Sony Legacy SACD Players - SCD-1, 777ES, XA-777ES

SCD-1,no question.Gary.

Hey Guys,

You are right that the SCD-1 holds it value very well. It is also a very good transport (great build quality) and that's what it does best. None of the Sony players are great redbook (cd) players...very average as they are all voiced to be bright on the top end, are extremely detailed and the mid-range is very clear but has no musicality or depth. The bass is very good. On SACD they are very good, on cd they are very uninvolving and lack emotion. They do some technical things right but in the end are just not musical. Like listening to music in a vacuum.

The soundstage is wide but lacks depth and height...and every one of them benefits immensely from an after market power cord...moreso than other players I've owned (and I've owned a lot).

Doonie, by the way no matter what the other guys responses are you should take APLHIFI's comments VERY SERIOUSLY. He is a professional audio engineer and has many years of experience tearing apart existing players and upgrading them. He currently makes one of the best cd players on the market based on a total re-design of the Denon 3910. He's done the same for Marantz, Sony and Pioneer players. Check out his website www.aplhifi.com.

He's seen the inside of them all. He has a lot of customer's and testimonials on Audiogon from people who have bought his equipment and are VERY HAPPY. He has been inside the SCD-1, seen the schematics, analog boards, circuit design, etc. If he says the balanced outputs are derived from the op amps of the single ended (rca outputs) that is NOT GOOD. Trust me. These guys are giving you their listening opinions. APL is giving you the FACTS.

As a newbie I just want to make sure you get correct information. If you don't believe my comments about the cd playback of all three units...just start a new thread and ask people what are their impressions of cd playback on the three players. You will find a clear majority agree with me. These threads have been run before and I've seen the responses.

You will find Audiogon is full of people who are stubborn about their equipment (they've invested big money so have a need to justify their purchase), those who have read too many reviews and think they know it all and those who will give you opinions that have no technical merit.

Good luck with your search and enjoy the music!

AVGURU

Thanks for all the responses, much appreciated.

Do all these players have the same DAC chip? What are the differences between the DAC's? What about the new model - the Sony XA-9000 ES - anybody AB' one of these to those mentioned. Thanks again.

Are there still people on this planet that are unaware of reliabilty issues in just about everything Sony makes. IMO. Talk about a vaccuum, cause thats the only way you wouldn't know. I have avoided any Sony purchases for close to 15 years. Well, there was that clock radio for my daughter.

Guys

We need to be more respectful of peoples opinions and that is what this person was asking for. I stand by my original comment that nothing competes with the SCD-1 at this price level. As a stock machine it is very good on both redbook and SACD; modded it is excellent on both. I would suggest that Donnie do a search on this site and he will garner more information than he needs to make an INTELLIGENT decision. I wish you all well and HAPPY LISTENING.

Chuck