sony scd777es and sacd

Patience.. You need a good 400 hours of playback before this player opens up. I have the SCD-1 and it took a FEW months of listening before it became world class. I never had a piece of audio gear take so long to break in. I owned the MSB Link Dac some time ago. The Sony is So much better, its not even a fair comparison. Be patient and you will be pleased. mike

If you compare the sound of a dual-layered CD/SACD as jchai suggested you'll see the difference between the two formats, which I think is significant. The problem you're hearing is probably partially the break-in, as others have noted, but also partly the Sony analog stage which, while certainly not cheaply done, may not be as good as what you're used to. I felt that way, even after a long break-in, and since I'm very enamored of my Audio Logic dac, I sent the 777ESD to Jerry Ozment, who is modifying the unit to give it the Audio Logic's tube analog output stage with a separate analog power supply (I'm sure there are others, perhaps Musical Concepts, who already have mods available for the Sony units as well). I expect it to sound significantly better (I ran the Sony as a transport on CDs through the Audio Logic to compare it to the Sony's analog stage) when I get it back. Before doing anything to it to void the warranty, though, you should let it break in and then see if you really want any further improvement.

RCprince- Who is modifying these? Do they have a web site?

Joe.kras, I e-mailed you directly about Audio Logic (that's Jerry Ozment's company), which is doing mods. I also found the old post from this summer, which indicated that Great Northern Sound might also be doing mods on the Sony units, essentially modifying or replacing the analog stage. Don't know their e-mail address, but it's probably easy to find.

How good is the Sony as a transport-only for 16/44 CDs?