Sony CE775 headphone anomaly

Just noticed something odd about my player and wanted to check to see if anyone can confirm this on their unit.

The headphone amp on my unit overmodulates unless the receiver to which the CD player is attached is turned on. I can make this happen precisely and repeatedly. What's up? Is this a design flaw, or a problem with my unit? (I can actually hear the receiver come on over the 'phones; it makes a slight "pop.")

This isn't a dealbreaker, since I'll rarely be listening through the unit's headphone jack, but it is peculiar I think.

 

Hmm...mine seems to be fine. No change in the sound when the amp is on or off. No change in the sound if the RCA cables are plugged in or not...

I don't have anything connected to the 5.1 outs. The only possible unknown I can think of...

 

Interesting. ALL I have hooked up are the 5.1 outs! Perhaps there's some kind of buffer or lack thereof on those outputs.

Thanks for the feedback, Luke.

 

Could you try just hooking up the stereo outs and seeing what happens?

 

Can do, but only if you promise to try your 5.1 left and right outs and see what happens on your end.

Cheers!

 

Same thing - no change.

 

Interesting--and a bit troubling. Might be time for a trip to Circuit City.

 

This is probably normal.

I have a similar "problem" -- when my VCR, which is hooked up to the tape outputs, is turned off, I get distortion on high level peaks from my preamp.

The reason is that the inputs on the "turned off" equipment is acting like diodes across the output of your player.

Can you get around it by de-selecting the CD player on the receiver?

 

Fascinating.

I haven't tried de-selecting the CD player on the receiver, but I will now. Of course, that means de-selecting it, then turning the receiver off; does the input selector make a difference if the receiver is off? I can well believe it might; electronics are funny beasts sometimes, to those of us who don't know very much about 'em.

I have tried unplugging the output cables from the player while the receiver is off. As soon as the cables come off, the distortion clears up. Doesn't matter whether the cables are from 5.1 l-r out or stereo l-r out. The 5.1 c-lr-rr cables may no difference at all, in or out, at least on playback of redbook CD. (I haven't checked to see if this problem occurs with SACD playback.)

I have a hunch that the external 5.1 inputs on my Denon 3802 aren't buffered the way the ordinary CD stereo inputs would be, so as to give a cleaner signal path into the preamp/amp sections. That would mean better playback through the receiver, which is a good thing, but could it also mean the inputs would "look" different to the CD player when the receiver is off?

 

I doubt it's the same for every receiver out there, but I know my amp will "pass on" whatever input you've got selected to the tape outs even when it's off.

 

Yes indeedy; I shoulda thought of that one! I haven't tried this maneuver on my receiver yet, but I'll bet it's designed to do just what you say. More experiments tonight!

 

Tried switching the receiver to another input, then turning the receiver off--sound through the headphone amp still distorts. Turn the receiver on and all is well.

Very strange. I love the sound of the CD player. It's in good shape, and they're getting very hard to find, so I think I'll leave well alone. But it is an odd thing. I may write Sony and ask for an explanation, though I wouldn't expect an answer, besides maybe fingerpointing at Denon.

Thanks, Luke and Steve.

 

Did you try disconnecting your receiver entirely?

FWIW, I just noticed that if I put my input select knob halfway between Aux 1 and Aux 2 on my amp (Aux 2 is my second CD player), strange things happen in the headphone jack. If a CD is playing in the second player, you'll actually be able to hear it in the 775!

 

You mean unplugging it from the wall? No, haven't tried that. Will do.

Interesting results in your second paragraph. Sounds to me like the headphone jack is in the circuit in an unusual way on this deck. That could be good or bad, I suppose. (Now there's an informative opinion! )

Thanks for the ongoing reports, Luke.

 

Actually, I meant disconnecting the RCA cables...

 

Um, yes. See above. When I disconnect the RCA cables, the headphone sound clears right up.

 

Oh, sorry, I missed that the first time around...