Sony D-555 (1990) Capacitor replace & pictures

Sony D-555. The so called King of Discman players.

I always scoffed at that until I actually got one and fixed it up. Yeah. The line out is really good. Even just testing with the cheap Koss Sporta pro headphones. With 470uf coupling caps on the line out it has a nice low frequency response. With these simple phones, to my ears, using odd / old ambient music, there was this resonant richness and tonal quality that was unexpected and quite impressive.

On the headphone out this is less so, due to only 220uf caps and the signal having to go through the dubious quality audio amp. I found that there is plenty of room to upgrade the headphone coupling capacitors.

Okay. For those that don't know, the first thing you absolutely have to do when you get a D-555 is replace 3 nasty little 100uf 6.3v SMD "surface mount device" electrolytic capacitors. Cheap nasty junk that always leak liquid electrolyte in about 25 years. Which then eats away at the circuit board traces if you are unlucky. Who knows what horrors that liquid contains. I always assume that stuff has deadly carcinogenic compounds and act accordingly. I was reckless and used the rotate / twist method for removing them. I did a lot of practice first on a junk printer, getting the technique down to remove those smd caps without peeling up the solder pads / landing. One smooth complete rotation without pulling or stopping. Use wide pliers, not needle nose, they will slip.

The other thing that has to be done is replace the infamous "middle gear" with a 3D printed replacement from e-bay. There were 3 separate different vendors selling them as of late 2022. Just need a fine flat screwdriver and pick to replace. Make sure to clean the brass pin with string wrapped (see-saw cleaning) and alcohol Q-tips. I used some Teflon grease "Labelle 106 PTFE grease" too. A very fine retaining ring / washer has to be gently pried off first. Hold a pick or Q-tip against it so that it does not fly off and get lost.

Once those SMD trash are removed and the leaking goo cleaned up with alcohol and about 20 Q tips (!) you can put in some nice proper full size caps. Wish I had some Rubycon Black Gate's to try out. I know Jorge here on the forums has mentioned them a few times. I am already a disciple of the capacitor cult so I listen with attentive awe. I just used some Nichicon FG ("Fine Gold" which is their 2nd from the top audio cap. Muse being the "best" but way too big to fit in here) 220uf in place of the 100uf headphone caps. That's what I had and they were the largest that could fit.

For the other 100uf 6.3v SMD over in the power supply area, I replaced that with a 100uf 10v Nichicon FG. Pre-formed the leads and bent under to fit. Solder tacked in place and pressed the capacitor down once into place. What about that other 150uf 16v? Can't easily find a suitably small replacement. Mouser or Digikey might have a good brand in the correct value to fit.

For the Line out caps, which are 470uf, I replaced with same value Nichicon KA basic audio caps. I did not put too much effort into sourcing other brands that would fit. The Nichicon FG of this value were a bit too big.

This is not meant to be a thorough tutorial or step by step guide to service of a Sony D-555.

I was impressed by the audio of the D-555. Even the DSP effects are quite good. "Surround" when turned down to only 2 or 3 bars (out of 10) is really good on certain electronic ambient music. Adds a nice reverb echo and enhanced "surround" width to the soundstage. DDS (Digital Dynamic Sound) is also a cool effect that is best heard on quiet classical or ambient music. It does increase quiet sounds and so on. I can't comment much on the Digital Bass because I do not have suitable headphones capable of reproducing competent bass. My old 2006 AKG 701's just get distorted when they try to do it! Need to get a Sennheiser HD800 or something I suppose.

 

Hyperscope. Nice job. The capacitors in my 555 along need replacing. Low volume , but at least the balance is ok. Just hope they have not started to leak. That job is beyond my skills.

 

Get a good Weller temperature control soldering station, fine tips, some e-bay cheap tools, then start practicing on some old DVD players and printers from the trash or recycling place. Removing and replacing the components. Perfecting fine soldering. Youtube is full of great tutorials. It's just having patience persistence and practice mostly. The three P's.

An aside but somewhat related: In 2014 I found out there were these awesome paper models of spacecraft like Voyager, Pioneer etc,. by someone called Ton Noteboom. Anyone can print them out on card stock and build for free. So I spent weeks building the Voyager one, then Pioneer and, finally, the low quality Cassini with my own upgrades. I think this is great practice for electronics work. Countless hours of minute tweezer work with paper and wood. Just one catch: Ya gotta believe in what you are doing. Find the models that are important and worth building to you. Out of the hundreds of stupid models of fictional space nonsense, just the "real ones" of important historical importance that I was a fan of as a kid, mattered.

 

@Derek marshall - the sooner your D-555 gets opened, the easier your job will be! My 'specialty' is Sony D-90: seven years ago all I had to do was to substitute leaking SMD caps, nowadays most D-90 have dissolved traces. Agree with @Hyperscope - nasty stuff!! You would expect that infamous defective batch of SMD caps to have leaked and dried-out long time ago, but Noooo... that $hit is still going strong!
And Yes, with Sony you can get away with "turn'n'snap" because copper traces/lands are deep and solid, but do not try this with Toshiba or Kenwood Discmans!

my personal Field Notes on the subject of D-555: Hi-grade substitute for C571 & C572 (470uF/6.3V) is actually a good idea. These are for the power supply and you just can Not go overboard here. In decent stereos better caps do make a difference, just look at Kendeil caps used for NAP-250 amps. Line-Out coupling caps, C107 &C207 (TA, 4.7uF/6.3V) may be substituted for something better, but I did not even bother looking into it: you cannot beat Digital-Out anyway... I used Rubycon 220uF/4V SMD caps for h/p coupling, I do not like what those huge 330uF+ h/p coupling caps do to PRAT. I must admit being all alone here, the Ultimate Guru on all things Discman, Master Kaosun of kaosuncd.com also puts those huge Elna 330uF caps on all the Discmans he fixes for me

My recapped D-555 board, with some 'snake oil' smeared over oscillator




ADDENDUM: Nichicon UFW series 6.3mm Dia Forgot to mention that sometimes I do use 330uF caps for h/p coupling, but use Nichicon Polymer caps 330uF/4V; 5mmDiaX8mmH

 

That's right, the Tantalums are the coupling caps on line out, I have that info copied and pasted from an ancient thread so should know better.

I see you did fit a Nichicon series 470uf 10v in there. What series are they? Enlarged the picture but series letters not in view. I need to upgrade to whatever they are right away

Elna 330uf's I have yet to put on any headphone coupling, I just replace 330's with Elna 330 5x11's since that is the smallest I can get.

 

Hi Jorge. Unfortunately I do not have any tools required to do the job and I would not have the expertise to accomplish it. You have kindly responded to me before regarding this capacitor problem and I thank you for that. I'm afraid I do not have your knowledge and skills to undertake the repair. I would love to be able to send it to Kaosun or yourself, if you took in repairs, but the cost of postage etc would not make it plausible. I'm listening to it at the moment just a little low in volume. Out of interest Jorge the serial number of my 555 is 33xxx so would the capacitors be through hole or surface mount. Thank you again for your help.

 

OK I got the Addendum tacked on, thanks Jorge, makes it easier to find them. I will add some in to my next order one of these days.

Derek: The cost of shipping to Kaosun is unavoidable, unfortunately, these days. Reliable shipping options with tracking and signature delivery are expensive now. It is well worth saving and sending to Kaosun for a full re-cap to higher grade audio caps plus to replace the infamous "middle gear" at same time and clean and lubricate the optical sled rails and gears and to oil the motor. And maybe even putting in a new KSS220 laser. This way your 555 will be good for, well, potentially several decades more. (What an opportunity. While Kaosun is still doing this line of work and is motivated to deal with all the hassles such work involves... and dealing with all the wacky people. This amusing icon would be good to describe em' hehee )

 

Hyperscope. Sorry I forgot to say thanks for your help also.

 

@Derek marshall - as far as I know, all D-555 have three SMD caps. Late Ser.Nos made sometime after November 1989 have upgraded KSS-220 lasers, but h/p coupling caps always SMD, not through hole.
Totally inappropriate hint: for the price of one non-working D-555 you can get working Rega Planet AND decent h/p amp
Should you decide to keep it as-is: once Dvorak starts sounding like Ligeti, definitely time to recap or sell

 

Jorge. Thanks for reply. At the moment all CD's sound good. I use it every day for about 2- 3 hours. I will never sell it I just love the sound of this unit. I shall just carry on until eventually it gives up. Still working after 30 plus years- can't complain about that.

 

Mr X. I went into t/v, radio servicing when I left school back in the late sixties and my soldering skills were pretty good but working on these units is a completely different kettle of fish.

 

Mr X. Even if I felt comfortable to have a go and I had the appropriate tools, as the experts on the forum say, it's not just a case of replacing the capacitors it's all the other things that have to be done and having the right equipment to be able to do it. I have been tempted to buy some junk units to take apart etc but I just love listening to the units I have and enjoy listening to the recordings I made back in the late 80's and early 90's. You must have a lot of vintage units in your collection.

 

It is a lot more efficient and lower cost to just pay Kaosun for full servicing than buying the proper soldering station alone. Let alone the parts and the stress of it all or buying up junk units to practice on. Waste of money.

I paid Kaosun $160US + $40 shipping last year for a D-100 and that included a micro slide switch repair. The slide switch repair was so good it was almost impossible to tell it was not original. Impressive. It will cost a bit more for "better" capacitors and extra if you want to change the laser. (Which is highly recommended. Just because it has so many hours on it now, why not reset the clock and add that many more years to the life.)

Just save up by easing off on the champagne and caviar and extravagant nights out on the town

 

Hyperscope. Yes I agree. Sending it from the UK I'm also worried about it getting there and back in one piece. It is in mint condition. I also have a broken D'100 which I would love to get repaired as well. Maybe I will try and contact Kaosun and see what he suggests. Thanks for your advice.

 

Hi guys. Just wanted to chime in and say I sent my old D-555 in to Kaosun a few years back and got it back in great condition, and of course the unit still sounds phenomenal! However, I have to admit I don't use the D-555 all that much anymore. I treat it more like a collectible nowadays. The emergence of digital music players and PC software players like Foobar2000 has spoiled me rotten, and dealing with CDs is something I simply can't go back to. Which kind of brings me to this comment below from Hyperscope....

All I can say is WOW! This is the first time I've ever seen anyone appreciate how good the D-555's "Surround" mode sounds. Never thought I'd run into anyone else acknowledging how brilliant and "fun" this effect actually is. I'm a HUGE fan of the way Sony tuned this effect. So much so, that in all my years listening to the D-555, I've kept it on this specific sound setting 99% of the time.

I love the effect to the point that it was difficult for me to move onto to other CD players and even digital players at the time, because none of them had this surround feature. Eventually, once software players like Winamp and Foobar came onto the scene, I reluctantly moved on because of the convenience factor.

Foobar has been my go to player for many many years. I love it to bits. There are in fact, different stage-widening sound effect and reverb plugins you can play with which is a great feature. Unfortunately, despite having tried several of them, I haven't been able to get any of them to simulate the surround effect the D-555 offers. Some of them do a good job of widening the sound stage and others offer fantastic reverb sound, but there is something about the way the D-555 does its surround effect that sounds unique only to that unit.

Hyperscope...have you, or anyone else had any luck finding a plugin...either VST or IR format, that has the ability to deliver a surround effect that perfectly mimics the one found on the D-555? I'd be *VERY* interested in finding one. Being able to listen to my music(a lot which is electronic ambient like you've mentioned above) through foobar but with the added benefit enjoying the same surround sound effect that my D-555 has would be absolutely wonderful and would be my end game setup.

 

There were others on head-fi.org about 15 to 25 years ago who really liked the D-555's unique Surround effect.And lamented their inability to find a similar modern equivalent...

Yes the Surround effect is fantastic. Like I said... especially with certain music. And good open back headphones with super w-i-d-e soundstage. Old AKG701 is my main workhorse here. Ridiculous airy surround goodness.

I use the D-555 to exercise it while playing Tetris... on a Ti calculator Gotta have background music to set the mood.

Here is a tip: I still have my original, purchased in the year 2000, SoundBlaster MP3 something-or-other soundcard. And I have it on a dedicated "Windows XP box" in a ponderous and heavy Supermicro ATX case. And I use Foobar2000 too! (e-bay has these optical / coaxial digital output boards for about $12 which connect to the old SoundBlaster cards. Youtube video shows how, just plug em' in. So I get optical output. Then into an ultra amp and ultra dac etc.,)

Ok so the old Sound Blaster control panel and mixer software (still there to download) has a massive and detailed settings board of reverb adjustments. I used to tweak those around and dial in just the right amount of reverb surround effects. Back when I had speakers connected. This is one way, the only way that I know of, to getting close to replicating the D-555 surround effect.

No I don't know of any plugins. I have a few plugins for Foobar2000 though for various formats etc,. Sorry can't help.

What electronic ambient music are you into? If you could post a list of names / titles to help everyone out that would be nice. As for me, 90's stuff like the three Synaesthesia albums, a couple by Delerium, Blue Planet Corporation's "Blue Planet" and a few tracks from their "Blueprint for Survival" are extraordinary early Trance stuff that benefit a lot from D-555 Surround. Banco De Gaia and their "Maya" from 1994 is another one. Young American Primitive 1993 was massively addicting for 3 for 4 tracks. I was hung up on that for months. First few listens mean nothing. But as often happens with most music I find... it grows on ya... and takes over.

I was stuck with 90's stuff for near 2 decades before finally accepting earlier material. Like all the classic space music greats by Klaus Schulze in the 1970's starting with Picture Music, Timewind, Moondawn, Body Love (I and II) the X album, and Trancefer. Right now I am really hung up on Moondawn "Drifting" as the best thing ever Another good one would be Tangerine Dream's 1975 Ricochet... is a doozy for Tetris background. 1977 Encore has a few too. Otherwise not a fan of theirs at all.

Some of the Orb tracks, some of the Biosphere starting in 1991 with Microgravity such as their 2000 Shenzhou and further years contain many great tracks.

etc., etc,.

 

Great post and thanks for the reply buddy.

Wow so you own a vintage Sound Blaster card too huh? same here. I have the old SB X-fi card. Unfortunately it’s a PCMCIA card, which is for laptops only and doesn't fit on my desktop PC motherboard.

But yes Im certainly familiar with the Sound Blaster console software. That was my go to app for a long time because like you said, it has the surround sound effects.

Yesterday I discovered that there is an impulse response plugin that allows you to play IR files in foobar! And the good news, is that a guy uploaded a bunch of different reverb effects, a few of which are the same ones that were contained on the Sound Blaster console app for that sound card.

I’m going to play around with them and see if I can make some tweaks that deliver the surround sound effects similar to the D-555.

As for my ambient music, well admittedly my collection is rather small. I don’t have a lot of it but here’s a list of all the ambient stuff that I have, Sorted by artist/albums….

Tangerine Dream\Phaedra

Amorphous Androgynous\The
Mello Hippo Disco Show

Global Communication\Pentamerous
Metamorphaedra

Global Communication\76-14

Logical Progression\Logical Progression Level 3

Logical Progression\Logical Pro-live Level 3

Lost Highway Soundtrack...this one’s not really an ambient album per se, but there’s a couple of great ambient bangers on that soundtrack.

LTJ Bukem\Earth Volume 3

Tangerine Dream\Phaedra

The Future Sound Of London(too many to list).

So yeah, admittedly not a lot…but I’m mostly into trance / progressive house stuff from the 90s. Stuff like Synesthesia by DJ Taylor is one of my faves, and a lot of the Renaissance presents volume albums are bangers as well. If you’re not into trance, I really recommend it. Not really great for surround sound effects but it’s great nonetheless and one of my favorite genres