Question for SCD-1 and 777es owners.


I'm curious as to what, if anything, SCD-1 owners have done to improve Redbook performance of their players. Try to keep your recommendations reasonable, price wise (I can't afford the dcs Elgar). Power cord recommendations and cable recommendations are also welcome, but mostly I'm interested in seeing if folks are having great success with any outboard DACs, Stan Warren mods, etc. (I've heard the Levinson 360s works well, and that's about as high I would go price wise --under $4K used).

I'm reasonably satisfied with the Redbook straight out of the Sony, but I know some of you have done better. Please share your secrets!
lornecherry
hey lorne, we have a thread going on this at the link below. if that doesn't work search for the heading 'scd 777es sacd sony mod worth it?'

http://audiogo5.iserver.net/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&990580398&read&h12&4&&
I used a Timbre DAC (which is now for sale) with a 777es with great success. I am sure any outboard DAC will improve the Sony SACD players. Good luck.
Pick up a used Theta Gen Va for around $1600 to $1900. I'm using one with my 777 and it is a great combo.
Maybe you should try an MSB Platinum Link. It's only 3 grand new, which would leave you some money to invest in power cables or interconnect upgrades.
Thedautch, I listened to the MSB Platinumn Link at my dealer, just yesterday. While it was very good, I found it a touch "dry". Sounstage was excellent but seemed to sit behind the speakers. Rest of the system was reference quality (Pass 600, Pass Preamp, MIT Oracle cabling, Classe Transport and wonderful sounding Gershman Gap speakers) but it wasn't tubes, so perhaps that's what I missed.

I couldn't decide whether it sounded better or worse than my current systems (other than the speakers, which were clearly better than my Kefs), but I wasn't "blown away" like a thought I would be considering the $$$ of the demo system. Don't get me wrong, it certainly sounded VERY good and perhaps was cleaner than what I have now -- it was just overly analytical, and lacked warmth. Perhaps, it was the combo that didn't work well together and I was left wondering how it would sound in my system, which is still a touch bright. I'll be listening to some more DAC over the next few weeks and will report back what I find.
I don't find the MSB platinum dry but I hook it directly into my customized Melos 400 watt monoblocks to Dunlavy SC-V's. I thought it was definitely better than my upgraded Pro Gen Va and it even gives my current dCS 972/Elgar a good run for the money. It could be the music I prefer but listening to the Chicago Symphony play Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra (Reiner or Solti) dry and analytic is not what comes to mind. It is a little softer and less detailed than the dCS combo and with a little less bass oomph.