CDP-R1
DAS-R1
(1987 - 1990)

The first R1 units to be launched, the R1 combo was magnificently designed and luxurious in every way: Sony put all its know how about surface, color, finish, and feel to make one of the best CD player ever, one of the most beautiful, too, and probably the better remembered as well.

Introduced when CD was only 4 years old the CDP-R1 and DAS-R1 quickly became real bestsellers: this was the reference combo in Japan for many years and Sony sold many of them, many.

The intelligent but proprietary Twin Link connection called for a separation of the sync signals and the actual data. Sony was among the first (if not the first) to go that route - professional background oblige. Many others followed soon afterward.

Unlike many contemporary players and DACs, the DAS-R1 avoids most of the "digital sound" that was claimed as perfect back then and still is a fair DAC to use daily - TDA-1541 Silver Crown oblige, too.
The CDP-R1 drive was and still is one of the best, like all the integrated players that used the same base, whether Sony's own or the various players/drives from Accuphase.
Updated in 1989 as CDP-R1a and DAS-R1a.

For the more technically inclined, the "update" button below holds a nine-page 1989 USA review.