A dissenting opinion:
For the used prices the 7000 & 7700 are going for they're hard to beat as transports.
Sure, an expensive transport like a CEC or SCD-1 will better it, but when modded (total<$1K) the cheaper Sonys will generally provide more detail in a musically satisfying way than the most of the cheaper CD players and transports, IMHO.
My 7000 is stock and my 7700 is Modwright modified w/ bybees. I've used several other <$2,000 transports over the years, and still run a Micromega in one system (which is smoother, but more opaque, and which, BTW, replaced a Delta).
None of them, however, were overall better than the modded 7700.
I agree that the Thetas and EADs provide good competition though.
For the used prices the 7000 & 7700 are going for they're hard to beat as transports.
Sure, an expensive transport like a CEC or SCD-1 will better it, but when modded (total<$1K) the cheaper Sonys will generally provide more detail in a musically satisfying way than the most of the cheaper CD players and transports, IMHO.
My 7000 is stock and my 7700 is Modwright modified w/ bybees. I've used several other <$2,000 transports over the years, and still run a Micromega in one system (which is smoother, but more opaque, and which, BTW, replaced a Delta).
None of them, however, were overall better than the modded 7700.
I agree that the Thetas and EADs provide good competition though.