At the panel discussion, David Kawakami of Sony said that he believes that SACD has gained enough momentum that the high end territory will be covered by the traditionally high end manufacturers. He believes that there will soon be other high end SACD players in addition to those from Accuphase, Classe and Marantz. It appears that Sony is ready to take SACD to a broader market and believes that the format is becoming mature enough for high end manufacturers to find the introduction of their own players to be viable. The impression I got from Mr. Kawakami is that Sony is now ready to stimulate a larger market for SACD which should lead to the introduction of players from other companies and software from additional labels. I listened to the new 777ES SACD player in the Sony demo several times and I was very impressed. I also listened to it in their display room on headphones and I was once again impressed. I timed the loading speed on the new 777 and it was down to about 8 seconds.
I heard the new 777ES SACD player
While at the NY Hi-Fi show I had a chance to hear a bunch of the new SACD players slated for release later this year. Yes, there is a new 777es and it's a front loading, multi-channel job but it doesn't play DVD's. It's a little more sleek than the original 777 and has comparible build quality but I give the nod to the original 777 as far as build goes. The Sony rep said it's basically the same unit except for the processor chip and the loading mechanisim. IT's considered to be their new flagship player and it retails for $3,000 so you know that we should be able to find it for anywhere from $2,200 to $2,500. Also it loads quicker than the original 777 as well. The sound was impressive although I couldn't audition the original against the new one. So all of you guys who jacked up the prices on your original 777 to $2,000 plus can come back down to earth because the multi-channel, audio only 777 is here and it's a beauty.
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- 15 posts total
- 15 posts total