Cost effective mods for a Sony SCD-777ES

Ditto Czbbcl's recommendations for modders. If you can do the work yourself and want to work incrementally, start with the Superclock 4, replace the AD712 op amps in the output stage, replace select caps/resistors in the output stage signal path, remove the AC filters, and star-ground each board. There are posts on AA SACD Forum regarding these changes.

The Sony DAC is not a gating factor. With clock replacement, power mods, & a swap of output stages to VSEI or buffered RAM coupling transformers, the 777ES will approach SOTA.

Chuck,

The transport cap mod does improve things. There are several more mods that make an even larger improvement to the transport:

(1) Replace 4 SMD coupling caps on Main Board & RF board with radial-lead teflon.

(2) Replace signal path SMD resistors on Main & RF Board with radial-lead Caddock or Vishay.

(3) Eliminate ground loops. Remove Main Board center standup post and run ground wire from center tab to IEC earth. Replace all metal washers on the perimeter standups with nylon to sever multiple grounds.

(4) Upgrade power board 5V & 3.3V regulators to discrete assemblies such as Audiocom Invisus PPR2. Then bypass the two crappy 5V-to-3.3V SMD down-regulators on the main board, by running jumpers directly to the 3.3V source regulator. A major improvement.

More available, but much of this is only cost-effective for the DIYer.

Dave

Modding is the way to get off the endless merry-go-round of swaps and upgrades. And with the SCD-1/777ES there is pretty much no diminishing return on improvements. Better is simply better until you get near SOTA, at which point Tvad's point about flavors kicks in. If you heard one of these units really tricked out I doubt you'd ever consider selling it.

Tvad,

Of 30 odd mod/test cycles I've been through with the SCD-1, all but one or two changes were steps in a positive direction without any downside. The one or two mods I would consider "flavor" preferences-- i.e., mods that improve in one area while compromising in another, as you describe, usually in a trade-off between resolution & musicality-- were later corrected with improvements to power source. The experience of continuous improvement with a single player convinces me that absolute, not relative, comparisons are applicable when judging CDPs. Give me a player with high resolution, and mod it to add musicality. After the modding is done, one is finally up against the brick wall of the type of DAC or upsampler and the limitations of basic transport mechanism-- which doubtless together define the ultimate "flavor" of the machine. But there are so many compromises in most commercial players that short of SOTA, judging their quality based on type of DAC or upsampler is likely a red herring. This is why I'm inclined to restrict use of the "flavor" adjective to the best machines.

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.

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."