Sony 900ES SACD sound vs CD - Help


I now have a little over 120 hours on my 9000ES DVD. Here's the problem: When I use the Sony as a transport (The digital output fed into an MSB Link Dac 2) the sound quality is MUCH better than the Sony supplied SACD music played through the SACD internal decoding circuits and output form the analog outputs on the Sony.

How can this be? I thought the SACD was supposed to be much better than the CD. Is it possible that the SACD circuits need much more time to break in?

The Sony when used as a transport is almost as good as my SimAudio Moon Eclipse cd player (when also used as a transport) which has a floating suspension.

I have the Sony on a magnetic levitation system which I designed that floats it 1/4 to 1/2" off the shelf.
This isolates the transport and circuitry from low frequency vibration. The result is: better bass, more open midrange, and clearer highs.

I just don't understand why the SACD part of this doesn't sound as good as everyone says it does. Maybe the sampler sacd is very good?

Any ideas??
128x128darrell
I agree with everyone else that it has to burn in, but... I noticed right away that SACD was far better than CD. The comparison was made to CD's being played on the Meitner Super Bidat being fed by various high end transports. You shelf sounds way cool, but I wonder if you have taken into account the shielding of the magnetic flux field. I would aussume this is a fairly strong field if it can hold the weight of your player which I think tips the scal at 20+ lbs. I am guessing that the player was on the shelf being levitated and the dac was on another shelf? If so you may want to try the unit as a player away from the mag field.
Regards,
Mike
I just got my 777 SACD player yesterday and yes it still needs alot of burn in time. A good way to burn in any of these units is to place a 10K ohm resistor across the analog outputs via cheap RCA plug, press repeat and let it go. Yes the analog outputs are active even when you have the unit in standard CD mode and have the digital output active. I would have to agree with the others, these units will need break in on SACD and CD both. AS for you magnetic shelf, I would also wonder if it is having some effect.
Has anyone compared the 333ES vs the 9000ES vs the earlier generation on sound quality with SACDs only? I'm not interested in multifunction just good sound for the $.
I don't understand why someone would purchase a SACD player when there is no software for it. To me, it's like purchasing a computer that has limited software meanwhile crossing your fingers hoping that the software will grow. I don't know many people who would buy a computer with those odds at stake. Another point which probably explains the many used SOny 777es players for sale is that once you bring this unit home and you play all of the crappy SACD's that they offer, you start to wonder why did I pay all of this money for a unit that I can't play my favorite CD's using the format it was designed for and that sonic rewards while playing my regular CD's on this unit is marginal to OK? The only one I would purchase right now if I had to would be the Sony 9000es because it's a DVD progressive Scan and to me justifies the price of the unit. One line of thought that I choose to follow and it works "for me" is to let the software dictate the hardware purchases. I have a lot of CD's at home that I haven't realized their full potential yet so while Sony/Philips decide how they are going market this new format I will continue to try to get the most out of my regular CD's. I've sen many posts on other threads wondering if they can use their SACD player as a transport. Hey, just because there's a new format on the horizon doesn't mean that your many CD's are now obsolete. I'm sure the SACD format is sonically superior to regular CD's but if there is little software what did you purchase it for?