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In trying to wring some more service time out of my SCD-1, particularly as a red book CD player, I've taken to experimenting with the five filter options: standard and options 1 thru 4. Here are my informal--unscientific--observations (so don't knock my brains out regarding my "testing methods"--there weren't any).For a very long time--at least a year--I'd been using the "standard" filter setting almost exclusively. It seemed to satisfy me in that it at least allowed the high frequencies to come through fairly intact. But something about the sound continued to bother me. It still suffered from "digititis." I seriously considered buying a new DAC. Everyone else on these boards tried to convince me to go in for mods, but frankly I wasn't in a position to start packing and unpacking the tremendously heavy player.
One day, on a whim, I decided to go back to the digital filters, and for no reason in particular settled on "2." Now, a month later, there's no going back. My red book CD listening experience has been transformed. On good CD's...not a hint of digititis. Compared with good analog, there's still no comparison: the sense of scale and the huge soundstage and the depth and dimensionality are largely missing. But the top end is far more effortless and delicate, and beautifully-recorded massed strings, such as those on the xrcd of the Munch "The Sea" disc, come through sweetly and relaxingly, just as they do on the LP.
The problem with those digital filters is that most people, I feel, switch around from filter to filter, making A-to-B-to-C-to-D-to-E comparisons. This is facilitated by the remote control, which allows one to switch from filter to filter from one's listening seat. It's a nice feature, but deludes one into thinking that this is the way to compare the actions of the filters. In fact, their effects can only be evaluated by listening with a particular filter engaged for the longer term. In my case, this was something on the order of several weeks, after which I became convinced that I'd hit upon the filter setting that provided me with what I considered the most analog-sounding red book CD reproduction from the player.
As in most things audio, your mileage may--and no doubt will--vary. As for me, I'm deliriously happy to have hit upon this particular free mod, so to speak. There is no question that switching around randomly from filter to filter is not the way to go: you will hear only very minor differences, and you will conclude absolutely nothing of any use. Only by long-term auditioning will the real sonic effects of these filters become clear, and their true value revealed.
Follow Ups:
I have had my SCD-1 since 2000 and left it on "Standard" for about one year and then listened to the various filters and settled on Filter 2 for quite some time. Recently I went back through the Filters again and now I use Filter 1.Possibly due to a few external tweaks that changed my perception.
Could you tell us what the differences (technically speaking) between these two interpolation filters are?
Normally the standard red book filtering is AFAK symmetrical with a sharp cut-off ("brickwall") to prevent Nyquist imaging, but with long energy smear. Does your Sony manual say anthing about these parameters?
If you want to know more about the red book filters on the SCD-1 (& the SCD-777ES of course) have a look at the Stereophile web site (http://www.stereophile.com/). In the Archives section under Digital Sources there is a review of the Sony SCD-1. It includes a detailed description of the different filters plus some frequency response plots.
Not sure how technical this will be, but I can relate what the manual says.
Sony uses what it calls a Variable Coefficient filter which alters the frequency roll-off from sharp to slow. The Standard setting uses the sharp roll-off and filters 1 through 4 use different implementations of the slow-roll off." Sharp roll-off filters quickly cut off noise over 22.05 kHz generated during sampling. On the other hand, slow roll-off filters cut off noise generated during sampling, and are able to hold pre-ringing and post-ringing (a kind of sound smearing) in the impulse response signal to a minimum."
As you can see they (Sony) have not really provided any technical info as to their algorithm construction.
Thanks, JCS. This confirms my presumption these Sony filters look very much like the first 4 in my dCS Delius DAC. These are symmetrical filters. For more information of the significance of filter characteristics on sound quality dCS has published some interesting Technical Papers on their website: http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/
BTW: I fully agree you better listen for longer periods of time to assess the impact of different filter settings. In my set I prefer the assymentrical filter 6 since my transport has been modified (increasing transparancy in a dramatic way). Before that I mostly used 2 or 3.
(nt)
congrats bublitchki,I am glad you looked at the alternative filters and chose a filter that closely mirrored your sonic preferences. Yep, I also agree that while it is straightforward to switch filter, it is best to listen to each filter over a longer term and then decide which filter best suits your taste and leave it a that, however I switch back and forth between Filter 1 and Filter 2.
The truth is what is true, not what you believe.
Thanks for the kind words.I tried filter 1 some time ago, though probably not for as long a period as I'm prescribing here. I may try it again at some point in the future, though I do recall that it seemed to lighten up the low end a bit (which I'm not even sure is part of the frequency response curve of the filter itself--I remember they were posted in Stereophile and can be found on the net). That's not really a good thing for me, since my system tends already to be a tad lightweight in the bass department.
Glad it works for you, though, as you state.
The cheaper players also offer filter alaising, but my 555ES (new version) only offers two choices: sharp or slow. It sounds like the slow setting on the 555 is similar to the B setting on your player. It's a fantastic feature, one that I hear little mention of on the forums.
"The cheaper players also offer filter alaising, but my 555ES (new version) only offers two choices: sharp or slow"LNeilB, How do you know if the player is a new or old version? If my player has these filters I don't know about them.
The original 555ES was CD/SACD only. The new one (DVP-NC555ES) also plays DVD, and is silver. I don't know if your player offers these features. Sorry!
Thanks, I guess I have the original CD/SACD player.
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