DIY RCA To Sony PS1 SCPH-5500 Audio Cable

The Sony Playstation SCPH-1002 is become my main CD player for almost 10 years. Sadly but truth, I cannot find any audio source on the range of US$99 that could match the sound quality to this SCPH-1002. The optical kit of this SCPH-1002 is KSM-440ACM which is become problematic by ages especially when reading the CD's. The optical kit replacement from China is not a good solution. They are not so smooth in CD's playback. Other solution is using others original KSM optical from Playstation scrap which is the best but not an easy solution. The last solution I could bear is finding the complete unit model SCPH-5500 which originally have improved on optical placement and still using the same DAC chip like the SCPH-1002.

It is my lucky day. I got this SCPH-5500 in the mint condition. The price is very affordable. The body is clean and the optical kit is still original. I will go deeper to find what inside this unit.

The power supply is originally 100 volt but it is already convert to 220 volt by the seller.

Open up the metal cover to see what inside condition.

I can tell that this unit has been exposed to water for quite long period of time.

And the dust covered all over the unit inside.

This is the DAC chip which is same as SCPH-1002. It is AK4309AVM.

There is protective aluminium sheet inside and I don't know why it is bend like this, I will open it up and fix it up.

For gaming purpose, the mod-chip for playing copy CD are necessary. It is installed at the back of the main board. Since I using this unit for CD's playback, then removing the chip is the best step for bring this unit to the original states.

I compare the main board from old SCPH-1001 to the SCPH-5500. I can see the cost reduction for making this new model in many aspect. The audio section are the same components with SCPH-1001, but minus the output op-amp after the DAC. Also many IC are absent in the SCPH-5500 thus make the board smaller than the SCPH-1001.

This chip that I could not find on the SCPH-1002 model. I don't know the purpose of this chip anyway. Maybe the all in one IC that handles many IC on the SCPH-1001.

I clean up the board and all the components especially the rusty steel cover. Not a deep clean, but at least it is now far better than before.

Assembly all together and this unit will ready to roll:)

New rubber feet are now install.

Since this SCPH-5500 doesn't have a RCA plug output, I modify the proprietary AV connector by using small pig tail RCA plug.

It is an easy mod which all the color label are the same. Red is right, white is left, yellow is video, and body is for ground. You can see I have removed the yellow cable along with the pin out connector.

It is now done and I can tell that this SCPH-5500 has a good quality sound just like SCPH-1002. I couldn't find any difference between them, the sound signature are similar.

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