MEASUREMENTS: Sony Playstation 1 (PS1) - SCPH-5501 as CD player.

I got a kick out of this article by Stereophile awhile back (2008):http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/708play/Imagine, audiophiles using an "archaic" (circa 1994) game console as a CD player for thousands of dollars worth of expensive amps and speakers downstream!That Stereophile article reviewed the first PS1 version which was the SCPH-1001. Instead of that older model, what I have here is the slightly later SCPH-5501; said to be superior for...

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MEASUREMENTS: Pioneer DV-588A - DVD-A and SACD "universal" player!

Hey guys, remember the SACD vs. DVD-A "war" back in the early-mid 2000's?In the heat of the battle, it was nice that a few manufacturers gave us these "universal" DVD players that could handle both competing formats. Pioneer was one of them and in mid-2003, released to the world the very reasonably priced DV-563A (~$200). A year or so later, this model under consideration, the DV-588A was released. I remember browsing around Future Shop (owned by...

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MEASUREMENTS: The hunt for load-induced jitter...

I can't help it, I guess... I remain fascinated by this whole jitter issue, particularly with the belief that computer load can somehow alter the jitter/timing characteristic of a digital interface. After years of talk in the press about jitter, there's almost a mystique about this phenomenon. After all, jitter seems to be the central tenet to the concept that "bits are not just bits" because there is a timing component which somehow gets altered...

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MEASUREMENTS: Transporter TosLink vs. AES/EBU Behringer DEQ2496 Loopback.

A little while ago, I demonstrated that the TosLink loopback with the Behringer DEQ2496 in line worsened the Transporter's jitter measurements significantly here.  Although I do not believe the extra 2ns or so of jitter was audible, I wondered if using an alternate interface than TosLink would have improved the situation. Although the Behringer doesn't have a coaxial SPDIF, it does feature the AES/EBU interface which is a digital balanced cable...

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