilt. Won't stay off.

Sony BX 59/BDP 590. Multi channel DSD via HDMI to Receiver. Sounds good.

2014/11/22

VNP1713 and the existing laser both work for DV 38A when installed correctly. Neither seems to work for DVDA. For DVD, it IDs as DVD but does not play tracks.