sony scd777es and sacd

Erinathon: Break-in times for the SACD and CD sections of the SCD 777ES are long. 200 hours minimally for each of the sections. I had a similar concern as yours before because I ignored to break-in the SACD section. I think the entire DSD transfer and playback technology preserves more musical information presented at the recording venue, i.e. a more accurate fascimile of the musical event. There will be an impact at playback if there were one recorded. Try Telarc/Dukas Sorcerer's apprentice. This a dual layer disk that allows you to compare 16/44.1 v. SACD. John

I agree. The images that once extended well beyond the boundaries of the speakers are gone, width and height. Depth I have not noticed a deficiency. And this is compared to my stock MSB DAC. Even the few SACD's I have don't compare. The appeal of my system was the imaging, CJ tube,Spica. With the new SACD player it is not there. Also the better recorded CD's and especially DAD's sound "crisper". I do get the feeling I am listening to a superior format with SACD, but somehow there is just more between me and the software with the Sony 777. Mine is broken in and I even switched the the player to the custom setting with little improvement.

Patience.. You need a good 400 hours of playback before this player opens up. I have the SCD-1 and it took a FEW months of listening before it became world class. I never had a piece of audio gear take so long to break in. I owned the MSB Link Dac some time ago. The Sony is So much better, its not even a fair comparison. Be patient and you will be pleased. mike

If you compare the sound of a dual-layered CD/SACD as jchai suggested you'll see the difference between the two formats, which I think is significant. The problem you're hearing is probably partially the break-in, as others have noted, but also partly the Sony analog stage which, while certainly not cheaply done, may not be as good as what you're used to. I felt that way, even after a long break-in, and since I'm very enamored of my Audio Logic dac, I sent the 777ESD to Jerry Ozment, who is modifying the unit to give it the Audio Logic's tube analog output stage with a separate analog power supply (I'm sure there are others, perhaps Musical Concepts, who already have mods available for the Sony units as well). I expect it to sound significantly better (I ran the Sony as a transport on CDs through the Audio Logic to compare it to the Sony's analog stage) when I get it back. Before doing anything to it to void the warranty, though, you should let it break in and then see if you really want any further improvement.

RCprince- Who is modifying these? Do they have a web site?

Joe.kras, I e-mailed you directly about Audio Logic (that's Jerry Ozment's company), which is doing mods. I also found the old post from this summer, which indicated that Great Northern Sound might also be doing mods on the Sony units, essentially modifying or replacing the analog stage. Don't know their e-mail address, but it's probably easy to find.

How good is the Sony as a transport-only for 16/44 CDs?

It was actually pretty good, but I really didn't do a serious comparison with my current transport, a Forsell, which I run through a Purcell upsampler (I ran the Sony in straight, because I was only comparing 16/44 analog stages). I'm going to listen more critically when I get the Sony back, because the Forsell, while my favorite for years, is a tempermental piece of equipment at times. However, I think that part of the mod I'm getting diverts the Sony's internal power supplies to the digital side, so that might skew the results. Given the build quality and the attempts that Sony has made to isolate the machine from vibration, I would think that it would compare favorably with other high end transports. Anyone else out there compared it to other transports?