SCD-1 vs DVP-S9000ES

Moras... I agree with you and will add another consideration. "market". Rule of the tumb in audio industry that for each dollar invested in manufacturer, six must be added to retail. You must think about competitors! This is rational for modding: for each dollar you spend for better parts you spend between 30 and 150 cents for labor (depending on the rate of the particular modder which has NOTHING TO DO AT ALL with his qualifications). Obviously, transport and digital sections are extremely costly to change thus power supply and analog stage are easily targets of modifications. Finally, if someone decided to go via upgrade path, BEWARE of QUALIFICATIONS of modifyer. Good parts is not everything, one has to know what to do with them. From experience, I can highly recommend Stan Warren (541/344 - 3696 PST) and Richard Kern (www.audiomod.com)

Big companies like sony have resources to design good players and they do want them to do well. They also like to make a profit. If panasonic capacitors and carbon fibre resistors sound 75% as good as Blackgate and Vishay which ones do you think they will use? Product cost is usally a multiple of parts cost so the lower the parts cost the more the profit. Of course after market mods can improve sound.

I qwn a 9000 and would like to improve the audio side. Where do i send it, what will they do to it{in simple terms please!}and how much will it cost?

incidentally, I was also a musician for 25 years (trumpet.) Does this fact make my opinion more valid than a non-musician? I think not!

robert harley votes for sacd and if you own a 9000es his reveiw will make your day,it is in the new perfect vision and it is a glowing reveiw to say the least.

Caa: I compared 777Es and 9000es by memory. I owned 777es for two months and then sold it. Many people do not trust aural memory. Therefore, you can easily distrust results of my observation, and it would be very logical. However, I am musician by education (classic piano) and life-long attendee of live concerts. I rarely compare one piece of equipment with other directly. I used to compare to my aural memory of the sound of acoustic instruments.AND I trust my ears. The problem that both 777es and 9000es has each set of shortcomings (defferent ones) needed to be corrected, most desirably by modification of their respective analog stages. - Simon
Gmorris: I fully accept "the reality that it (9000es) was not designed to compete with SCD-1, irrespective of what you would want to believe?". however, then I hear music, the goals of specific equipment design, you so eloquently desribed above, does not interfere with my sub-cognitive acceptance of the fidelity (to acoustic instuments) of the sound. Regarding your suggestion "Why don't you just enjoy your S9000ES..." I can't; its being upgraded to correct its set of shortcoming. Otherwise you are absolutely right - Simon

Simontju:

YES, I have heard the S9000ES. It is indeed a very good SACD player and a fair Red Book CD player. It, certainly, is not in the same class as the 777ES in both modes, and is surpassed easily by the SCD-1. To make it short: the SCD-1 is simply more musical and refined, more extended and pure in the treble, more natural sounding in the midrange, etc....
Is that clear enough?

Why don't you just enjoy your S9000ES and accept the reality that it was not designed to compete with the SCD-1, irrespective of what you would want to beleive?

I like the S9000ES very much, with its CD/SACD/DVD capabilites and retail price, I think it is a great buy. I am considering the purchase of a S9000ES for a HT based second system

Tmartinejn: you had probably read what Simonjtu had written elsewhere. :-)

Simontju: It's really inconceivable that the 9000es would sound more tonally accurate than the SCD-1 or 777; just by common sense. It'd be nice if you could describe specifically how you compared them. IME, memory is very bad at remembering subtle differences sound quality. So many times, I thought a tube is better from another of a different brand, only when listening to them for quite a while and swapping back, would I see that they aren't much difference. When describe subtle improvements, I think it's critical to do (and report) serious comparisions. You probably picked up the difference in dynamics quite easily, but the so-called "magic midrange" is a bit vague because it depends on many things: system synergy, musics, mood at the time you're listening.

ps: in terms of tweak, just by common sense, I'd like to think that Sony did really want their SACD products to do well, and probably put lots of efforts into them. Therefore, it makes more sense to me that "swap" tweaks would probably be better than "redesign" tweaks, which would mean that somehow we have a better understanding of the circuits than the engineers who created the products, and who work for a company at the magnitude of Sony

Tmartinjn: I agree with you 100%. I owned 777es (very close to SCD-1) and 9000ES, I choose 9000ES by reasons you indicated and you are correct that most audiophiles view SCD-1/777es as better player.
Gmonis: please be easy on us. Did you express your opinion derived from actual comparison or did you repeat opinion of most audiophiles which is fine of course but still has to be stated and not to confuse with actual comparison - simon

The SCD-1 surpasses the DVP-S9000ES in every category.

I haven't compared. What I've read is that the SCD-1 sound is more defined and dynamic. The S9000ES has more accurate mid-range and deeper bass. All differences are subtle. I can't verfiy any of this, but the SCD-1 overall is generally viewed as a better player. I still love my S9000ES.