Convert Vintage Audiophile CD Player (Mod Squad Prism - CDB650) to "DAC"

kmckenn
Thank You for posting the older CDB650 article/review. A trip down Memory Lane indeed. Back in the 80's "cd players" were everywhere for sale. I can remember seeing this model is several now defunct Department store(s).
Not quite sure if multi-bit vs. 1-bit matters? An interesting thought though.
Happy Listening!

I think the big issue with this is, it being "multi-bit", but if I knew that, I may not have been here asking the question, right!?

@jafant I ran into this old article the other night on the Magnavox CDB650, thought it was interesting.

http://www.hifi-classic.net/review/magnavox-cdb-650-180.html

kmckenn
Hang in there. IMO, Steve, should have never quit making / modding CD players?  Clearly, there is a market for us physical discs Audiophiles.The CDB 650 is a stone classic.
Happy Listening!

OK, this is getting depressing. I have been working with Ken (by referral of Steve and Patrick (SMcAudio), and casually with Steve by email, and he says it is not practical, and I am not the first person to request the mod.

Anyone else with any thoughts? 

hmmm.... and imagining a/the possible 16bit/44.1mhz, I actually Google'd "TDA1541 4x oversampling", and found an interesting read... https://www.audialonline.com/blog/another-story-about-tda1541a-384-khz/

I used to own one of these, it ultimately failed, and a year ago during a move, I now regret having thrown it in the dumpster. I feel ill every time I recall tossing it in the dumpster.

A few days ago, I found another (via eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/304121685982), I asked the seller, and claims to play as expected, we’ll see. It’s still in transit as I type this.

After I purchased it, I called SMc Audio (they modded a DNA 0.5 for me in April of 2018) and talked to Patrick. He said he’d bounce the idea off of Steve when he came in, and to give him a call back to see what Steve had to say after I have received it, and confirm it plays as expected (which still has not happened, yet).

I thought I would run this in parallel hoping it wasn’t an entirely novel concept.

If I can clear this hurdle, while I can run it through my AV Pre-Amp, it seems to defeat one of the unique design features of the Prism "CD Player", that the line output is higher with intent of it being able to run through a passive pre-amp. The next challenge is how to hook it up as directly as possible to my SMc 0.5 amp (I am also currently looking for a "DELUXE Line Drive" (that I also used to own and foolishly sold about 10 years ago)).

That will bring yet another challenge. When I had the 0.5 modded, I had SMc add balanced XLR input (currently being fed by the AV Preamp) leaving an open pair of single ended RCA’s on the amp... BUT WAIT, there’s more! The 0.5 is driving the original Vandersteen Cloth Quatros, so you guessed it, I will need another (RCA) M5-HP (watching the one on here, asked the seller the battery date (no response yet)) to determine if it needs sent to Vandersteen for new one, then relay it out to me from there.

So, it’s a big project. I do have two old, vintage pairs of MIT-330 (actually, Spectral MI-500’s, but here they are identical, just branded differently).

So, it’s a bit of a big, long, complicated project... but hey, I also have a ’69 Atomic Ranch house, with an original NuTone "intercom" that plays PERFECTLY and I can STREAM AmazonHD (or my CD collection on a server, etc.) through the entire house (via HEOS and an smartphone apps).

So, the goal is... have that ModSquad Prism "updated", effectively bypassing the transport as a VINTAGE "DAC" to accept todays streaming data, and as directly as possible feeding a modded 0.5 (via M5-HP) driving Cloth Quatros. In theory, it should be a level of MODDED, VINTAGE 16bit/TDA1541 sound (modded) VINTAGE DNA 0.5 feeding Vandersteen Quatro’s (LOL as I read what I am typing, wonder if I should get the Quatoros modded ;-) ) never realize’able in those days (pre modded DNA, pre Quatro).

Sorry for the long post, but that is the story behind the story ;-)

kmckenn

Consult Steve McCormack - SMc Audio (smcaudio.net)

Happy Listening!

Isn’t the ModSquad fellow still in San Diego somewhere?(Maybe he/they would have ideas)
In a discussion with one of the shops in the area, his name was mentioned a few weeks ago, and the location…