Hello Everyone,
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Sony CDP-557ESD CD Player, also known as the Sony CDP-ESD707 in US and Canada.
I already reviewed the little brother Sony CDP-337ESD, so that will be interesting to compare the two. Did Sony achieve to create a better CD player with BurrBrown conversion instead of best in class implementation of the Philips TDA-1541A DACs? Let's find out.
Sony CDP-557ESD - Presentation
If the 337ESD was already playing in the heavy weight category, this one adds a lot more, reaching 18kg (40lbs)! This is more than many amplifiers.
The Sony CDP-557ESD was released in 1987, that is 37 years ago, and I think it still looks absolutely gorgeous. The available information about this player, on the web, are limited and partially wrong. Let me correct that.
The elements of interest are:
We have only RCA outputs for the analog (one variable and controlled by the phones volume), and coax + toslink for Digital. What you see on the left is an additional coax output. Someone thought they could do better than Sony, and an army of engineers, to improve the digital output
This is the inside of the beast:
The two BB PCM64 are hidden below some ceramic pads. And here are the 4 MSB adjust per converter (RV401 to RV404 for right channel):
Notice the beautiful power copper rails, like in the Teac VRDS 25x.
And, oh, yes, horror show:
This is were someone picked the digital signal to create a second digital output. Wanna know what? It's crap output, surprise...
In fact, I suspect there was an attempt, by the same person, at making this player "sound better", playing with the 4 MSB trimming. This was the result:
Shame, barely 14 bits of resolution for one of the best player ever made, come on...
Let me (try to) fix all of this and show you how this player can truly perform. My reference to beat, in terms of R2R conversion, is the Denon DCD-3560. The fight will be interesting.
Other than that, the drive is faster than light, it's a pleasure to use.
Sony CDP-557ESD - Measurements (Analog Out)
All measurements performed with a Cosmos E1AD (grade G).
I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the Onkyo C-733 review. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
The Sony CDP-557ESD outputs a very precise 2Vrsm from its RCA outputs. The two channels were perfectly balanced (0.00dB), rare... The single-ended outputs are non-inverting.
After a quick adjustment of the 4 first most significant bits, I got a much better result than what I showed above. I think with more time and attention, I can do better. I'll certainly publish a "How to" later in this thread, when time allows.
Anyways, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the Test CD (RCA out):
Hell yeah, compared to when I first measured it, we see nearly 20dB less in distortion and 11dB in noise!
With a THD of -103.4dB, the Sony gets very close to the dual BB PCM58 of the Denon DCD-3560. Well done Sony. I'll update if I achieve to do better.
Next is the same view but at -6dBFS, as I usually show:
THD is still impressively good (very close to -100dBr), and noise is limited by the one of the format. As a matter of fact, these two measurements are very close to those of the Denon DCD-3560.
The power supply is quiet, with spuriae below -120dBr:
We see them because I use a 512k FFT size and average 32 times. So that's good result from the Sony.
Next is the bandwidth (now measured from a long term average of periodic white noise):
This is very flat despite the zooming. No difference in channel balance as I already written. Obviously the Sony oversampling filter does a good job. Let's have a detailed look at how it performs:
We can't see the aliases of 18kHz and 20kHz, everything is below -100dB. That was best in class at the time.
No noise shaping technique shows here, though, this is good old R2R conversion with "standard" oversampling after all. That said the two spikes above 30kHz are of unknown nature to me. I think I'll have a detailed look and the rest of the electronics and maybe some caps would need a refresh, I'm unsure. I also need to remove that ugly additional Coax output anyways.
Multitone (1/10 decade) shows a happy CD player, not having issue to clear 16bits of data:
This is the Jitter test:
The red trace is from the digital output (the original one, of course) and the blue is from Analog output. There's minimum noise, it's near perfect. That means Jitter was a no issue 37 years ago...
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
I kept some references and will keep the same for other reviews, so you can quickly compare. The results of the Sony CDP-557ESD mean that the oversampling filter does not have headroom to prevent intersample-overs. The Yamaha CD-1 shines here because it's old enough not to have an oversampling filter.
Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
What a beautiful trace! We expect to see the 3DC levels as, at this very low -90.31dBFS, we can only get a square. The ringing is due to the Gibbs Phenomenon as we are in band limited. This is a very silent player.
Other measurements (not shown):
Last and not least, my preferred measurement which is a sweep of THD vs Frequency @-12dBFS:
I overlaid with the little brother 337ESD and its staggered TDA1541A, and of course with the Denon DCD-3560, as the one R2R converter to beat. Well, the Sony CDP-557ESD does indeed good, but not equal to the big Denon. I maybe able to do better, allowing myself more time to fine tune the 4 MSB. I'll update if that's the case.
Sony CDP-557ESD - Measurements (Optical Out)
I've seen several of you reviewing CD players using their digital outputs, in case the results could be improved from an external DAC.
This is one very stable digital output, which I don't see that often. It means I had no issue getting a constant reading without windowing errors in the FFT calculation that I often suffer, due to the absence of PLL to filter the clock deviations. I was therefore able to run the test up to my desired 32 averages.
The digital output is as what we expect it to be, perfect (999.91Hz @0dBFS without dither):
I really wonder why one thought they could better than perfection. Well actually, they achieved to do different as my interface could not read anything out of the additional Coax output
Anyways, this is a perfect transport, thanks Sony.
Sony CDP-557ESD - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
The drive was able to consistently continue playing, without generating typical digital clicks, with dropouts of up to 1.25mm. The interpolation effect remained hidden to my ears when it kicked-off but failed to maintain a constant flow beyond 1.25mm. The Sony had no issue with variable linear velocity and/or track pitch, as well as with HF detection. These results are aligned with the other Sony drives I tested.
Conclusion
I was really impatient to play with the 4 MSB trim pots of the BB PCM64. It's only the beginning of fun for me, as I need to look into the details of that player.
This was a crazy device at the time, and it still is, on my perspective. The performances, as is, are already above the CD Audio, so we get to listen to the master and nothing else.
A master piece.
Stay tuned and enjoy your weekend!
————
Flo
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Sony CDP-557ESD CD Player, also known as the Sony CDP-ESD707 in US and Canada.
I already reviewed the little brother Sony CDP-337ESD, so that will be interesting to compare the two. Did Sony achieve to create a better CD player with BurrBrown conversion instead of best in class implementation of the Philips TDA-1541A DACs? Let's find out.
Sony CDP-557ESD - Presentation
If the 337ESD was already playing in the heavy weight category, this one adds a lot more, reaching 18kg (40lbs)! This is more than many amplifiers.
The Sony CDP-557ESD was released in 1987, that is 37 years ago, and I think it still looks absolutely gorgeous. The available information about this player, on the web, are limited and partially wrong. Let me correct that.
The elements of interest are:
- Impressive built: Massive Gibraltar chassis, copper plated, with mechanical separation between (the two massive) transformers, and the beautiful all metal meh (rare KSS-190 head). When doing well and at no cost consideration meant something...
- D/A architecture: Very rare BurrBrown PCM64 (R2R) DACs, with parallel inputs. This DAC is not so well documented but was intended for "low distortion frequency synthesis and very high end consumer and professional digital audio applications". This DAC is based on the DAC729 of which purpose was to be used to provide very accurate signals in dedicated measurement devices.
- 4 MSB trimming: What attracted my attention is the fine tuning of the first 4 bits, which is rare and not easy to use (and not documented in the datasheet I could find). This is not a first for BB (the PCM58 also offered this feature), but it’s not easy to find a player where it was implemented.
- 8x oversampling: we get the famous CXD1144, which is found in the CDP-337ESD, followed by a CXD1305 which is a serial to parallel converter to feed the BB DACs.
- Superb full metal drive with the ultra fast KSS-190 laser head.
We have only RCA outputs for the analog (one variable and controlled by the phones volume), and coax + toslink for Digital. What you see on the left is an additional coax output. Someone thought they could do better than Sony, and an army of engineers, to improve the digital output
This is the inside of the beast:
The two BB PCM64 are hidden below some ceramic pads. And here are the 4 MSB adjust per converter (RV401 to RV404 for right channel):
Notice the beautiful power copper rails, like in the Teac VRDS 25x.
And, oh, yes, horror show:
This is were someone picked the digital signal to create a second digital output. Wanna know what? It's crap output, surprise...
In fact, I suspect there was an attempt, by the same person, at making this player "sound better", playing with the 4 MSB trimming. This was the result:
Shame, barely 14 bits of resolution for one of the best player ever made, come on...
Let me (try to) fix all of this and show you how this player can truly perform. My reference to beat, in terms of R2R conversion, is the Denon DCD-3560. The fight will be interesting.
Other than that, the drive is faster than light, it's a pleasure to use.
Sony CDP-557ESD - Measurements (Analog Out)
All measurements performed with a Cosmos E1AD (grade G).
I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the Onkyo C-733 review. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
The Sony CDP-557ESD outputs a very precise 2Vrsm from its RCA outputs. The two channels were perfectly balanced (0.00dB), rare... The single-ended outputs are non-inverting.
After a quick adjustment of the 4 first most significant bits, I got a much better result than what I showed above. I think with more time and attention, I can do better. I'll certainly publish a "How to" later in this thread, when time allows.
Anyways, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the Test CD (RCA out):
Hell yeah, compared to when I first measured it, we see nearly 20dB less in distortion and 11dB in noise!
With a THD of -103.4dB, the Sony gets very close to the dual BB PCM58 of the Denon DCD-3560. Well done Sony. I'll update if I achieve to do better.
Next is the same view but at -6dBFS, as I usually show:
THD is still impressively good (very close to -100dBr), and noise is limited by the one of the format. As a matter of fact, these two measurements are very close to those of the Denon DCD-3560.
The power supply is quiet, with spuriae below -120dBr:
We see them because I use a 512k FFT size and average 32 times. So that's good result from the Sony.
Next is the bandwidth (now measured from a long term average of periodic white noise):
This is very flat despite the zooming. No difference in channel balance as I already written. Obviously the Sony oversampling filter does a good job. Let's have a detailed look at how it performs:
We can't see the aliases of 18kHz and 20kHz, everything is below -100dB. That was best in class at the time.
No noise shaping technique shows here, though, this is good old R2R conversion with "standard" oversampling after all. That said the two spikes above 30kHz are of unknown nature to me. I think I'll have a detailed look and the rest of the electronics and maybe some caps would need a refresh, I'm unsure. I also need to remove that ugly additional Coax output anyways.
Multitone (1/10 decade) shows a happy CD player, not having issue to clear 16bits of data:
This is the Jitter test:
The red trace is from the digital output (the original one, of course) and the blue is from Analog output. There's minimum noise, it's near perfect. That means Jitter was a no issue 37 years ago...
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
| Intersample-overs tests Bandwidth of the THD+N measurements is 20Hz - 96kHz | 5512.5 Hz sine, Peak = +0.69dBFS | 7350 Hz sine, Peak = +1.25dBFS | 11025 Hz sine, Peak = +3.0dBFS |
| Teac VRDS-20 | -30.7dB | -26.6dB | -17.6dB |
| Yamaha CD-1 | -84.6dB | -84.9dB | -78.1dB |
| Denon DCD-900NE | -34.2dB | -27.1dB | -19.1dB |
| Denon DCD-SA1 | -33.6dB | -27.6dB | -18.3dB |
| Onkyo C-733 | -88.3dB | -40.4dB | -21.2dB |
| Denon DCD-3560 | -30.2dB | -24.7dB | -17.4dB |
| Sony CDP-557ESD | -30dB | -24.4dB | -16.5dB |
I kept some references and will keep the same for other reviews, so you can quickly compare. The results of the Sony CDP-557ESD mean that the oversampling filter does not have headroom to prevent intersample-overs. The Yamaha CD-1 shines here because it's old enough not to have an oversampling filter.
Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
What a beautiful trace! We expect to see the 3DC levels as, at this very low -90.31dBFS, we can only get a square. The ringing is due to the Gibbs Phenomenon as we are in band limited. This is a very silent player.
Other measurements (not shown):
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -95.2dB
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -99.2dB
- IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -110.3dB
- IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -98.8dB
- IMD DIN (250Hz & 8kHz 4:1) : -93.3dB
- IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -118.8dB
- IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -112dB
- IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 7kHz 1:4) : -93.4dB
- Dynamic Range : 98.6dB (perfect)
- Crosstalk: -130dB (1khz), -120db (10kHz)
- Pitch Error : 19'997.09Hz (19'997Hz requested) ie 4.5ppm
Last and not least, my preferred measurement which is a sweep of THD vs Frequency @-12dBFS:
I overlaid with the little brother 337ESD and its staggered TDA1541A, and of course with the Denon DCD-3560, as the one R2R converter to beat. Well, the Sony CDP-557ESD does indeed good, but not equal to the big Denon. I maybe able to do better, allowing myself more time to fine tune the 4 MSB. I'll update if that's the case.
Sony CDP-557ESD - Measurements (Optical Out)
I've seen several of you reviewing CD players using their digital outputs, in case the results could be improved from an external DAC.
This is one very stable digital output, which I don't see that often. It means I had no issue getting a constant reading without windowing errors in the FFT calculation that I often suffer, due to the absence of PLL to filter the clock deviations. I was therefore able to run the test up to my desired 32 averages.
The digital output is as what we expect it to be, perfect (999.91Hz @0dBFS without dither):
I really wonder why one thought they could better than perfection. Well actually, they achieved to do different as my interface could not read anything out of the additional Coax output
Anyways, this is a perfect transport, thanks Sony.
Sony CDP-557ESD - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
| Test type | Technical test | Results |
| Variation of linear cutting velocity | From 1.20m/s to 1.40m/s | Pass |
| Variation of track pitch | From 1.5µm to 1.7µm | Pass |
| Combined variations of track pitch and velocity | From 1.20m/s & 1.5µm to 1.40m/s & 1.7µm | Pass |
| HF detection (asymmetry pitch/flat ratio) | Variation from 2% to 18% | Pass |
| Dropouts resistance | From 0.05mm (0.038ms) to 4mm (3.080ms) | Up to 1.25mm. |
| Combined dropouts and smallest pitch | From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm | Up to 1mm. |
| Successive dropouts | From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm | Up to 1mm. |
The drive was able to consistently continue playing, without generating typical digital clicks, with dropouts of up to 1.25mm. The interpolation effect remained hidden to my ears when it kicked-off but failed to maintain a constant flow beyond 1.25mm. The Sony had no issue with variable linear velocity and/or track pitch, as well as with HF detection. These results are aligned with the other Sony drives I tested.
Conclusion
I was really impatient to play with the 4 MSB trim pots of the BB PCM64. It's only the beginning of fun for me, as I need to look into the details of that player.
This was a crazy device at the time, and it still is, on my perspective. The performances, as is, are already above the CD Audio, so we get to listen to the master and nothing else.
A master piece.
Stay tuned and enjoy your weekend!
————
Flo
Last edited:
