Cost effective mods for a Sony SCD-777ES

With this player pretty much the sky is the limit but the mods that give the most bang for the buck (IMO) are as follows.

1)Superclock and superclok power supply are the first mods I would make.

2)I would do the analog output stage

3)Then the power supply.

First you must pick a reputable modder......unless you are doing the work yourself. Reference Audio Mods (RAM), Vacum State Electronics(VSE) and Audiomod(Richard Kern) all have excellent reputations and experience modding this player. All three have websites discussing their modding techniques and philosophies. I would read them as well as some of the discussion threads on this site. Also there location may make a difference as shipping may be an issue as well.

Good Luck.

Chuck

Also forgot to mention the transport cap upgrade; I would do that along with the clock. IMO the Sony DAC is still considered one of the best and not the weak link here.

Chuck

Dcaudio

If your goal is to retain value then IMO you never want to modify anything as you will never get your money back out of the mods and you may actually lose value. Unless your modder is well know for his/her work and has a great reputation such as Richard Kern. If you are going to buy a DAC and what to retain some value then do not have it modded. You may want to buy and sell, used of course, until you get the sound you want and as I believe Tvad is suggesting.

Thinking a bit more about your situation. Since you have already had some caps and resisters upgraded. I would spend the 300-400 and have the superclock 4 installed. You will improve the player substantially and (IMO) the clock will retain some value.

Chuck

Vman71

I am with you. I can not believe the improvements in my player with the few mods that have been made; it is simply stunning.

Chuck

Dave

Douglas Jesse (RAM east) performed the mods on my player. I did replace the RCA's with silver WBT's but that is about the extent of my modding capabilities. Douglas did replace the the caps on the power supply board but we stopped short of doing the voltage regulators as I was trying to minimize the cost. Obviously as you know the sky is the limit on where you can go with this player. The player sounds very good now and is the best digital I have ever heard.

The items you list sound interesting but I don't know if I could perform them myself.

Chuck

Dcaudio

Who did the cap and resistor work on your player.......or did you buy it that way? Also, hope the DAC works out for you.

Chuck

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. I do not feel I could ever achieve this level of performance by simply adding a DAC; although I could be wrong. I wasn't willing to add another component in the food chain as I believe in less is more or simplicity over complexity.

The sony is an inexpensive player and the mods are inexpensive (IMO) especially given the performance gains. The resale value while always a consideration wasn't as much of a factor for me as I was searching for the best sonic improvements for the dollar. This becomes even more evident to me when I compare the performance of my player relative to what a competitive player costs. In most cases the depreciation of those players is more than what I paid for the mods and the player. Good discussion though as everyone here has valid points.

Chuck

Yup, that is why you pick a reputable modder who mods with a goal in mind and with a design philosiphy. And one that has the same goals as you do and also one that you can hear their results. Just R&Ring parts is no guarantee of success by any means. And just as Drubin found out can actually make things worse. That is another reason I picked on RAM. I could hear how the mods sounded and their website is full of information concerning their mods as well as their design philosophy.

Adding a DAC does create another layer in the chain as well as set of other decisions such as cabling and power cords.

I am also glad to see that dcaudio received some direction from his thread. As he is the one that has to be happy with his decision and not anyone else.

Chuck