I heard the new 777ES SACD player


While at the NY Hi-Fi show I had a chance to hear a bunch of the new SACD players slated for release later this year. Yes, there is a new 777es and it's a front loading, multi-channel job but it doesn't play DVD's. It's a little more sleek than the original 777 and has comparible build quality but I give the nod to the original 777 as far as build goes. The Sony rep said it's basically the same unit except for the processor chip and the loading mechanisim. IT's considered to be their new flagship player and it retails for $3,000 so you know that we should be able to find it for anywhere from $2,200 to $2,500. Also it loads quicker than the original 777 as well. The sound was impressive although I couldn't audition the original against the new one. So all of you guys who jacked up the prices on your original 777 to $2,000 plus can come back down to earth because the multi-channel, audio only 777 is here and it's a beauty.
martice
Not yet Khan but If I had to say what it looked like I would say that it looked like a steroid filled big brother to the XA-20 cd player except that it's bigger, wider and taller. One thing I didn't mention was that I also heard the $299.00 SACD player in SACD mode and I thought it was a very good player in that mode. I was listening to Harry Konick ( I doubt that I spelled his last name correct)JR. and he sounded nice. I heard all of the SACD players through headsets so it was quite up close and personal. Unfortunately, the 299.00 player only had opitical hook up for a DAC when playing Red Book CD's though. As far as looks go for that unit, It looks very similar to the XA-1 cd player I must admit. I liked what I heard from the units and especially the 777es, I can understand the excitment about the units. Did I want to buy one? On an emotional level? Yes. For 3 grand? Sorry, but I really have an issue with the software which Sony had on display as well. However it did sound so good on SACD that I'm considering purchasing the $299.00 player as a show of economic support and of course for simple comparison issues. I will say that if the 777es goes for $1,500 - 1,800 like the original one did, I would say that it would be hard to pass up so the jury is still out on that one.

Very impressed with a beautiful machine.
I was at the show yesterday. I thought that the SCD XA777ES looked "crappy" compared to the original SCD 777ES. In fact, the 9000ES is more impressive looking and is in fact heavier. However, I could only demo mulitchannel recordings using earphones, so I cannot comment on its sonic capabiliites.