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scd 777es sacd sony mod worth it?

hey. there is a gent (think he's a memeber here) who seems like a straight-up guy over the phone. he does mods for the 777es which, he says, really opens up the sound stage and mellows the highs. his name's richard and his website is http://www.audiomod.com/

just wondering if any people have done this mod and/or have thoughts about doing it. it's pretty cheap. i like the 777es as is but who knows what i'm missing.
equipment used with it:
arc vt100mkII
arc ref1 line
space-tech phono
oracle delphi mkI tt
acoustat mod III speakers
vandersteen 2wq sub

as always, thanks in advance.
kublakhan
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Hi, Jtinn, sorry to come back to you so late..... Richard did give two aproximate dates, however couldn't deliver. I'd been forewarned, so I didn't mind and these days, since Sept. 11th, well, there are more important, vital things to occupy my mind.
Cheers
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Well, yesterday was the great day. It was a long wait of about four months, but it certainly was worth it. Right out of the box and unbroken in, my preliminary findings are:
SACD play:
1. Dynamics of quite a new order, punch galore.
2. The grain in the highs and upper mids is gone.
3. Bass seems deeper, cleaner, faster
4. Midrange is more open
5. Soundstage deeper, wider.
6. you can listen deeper into the musical presentation, and with more minute detail revealed. Certainly more PRAT.

Redbook CD:

Quick comparison with ML 30.6/31.5/Purcell upsampler combo:

SONY/Audience mod: Soundpresentation more forward, closer, more direct, (first row instead of about 6th ) more roughshot for the time being, less refined and dissolved, however a tad more dynamic-punchy, highs still a bit etchy. But don't forget, the unit is just out of the box. I may be in for quite a surprise after about 400 hours or so. The unit is on repeat now, breaking it in. Cheers,
mikeg's avatar
mikeg
129 posts
 
Detlof, How much did that set you back?
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Mike, quite a bit, not counting shipping from Europe to the US and back about 2900 bucks! But it seems to be worth it. If you look at their webside, which shows all that they have done with this mod, it does not seem a rip-off, but fairly reasonable. (audience-av.com)
rcprince
2,830 posts
 
Well Detloff, I'm glad to see you got your player back and that the mod seems to be worth the money. Let me know if you agree or disagree with me about how SACD done right stacks up to vinyl. I recently upgraded my Ovation with the Debut platter/bearing/vacuum, and I still think SACD is similar to it in many ways--better in some, not quite as engaging in others, but clearly a level up from even upsampled CD. And something I can listen to in the same listening session as vinyl without a letdown.
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