Anyone modded a Sony 999es?


I have a Sony 999es DVD/SACD player. I made some inquiries on modifications about 2 months ago and saw one modifier was doing it but did not put in the new "superclock". Also did not mention exactly what was done to the unit. Another modifier emailed me directly saying he wasn't doing any mods to this unit. I have seen some reference to mods on this machine including the cut and paste job below:

"We have modified the SCD-1, the 777ES, and 9000ES. We determined that the transport and digital engine in the NS999 DVD player is the best Sony makes. The new 999ES is sonically superior to any previous Sony player whether stock or modified. It proves you don't need a 70-pound chassis in order to get state of the art performance. It is mainly the quality of the digital section that gives this player the advantage. The rest of the guts of the player are irrelevant, since we rework and replace them all anyway. We like Sony players because they convert PCM data to a DSD data stream, which is then decoded as an SACD would be. Most other ‘universal' players convert DSD to PCM, which in our view is counterproductive. We have looked at the other players and have found them lacking in comparison to the Sony. Sony's conversion of Redbook to the SACD format is at a very high resolution. In this player, it is equivalent to 50+ times over-sampling. Noise shaping and dithering are not required, so less data is lost or masked. With SACD, the data is presented in the same format as it is archived by Sony and no data is lost.
Richard Smith,
Audience Director of Design Development."

The problem with the above mod is that it is $5K - way too steep for me. I would love some feedback from some people who have had this unit modded, specifically who they used, how much, the turn around time and the before/after comparisons. I am really interested in improving the redbook performance but also the multi-channel SACD as well. Any feedback is appreciated!! -Tony
treyhoss

Showing 3 responses by jayctoy

Yes Sir, I did, My sony 9000es was modded by Dan Wright
(MODWRIGHT),Before I will continue,Let me tell you, I
dont work for Dan, He is from Oregon, I am from IL,
In fact did not get any penny discount.For $1740
1)Level III mod plus Tube Stage.

2)DAC MOD

3)Analog Bybee filters.

4)Amp Direct Modification with DACT CT-2 attenuator

5)2 to 3 weeks.(turn around waiting)

BY no means get the volume control, it sounds best
when it plays direct, you can sell your preamp.The music
will come out of your speaker,lifelike,natural,bass
tight,good imaging,the thin sounding of sony is
gone.IMS the difference is night and day, Its only
2weeks, its not completely burn it yet.For me the SACD
sounds so glorius,and the redbook is also outstanding.
Believe me, this cd player is worth at least 5k.Ive
heard CD player cost 3 times,but I will never miss them.The
decision is yours. GOOD LUCK.Dan is a very very....nice guy
Tony even if there is other modifier, I will stick
with Dan, this guy is genius.The soundstage of this
unit is so wide,and the depth is exceptional, thats
why I get good hologrphic sound.Its the tube stage
and the dac (triple dac upgrade also).But the direct
to amp is very good,IMS it beats my 2K preamp.I tried
my sony 9000 to the msb dac it did sound good,but
no comparison the sony mod.ITS ALL MUSIC THAT COMES
OUT ON THIS UNIT.Audience they do good job also from
what I heard,BUT 5K.
Tony go to harmonicdiscord.com,discussion forum of
Modwright is under modifications and tweaks, click
the mod LLC,the post is under Retsels and Paul
Bui,this two loves musics not sound, Paul own 999es,
They did a very good review like jobee of asylum.