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Inside and Out Series: Sony CDP-302

M Jarve

M Jarve

Audio Geek and NGE Freak
Classic Sony pseudo-ES CD player. Has all the exterior trappings of early ES gear, except the badge itself. Single bank-switched DAC (Sony 20152) and single digital filter (CX23034).

Very robust transport with machined aluminum tray and linear motor for the pickup. The transport and pickup are vertically stationary, while the disc drops into place.

Healthy power supply and excellent analog section allow one to forgive the less than stellar digital portion. Still, to my ears, there is nothing wrong with the sound at all, and sounds (IMHO) better than many mid and late 1990’s mid-range single disc units.

A nice little feature is a short/wide viewing window that allows you to see what disc, if any, is currently in the player. This window is illuminated with a soft, green glow when the unit is powered on.

Great sound, and looks to boot. Remote is classic 80’s Sony with millions (not really) of same-size, same shape buttons… I love it!

And finally, the cherry on top, is an amazing (for a CD player) headphone amp. No equalization or boosting needed; just great sound right out of the jack.
 

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oooh, I gots one of those! It is the best-built CDP I have personally possessed (although I have a Nakamichi that weighs as much). The Sony, like most earlier CDP's I have encountered, is happy to play CD-R's.

Not to really hijack your thread, but I found a CDP-102 at the dump Saturday. This is the oldest CDP I've encountered there to date.

EDIT: nice photos, Mike!
 
Same with my player, with regards to CD-R's. It will play even the worst scratched disc I have the heart to put in it. But, I found, it is almost as sensitive to vibration as any turn table I've seen. One strong bass punch and it skips. Of course, better isolation would cure that.

I'm pretty well convinced that this player will outlast me. Not much to go wrong, and what does go wrong is simple and easy to fix. In the 10 years I've owned this unit, it's required two new belts. Not too bad, considering it is 20 years old now. I've had newer Pioneer and Technics units that gave up the ghost after only 4 years. Even my great Denon player quit after 6.
 
thanks Mike!

can you make out what was meant to come out of the "subcode connector"? what wires are connected to it?
 
I believe that it carried extra information, such as track #, time code, pre-emphasis flags, and so on that a normal digital out did not have. You cannot, as has been mistakenly suggested before, output a digital audio signal via the sub-code out.

I had a Yamaha player with this jack as well (CD-2000) too, so that changed my view that it was proprietary to Sony.
 
You cannot, as has been mistakenly suggested before, output a digital audio signal via the sub-code out.
Click to expand...

Indeed. That's why it's called 'subcode'.

As Mike said, I think that's where the track info and whatnot is. I think early thinking would allow other stuff to be stuck in there that might be useful for something, but then the engineers saw "Independence Day" and figured maybe they'd better not.

:-)
 
Most 1st and 2nd gen' CDPs had either the "subcode out" or "accessory connector" as graphics were planned to be used within CDs - a little bit like the display one can see on one's TV when using an LD player as CD player. It was however supposed to have images, no only text and digits.

What later became CD-i (Philips) and CD-V (aka Laservision, aka LD) was planned right from the start into the CD format but CD-i, CD-V and the rest of them finally kept CD strictly-audio. The subcode was there for this. Or rather "was" as nobody ever put graphics on a CD or made a decoder available but I was wondering what its wires are wired to - what chip and/or board?
 
I get you. The connection is wired to a Sony CX23035 chip .
 

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On second glance, the MUTE and CRCF lines go to one of the Oki M6404A-44 chips in the Twin Axes Servo circuit. But the rest do go to the CX23035 chip. The CX23035 chip is in the EFM. DEMOD and ERR circuit and is accompanied by a 16KB Fujitsu SRAM chip (MB8416-20L). Perhaps the sub-code is output through the 23035 chip in the demodulation stage?
 
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I'm not one to resurrect 3 year old threads but this thread was the first google hit that came up when I did a search for Sony CDP-302. Just picked one up today for $10 with the remote control. I have to say, I'm loving this 24 year old cdp! Mine has a build date of Oct 1985.

That brings me back to a great time in my life. I had alot more hair, a lot less of a mid-section and one really really hot girlfriend...although my wife now is much hotter :D

Crazily, this thing is happily spinning CD-R's for me this evening and sounding excellent while doing it. Who knew $10 could bring such happiness.
 
BroonsBane said:
Crazily, this thing is happily spinning CD-R's for me this evening and sounding excellent while doing it. Who knew $10 could bring such happiness.
Click to expand...

Great feeling of wonderment when a 24 year unit with moving parts is still performing. :thmbsp:
 
reggaenaut said:
Great feeling of wonderment when a 24 year unit with moving parts is still performing. :thmbsp:
Click to expand...

Indeed. Once you have a look at this machine it's obvious that Sony was trying to build something of quality. They cared and it shows.
 
Hey Broonsbane, I'll best ya by resurrecting a thread from 6 years ago!

Picked one of these up, and after a lube of the rails and cleaning of the lens, she's off and running, but...

it has shown a tendency to stop playing in the middle of a song, and go right back to the beginning. Does this on every cd I put in it.

It cues up immediately, so I don't think it is a laser issue.

Mjarve, you said you've replaced the belt. Is this from the motor to the cd spindle? Where did you source it? Wondering if that might be my issue.
 
The linear drive motor might be contaminated with dirt or dust. That could cause traverse errors. The belt is for the tray mechanism. Mine slips a little so the door sometimes sticks.
 
onwardjames said:
Hey Broonsbane, I'll best ya by resurrecting a thread from 6 years ago!

Picked one of these up, and after a lube of the rails and cleaning of the lens, she's off and running, but...

it has shown a tendency to stop playing in the middle of a song, and go right back to the beginning. Does this on every cd I put in it.

It cues up immediately, so I don't think it is a laser issue.

Mjarve, you said you've replaced the belt. Is this from the motor to the cd spindle? Where did you source it? Wondering if that might be my issue.
Click to expand...

Got one of these a few years ago that has the exact same problem. Have never been able to get it working properly. Interested in hearing about any solutions. It's a shame not to be able to use such a nicely built machine.
 
SoCal Sam said:
The linear drive motor might be contaminated with dirt or dust. That could cause traverse errors. The belt is for the tray mechanism. Mine slips a little so the door sometimes sticks.
Click to expand...

Today, after letting it stay on all night, I put a Stan Getz cd in, and hit play.

It never missed a beat.

I'm stumped. All I did was relube the rail, and the other side which has no rail, but more of a channel where it might rub.

Going to see if I can get it to play tonight, just got home from 3 hours of mowing my mom's yard. Phew.

I think this cdp is VERY susceptible to vibrations, like many of the older models. So I'll be trying some isolation material under the feet.
 
So odd.

Last night, after turning it off earlier in the day, I fired it back up.

At around 1:45 into first track of a spotless cd, it beeped (when you jump up a track or back, there's a beep and SEEK lights up) and went back to 1:00.

Put in another cd, same thing.

Put in Stan Getz cd, played all the way through without a single issue.

BAFFLING.
 
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