xStation PlayStation ODE

41 Reviews

• 5

  xStation Brings Life to my Old Playstation

  Posted by Sean Benson on Jul 7th 2025

  TL;DR: The xStation has turned my old PS1 into the best way to play Playstation games.
  
  I have been revisiting some of the classic video games I played as a child, and after playing with replicators for a bit, I felt the urge to play using real hardware. After some research, I came across the xStation and knew this was the top-of-the-line upgrade for my needs.
  
  Regarding installation: I have never soldered before, but I borrowed my friends soldering iron, got him to give me a quick tutorial, and spent the next two weekends practicing on practice kits I purchased online. With a little luck, I was able to install the xStation successfully on the first try, and I learned a lot in the process. It`s hard, but if you take your time and have the right tools, it`s mangagble for an ambitious beginner.
  
  No complaints!

• 5

  Xstation is the upgrade your PS needs.

  Posted by Marius on Jun 27th 2025

  Dug out my SCPH-1001 I bought in 96 wanting to play some games and quickly realized my optical drive was failing.
  
  After trying to source a legit optical drive replacement and getting burned with Chinese knockoffs that do not even work, I gave the Xstation a try and could not be happier.
  
  Easy 30 minute install and easy operation.

• 5

  Best ODE for the PS1

  Posted by Thomas on Jun 23rd 2025

  The developer absolutely nailed this device! The other options out there are either far too expensive for the same features or are flat out buggy. The X-Station simply just works. If you are on the fence debating which ODE to get, grab the X-Station!

• 4

  Almost perfect, minor audio/FMV hiccups

  Posted by John SNEED on Jun 15th 2025

  Install was a bit tricky. I actually prefer the old upgrade, spaghetti mess of wires style of mods to these nu-mods with quick solder boards with castellated pads. It can be hard to tell if you've actually made a solid connection to the board, or if you just managed to get solder on the castellated pad only. I had to go back and check with a multimeter after my first try didn't work, and found a few open circuits I had to correct. After this it worked great. (SCPH-5501, PU-18 mobo)
  
  The reason I'm giving it four stars instead of five is because there is still occasional stuttering from streamed audio or FMVs. Do a quick search for “xstation audio stuttering” to see what I'm talking about. It seems to manifest as a short, ~50ms gap in audio & video about once every 2000 ms.
  
  My understanding from reading the docs and Discord is that the ESP32 that's at the heart of this is pretty dumb, and doesn't have the RAM to buffer the whole disk in RAM (not even close). The ESP32 is constantly, constantly pulling a tiny stream of data (4k blocks, 1 block at a time?) and if the SD card is doing something at the time (like internal flash management of a weak sector), you'll get a little stutter as the card finishes what it's doing before serving the read.
  
  It does seem correlated to flash management, as the first day after you write the card, the blocks are all fresh, the card doesn't need to move any blocks around, and the device seems to perform perfectly. Then after 2-3 months, stutters gradually start creeping in. Rewriting the card will again fix it (fresh blocks), until the problem creeps back in.
  
  I'm looking into ways to mitigate this - pulling the card, forcing a read of all sectors with a dd to /dev/null seems to give the card a chance to detect and fix weak sectors without interrupting play, but it's still too early to say if this is a real fix. I've ordered the exact card the dev recommends in the meantime to see if it helps, but I'm already using a high quality card.
  
  So there's my warning. It's a million times better than a dead OEM optical, but the experience in game isn't as good and set-and-forget as my Rhea ODE for Saturn or my Everdrives for cartridge systems.

• 5

  Xstation

  Posted by Hussam Saad on May 22nd 2025

  Amazing, access to your ps1 games never been this convenient.

• 5

  Amazing product, tricky install.

  Posted by Bryan on Apr 22nd 2025

  It goes without saying that this is a truly incredible product, especially for the price. Compared to other ODE options, this is an absolute steal, and it works flawlessly, and is truly amazing. Really a must have if you`re a Playstation fan.
  
  The install is genuinely difficult. I installed mine just fine and it works great, but I do want to give a warning about the difficulty.
  
  If you`re anything less than very experienced, you should just go with the install included option. You need a soldering microscope to do this install right. The components involved are very small, they`re very close to together, and often you`re trying to keep a tiny amount of solder confined to a tiny area. It`s doable if you have the experience, but seriously don`t try this if you`re a beginner.
  
  I would consider myself very experienced, and I was able to install it, but it was difficult. I did mine once, put it all back together, got a black screen the first time, went back and fixed a place where something was shorted, and another place where something wasn`t connected, after that it worked. I also very nearly shorted a tiny surface mount resistor just because it was so close to something else I was working on. It is very easy to accidentally short things on the PS1 because everything is so close together. Even if you`re careful, you could accidentally lift components you don`t mean to, or short things.
  
  I mention this because I have a ton of experience and I still had to go back and redo some work. I got it working second try, it wasn`t that bad overall, it wasn`t a nightmare or anything, it didn`t take that much time, but you really need to have a lot of skill to install this. It was difficult as someone with a lot of experience. If you have a microscope for soldering, go ahead and order it, otherwise just pay the extra money for the install option.
  
  Either way, this device is amazing and absolutely worth it. A real must have in any collection.

• 5

  Great upgrade for PS1!

  Posted by Matthew Ponzi on Apr 21st 2025

  I absolutely love this upgrade. Also installed the upgrade to add quick reset back to the main menu, and it is so convenient. PS1 has an amazing collection, and the x-station makes it easily accessible

• 3

  x station

  Posted by Reviewer on Feb 24th 2025

  Didn`t work had to return it. Tried on multiple consoles a 5k and 1k series. Lifting pins was rather easy. Really wanted this to work to play games on the original consoles Have done alot of rgb upgrades in the past including nes rgb which I think was more difficult than this should`ve been. Giving 3 stars since it seems like a good upgrade just received a faulty unit.

• 5

  Xstation is great!!

  Posted by Danny T. on Feb 7th 2025

  Purchased and installed a couple months ago. Install wasn't too bad. I will admit lifting those 8 little pins from the chip was scary but it got easier after the first couple were lifted. One tip I'd like to recommend is once you remove the solder mask on the 2 vias, put a little bit of solder on both before installing the QSB. The reason for this is once you get the QSB tacked in place, it can be difficult to get solder on those tiny vias with the QSB in place. Install was a success first try! Xstation has worked flawlessly for me! I beat Castlevania SOTN regular and reverse castle. Never once experienced any glitch or hiccup while while playing. I will be purchasing another Xstation once it's back in stock for my spare PS1. Lastly, GitHub does NOT have the latest firmware. I recently had to go on discord to get it. As of 2/7/25 the latest firmware is v2.20