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REVIEW: Tube Research Labs Sony SCD-CE 595 SACD Player (Modded)

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Model: Sony SCD-CE 595
Category: SACD Player (Modded)
Suggested Retail Price: $725 including mod and unit
Description: SACD/CD Player
Manufacturer URL: Tube Research Labs
Manufacturer URL: Tube Research Labs

Review by LKDog ( A ) on March 10, 2005 at 22:11:10
IP Address: 12.217.163.166
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for the Sony SCD-CE 595


Hopefully this amateur review will provide some info and insight into this unit and the mod quality/sound in addition to what has already been written by skilled professional reviewers (6 Moons) or commented upon in the usual audio forums (AA, A-gon) in discussions by all of us end user nut cases.

I have had the unit about 7 weeks now and it should be fully burned in. I would state that burn in is at least 500 hours which may seem like a long time, but changes kept occurring during this period in sonic qualities.

A little background. I grew up when live music was cheap and plentiful and analog (tape/turntables) was the medium of choice. I also have been an amateur musician/recording hack for 30+ years (mostly electric guitar) and have participated in the analog versus digital debate on the pro audio side for years. I have tried all variations of tube and then solid state guitar amps, and now in recent years-digital modeling guitar amps/processors which are the rage (Line 6 products especially). These digital products (POD, PODXT, Vetta, etc) are very, very good. Are they like a real analog tube amp? Well not exactly, but so close in modeling that you don’t think about it-you just play the music.

Enter the TRL/Sony 595. My journey to it was circuitous. I had many digital players and sources over the years-nothing very notable or pricy. In recent years I have been in close consult with a friend who is an experienced audiophile and have been working on improving my digital source. I moved up the food chain from entry level Sony units to a midfi Pioneer Elite DVD/CD player. I then tried a dedicated DAC (Bel Canto) with my friend’s high end transport (CEC). This was pretty nice, but not that big a step up from the Pioneer. I then decided to get a “real” one box player and picked up a Cary 308 which was well liked as an entry level audiophile player. Very nice, and I was reasonably happy. I gradually, however, did not find myself listening to music as much as time went on. The Cary did everything very well, but was not as engaging as I wished it to be.

By coincidence, I borrowed another friend’s turntable for yucks (I have about 400 LP’s sitting in my basement much to my wife’s chagrin). Had not used a TT since 1993. I now heard things and a sonic presentation long forgotten. Had my audio appreciation been so jaded and homogenized by typical Redbook cd playback over the past 12-13 years that I had forgotten how music should sound?

The Cary went for sale on A-gon and I put together a nice entry level used turntable/cartridge/tube phono stage setup. Very pleasing and excellent warm sonics all around. Vinyl can be uneven and is a chore, but when it is working-it is quite stunning. I had resigned myself to using the passable Pioneer for digital. Digital was inherently flawed anyway I told myself. Analog was the way to truly communicate the music.

I, like all of you bothering to read this, never stop thinking about these audio things and I was sort of intrigued by SACD. Many stated it was as good or better a listening experience than LP’s without the vinyl hassle (which I don’t mind too much in my middle age). Saw a few things about an entry level Sony sacd/cd player and a reasonably priced mod for it by Tube Research Labs (TRL). I had done some inquiries into various
modders and had thought about modding my Cary 308, when I then took that left turn and went the turntable/analog route.

There appears to be many fine modders out there. Some not as scrupulous or ethical as others, but that is a topic for another day. Anyway, I emailed Paul Weitzel of TRL, and also emailed other end users here who had experience with the TRL mod on Sony and other units. People seemed to love the TRL results. Paul was a nice guy and clearly an expert and passionate about his work and audio.

The clincher for me as I did research was that TRL also did audio engineering and was affiliated with recording of live music in the field and studio (Fidelis and Diversity records). They seemed to have some idea what music should sound like from live music as a reference. Maybe another way to put it is that the TRL reference included real music-not just some digital source playing recorded music (although they do have a $30,000 reference digital processor they do sell if you want it).

Well, what did the TRL sound like? Out of the box, it was actually pretty good. Big, deep and detailed soundstage and surprising smoothness. I dutifully filled up the 5 disc changer with CD’s and SACD’s and set on repeat and left it on for a few days. Started to sneak listens after 250 or so hours.

After about 300+ hours, I started to do critical listening. The first thing that came to mind was “this sounds like a really nice turntable setup”. Now I have a modest, yet very pleasing analog/TT setup. I have, however, sat in the listening room of Steve Deckert of (Decware) and heard his Teres/custom speakers and very high end tube system. Best midrange I have ever heard. Period. Was the TRL this good? Not quite, but it was in the same zipcode and unlike any digital source I had ever heard.

Transparent, warm, detailed, airy, extended, resolving, and no harshness.

As I listened to various CD’s I was impressed by the non-fatiguing nature of the player, yet it still produced extreme (really extreme) detail, extension, and resolution. Quite a balancing act. The Cary could do a lot of detail, but it had some glare and was tiring after awhile. The Bel Canto DAC was smooth, but did not have the resolution on the extreme ends. Neither had the soundstage width and depth and the air and spacing of the TRL.

As a musician, I am very attuned to the how instruments sound. Do they sound like real instruments? Digital does a mediocre job on many acoustic instruments IMHO (bass, piano, horns, sax) of really sounding, well…..real. The TRL seemed to be able to make instruments sound real on most recordings. It also puts you in the venue or recording context better than I had experienced before. Players had their space and were not sitting in 2D on top of each other.

As an electric guitarist I pay close attention to this instrument, of course. The TRL allowed me to easily tell when Larry Carlton (Sapphire Blue) was on the bridge or neck pickup of his guitar. On acoustic guitar, I had a sense of the tone of the guitar body better than ever before. The recording of Carlton- Alone But Never Alone was basically indistinguishable from the LP version which is stunning. Slight nod to the LP version.

On some previous recordings that were reasonably well mastered, but had some obvious decidedly digital edge-the TRL made them musical (FourPlay-Heartfelt; Al DiMeola-Kiss My Axe). The Fourplay CD especially had gotten quite a bit of flack for its edginess. On the Cary, it could be annoying at louder volumes after awhile.

Again, the presentation was that of a very good turntable/analog setup. The inner detail and micro and macro dynamics are all there. No harshness that is usually associated with digital when producing such extreme detail. No typical roll off though either when digital is muzzled in an attempt to smooth it out. The sound extended well outside, above, and behind my ACI Sapphire 25th Ann Edition monitors. At 350 hours I had to adjust my ACI Titan sub gain downward a bit. The TRL bass extension was growing like a tide coming onto shore.

Overall, almost all redbook now had a musical detailed smooth presentation. Like very good analog. Sure, really crappy recordings still were sort of crappy, but average recordings (most Redbook really) were now very listenable and great recordings can be stunning.

SACD playback was a notch above on my two SACD’s I did pick up (T. Monk-Straight No Chaser; and Michael Camillo- Triangulo). The bass extension on the Camillo SACD was startling. The presence on the Monk SACD was palpable. It sounded like a very very good analog source. (I am repeating myself) This is my first experience with SACD, so I will defer to others on this aspect. I did not try Multi-channel.

The TRL does acoustic jazz ensembles fantastically, but how would it do with an extreme and rather congested hard rock mix like Joe Satriani-Engines of Creation? Well, for the first time I could pick out the bass lines clearly which is no easy task. I actually had just seen Satch live a few weeks earlier and the TRL gave the mix a presence and definition that is hard to do. There is so much going on with this band on this CD, it can sound really congested on lesser equipment, but the TRL sorted it all out. Articulation of individual instruments is a real strength of the TRL.

Downsides? The remote is cheap and little but functional. The fact that it is an entry level Sony player and a commensurate build quality that is not at the level of high end players will bother some. It is only 12 pounds. As long as it does not fail-I could care less about that. I do know TRL does dampening where needed in their mod and Paul feels the Sony is reliable. If you want to go up the Sony build quality line-I think some feel modding the more expensive ES2000 yields even slightly better results.

The fact that TRL/Paul Weitzel does not produce a specific inventory of parts replaced and the details of the circuit/power supply/transport/dac/output stage changes will bother some. The only observable change in the player is removal of the stock captive power cord and insertion of an IEC jack. The RCA jacks are not even replaced with pricy ones.
I used a Chris Ven Haus power cord on my unit. I did not try different cords. I use RS Audio silver interconnects-noted for their neutral transparency.

The price? $550 plus the Sony 595 unit which is $150 at most online and retail dealers.

This, actually, will bother some and appears to have created skepticism on a lot of audio forum threads. How can something be good if it only costs $700? It can’t possibly compare to modder X’s $3000, $4000 or even $5000 mod job. You get what you pay for, right???

Well, I can’t answer that question. I have talked to some that do have an opinion. They believe the TRL 595 mod is as good or better than any mod out there. They have also sent their Brand X modded units to TRL to be improved. There are some that think it compares favorably with high end $20,000 digital processors. Who knows for sure? No matter who says what, based on what they've heard or what they own, there will forever be debates as new mods come and go and digital continues to evolve. I guess that is part of the fun about this hobby.

I will never know about these comparisons and really do not care about that in the end. More power to the guys who get big bucks for their mods. I would, however, say: Do your homework before plopping down your cash. Getting these mods is really a leap of blind faith for most people. I am like most people out there and have limited funds for this hobby. It also is not like you can go to your local hifi store and compare the ABC modded Denon with the XYZ modded Sony. With that in mind-dealing with Paul has some element of comfort-he has proven to be a communicative, reasonable, and ethical business person and I trust he will provide reasonable support for his work if I run into trouble down the road. He also has been in this business for a very long time and has a very respected reputation with all those I asked.

Although I can’t (and who really can?) give you definitive statements that the TRL “smokes, walks on, kills, or blows away” all comers I can say it is most likely in an upper echelon group of digital reproduction sources of music. I am sure there are many other units that others may feel are better in certain ways-but really when you get to sound quality at this level-it is more preferences for certain types of sound presentations IMHO.

I should state that if you desire an analytical type presentation-this is not your unit. Think analog tape or turntable presentation.

A couple comments do seem pretty accurate to me that I have heard:

1) “It has to be near the redbook ceiling” (from an observer in the 6 Moons review)
2) “It goes a long way toward making the digital versus analog debate irrelevant” (paraphrasing Paul Weitzel)

What I do know for sure is that this thing makes music. TRL/Paul Weitzel knows how to voice digital in such a way as to “suspend disbelief”. You will not be listening to the unit-you will be listening to the music. You start to forget you are listening to a recording. Wynton Marsalis is in your basement. Now I actually do know what he sounds like live as I have seen him too. (Not in my basement). TRL does horns pretty well, too.

As I mused at the beginning about the present state of digital guitar amp modeling processors….is it like the real thing? Well not exactly, but it is so damn close you forget about it and just play the music.

Good luck in your audio journey to find what works for you. I am done looking around, well at least until Paul comes up with something else……………gotta go, I think Wynton is here.


Product Weakness: Dinky remote, no headphone jack, and will not impress people who like their units to weigh as much as a boat anchor
Product Strengths: Transparency, warmth, extreme detail, extension, soundstaging, musicality


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Musical Fidelity A 300
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): none
Sources (CDP/Turntable): TRL/Sony SCD CE 595
Speakers: ACI Sapphire 25th Anniversary Edtion/ACI Titan sub
Cables/Interconnects: RS Audio Cable IC's; Ven Haus power cord
Music Used (Genre/Selections): jazz, fusion, rock, classical, folk
Room Size (LxWxH): 25 x 15 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: Carpet/Sofas, Pillows
Time Period/Length of Audition: 2 months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Pass and Seymour receptacles; dedicated power lines
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Tube Research Labs Sony SCD-CE 595 SACD Player (Modded) - LKDog 22:11:10 03/10/05 ( 31)