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Sony NS999ES ModWright upgrade vs. external DAC

Hi! As usual,help needed.I have Sony NS999ES CD/SACD paired with Bryston SP-1.7 Pre/Pro. What would be a better way to upgrade this combo ( I'm mainly interested in upgrading Redbook playback performance, even though SACD is important as well)?
To upgrade the CDP or to buy an external DAC?
What would be an upgrade from the Sony 999ES internal DAC and From Bryston's DAC (if not used in analog bypass mode).
My take is, that an external DAC is more flexible solution, and possibly even less expensive than ModWright upgrade. Any suggestions for DAC's in the $300-600 range used, that will be a noticable improvement over Sony and Bryston, will be greatly appreciated. Regards.
maril555
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maril555 OP
619 posts
 
Actually I ended up buying Musical Fidelity A3.24 Upsampling DAC and intent to keep it for some time. I'm very interested to compare this combo with the different levels of Modwright mods.
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tombowlus
416 posts
 
Thanks for the responses. I am very seriously leaning towards just firing my unit off to Dan when it comes in. I will see if I can swing the Aboslute Truth mod. I do not need volume control. My only concern are warranty issues. What do you do if something breaks? Sony is very nice in that they offer a 5-year warranty, but I presume that you'd be giving that up with a mod. And I also presume that Modwright would not cover things they did not do, right?

Tom.

Tom.
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,053 posts
 
Yada, How much did you pay? Do you have the volume
control of your Sony MOD?How can you tell, if its
an Absolute mod.?
yada
158 posts
 
I am very happy with the Modwright upgrade. I purchased the Signature Truth and it turned out to be a better redbook player than my emc-1 24/192 in my system. I did not intend to replace the emc. I purchased the Sony for the SACD, but after listening sessions with the Sony 999es, I sold the emc. I no longer needed it for redbook because the Sony sounded better to myself and my friends. My friends are very picky and I trust their judgement.

If I had it to do over again, I would have purchased the absolute truth mod. I think it is a good idea to purchase the maximum mod you can afford, but that is just my opinion.
tombowlus
416 posts
 
Maril555:

Just curious as to what you ended up doing, here. I have an NS999ES on its way to me, and I am considering the Modwright upgrade option. In my case, I am also hoping to upgrade my pre/pro to a significant degree (either Krell HTS 7.1 or Theta CasablancaIII), so my guess is that without spending a good amount on a dedicated DAC, I am not going to hear a noticeable improvement on the D/A side of things. Of course, the nice thing about the Modwright upgrades are that they don't limit your ability to add a DAC, just provide you with another option. But then you are back to your which is the best bang for the buck question...

Tom.
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,053 posts
 
If you can afford Sony mod, it is the way to go.
Its expensive but it all worth it.
jdombrow
371 posts
 
A recent thread on inexpensive DACs:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1076201363&read&3&4&
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