Cost effective mods for a Sony SCD-777ES

12-28-06: Czbbcl
Tvad

I agree with your assesment that the house sound, as you call it, if sony has a house sound, is changed; no doubt. And also agree that once modded you probably can not go back; depending on the mods performed.

My modded SCD-1 is so far beyond where it started it isn't even close in comparision. I put about $1800 in mods and feel it was well worth it.

Chuck, I have no doubt your SCD-1 sounds far beyond where it started, and if yours was purchased used, then it certainly has proven to be a good value.

I'm simply pointing out some pros and cons to modding from my experience.

One's satisfaction is all that matters.

Chuck hits the mark that if the cost of the mule plus the mods produces a player that matches commercial offers costing 2-3 times as much, the mod has been justified financially & also in terms of personal satisfaction, regardless of resale issues.

Tvad, yes I am generally in your camp, but when I look inside a hi-end player and see parts-bin compromises like the cheapest varieties of op amps, one-chip clock oscillators, and three-pin voltage regulators rather than discrete regulation circuits, I just can't rationalize the result as "house sound" or "flavor." These are simply shortcomings.

Having owned modified statement digital sources from Modwright, Exemplar Audio and APL, I can readily identify a "house sound" with these players, and they all use high grade parts. In the case of Exemplar Audio and APL, I have owned two models from each...Exemplar Denon 2900 and Denon 3910, APL Philips SACD1000 and Denon 3910. In both cases, the Exemplar modded Denons and the APL modded Philips and Denon each had recognizable sounds distinct to Exemplar Audio and APL.

I find this very interesting. It cannot be attributed to cheap and inferior parts, but rather to the specific design of each modification and the superior parts selected by both designers.

I spoke to a reputable modifier - xxxx last night. Their opinion was, the SCD-777ES is already good (I agree)and the risk that something happens if one ships a heavy player like this back and forth or breaks by age is too large. Obviously, it is not worth to have to buy a second player to keep a stock of spare parts. In summary keep the player "as is".

Tvad,

The refined players you have experienced have probably been cleansed of many compromises & arrived at a purer flavor defined by choice of DAC chipset, filter, tube vs. ss output. Now you're talking caviars rather than fast food hamburgers. But why so restless with so many CDPs through your system? Is there no possibility of converging their best qualities at an endpoint? With mine-- containing mostly RAM/Audio Consulting ideas but also help from Allen Wright & Zanden, and some SMD component replacements that are just too time-consuming to be commercially viable-- I'm inclined to believe that well-executed battery power takes DSPs over the top in a way that just can't be experienced on the AC grid. For APL it seems to be parallel DAC arrays. From the tweakers perspective, I conclude that with digital it's very hard to approach The Absolute Sound in a commercially viable package. And unlike analog-- where the idea of flavors is well accepted at all levels of transcription equipment-- with digital one cannot escape that restless itch for "perfect sound forever." Perhaps the restlessness is prompted by imperfections inherent in the digital medium. But I wander off topic of "inexpensive mods to the 777ES."