Possible DIY modification for vintage SONY PCM-1630?

Bunpei

New Member
Dec 4, 2016
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0
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Tokyo
I bought SONY PCM-1630 digital audio processor at a vintage audio pro shop in Tokyo. Its price was just around 500 USD equivalent.
The reason why I was interested in the device was that a DAC function in it might provide a kind of permanent benchmark for sound quality of basic PCM 44.1kHz/16 bit.

Though SONY DMR-4000 was also available at the shop, I did not buy it. Instead, As a transport, SDTrans384, a modern DIY SD memory card player that has direct SDIF2 output signals is connected to PCM-1630. An external ultra low phase noise OCXO, DuCULoN, of frequency, 45.1584 MHz, manufactured by NDK, Nihon Denpa Kyogyo, is attached to SDTrans384 as a master clock source. I believe such a low noise and a low phase noise transport was not available at those days.

IMG_0695_small.jpg IMG_0696_small.jpg

Audio tracks I tried were just basic PCM 44.1kHz/16bit WAV files. Despite of non-high resolution sources, I got so impressed by the resurrected sound of PCM-1630 DAC. I feel it has both a superior high-resolution and strength & speed in all ranges. I really recognized the importance of knowing level of sound quality achievement once established in a professional music industry.

By the way, I'd like to request any suggestions for possible DIY type modification for PCM-1630 to get better sound quality. For example, replacement of some capacitors or something like that. I believe some senior engineers still possess the machine as a kind of heritage and maintain them.
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Anything you can do to a PCM1630 will make it sound better! Maybe Andreas Koch has better ideas, but certainly a cap replacement and upgraded power supply will definitely make it sound better.
This was the infancy of digital audio. A lot has been done since then!!
I have a Studer Dyaxis unit and I can't believe how bad that sounds!!
 

Bunpei

New Member
Dec 4, 2016
9
0
0
Tokyo
Hi, Bruce!

I appreciated your suggestion very much! The first idea inspired by your suggestion is to replace large caps used in power supply circuits of PCM-1630.
I will try that in the near future.

By the way, I have realized an importance of quality of SDIF2 input signals this time.
First, I connected a S/PDIF output of my SD memory card transport to SONY DFX-2400 Digital Sampling Rate Converter via Canare S/PDIF to AES/EBU transformer. The SDIF2 output of SONY DFX-2400 was connected to SONY PCM-1630. This configuration successfully proved that the vintage PCM-1630 device worked fine, at least, not broken. However, the analog sound obtained from PCM-1630 was somewhat harsh and digitally colored. After that, I adopted a direct SDIF2 connection from my SD memory card transport to PCM-1630. The change brought a significant improvement of sound quality for me. More analog-like, especially more reel-to-reel tape-like impression.

I have one question. Are transport devices available in a current market that have SDIF2 output limited to products by dCS, for example, dCS Vivardi or Paganini SACD player?

Bunpei
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
7,006
512
1,740
Snohomish, WA
www.pugetsoundstudios.com
I have one question. Are transport devices available in a current market that have SDIF2 output limited to products by dCS, for example, dCS Vivardi or Paganini SACD player?

Bunpei

There are a few more by EMM Labs, Playback Designs and even the lowly Tascam DA-3000. Most of these have SDIF2/3
 

Bunpei

New Member
Dec 4, 2016
9
0
0
Tokyo
There are a few more by EMM Labs, Playback Designs and even the lowly Tascam DA-3000. Most of these have SDIF2/3

Hi, Bruce! Thank you very much for your reply.

I examined a spec web page of Tascam DA-3000 and found no description for SDIF2. They just show SDIF3.
As for EMM Labs or Playback Designs products, would you kindly tell me any specific type name of transports that have SDIF2 outputs?
The SONY PCM-1630 accepts SDIF2 only.
 

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