who cares about the loading, i don't think he's asking which one loads faster. and macm is right, if you need balanced inputs you need to either look at the xa7es or the scd-1. as for sound quality which is what your really asking for, it has opened a new door for me. many people like to dog the sacd format right now either cause they can't afford, have never heard it, or are unwilling to change formats. although there are some who may actually dislike the format altogether based on its performance these people are few and far apart. anyways, the sound quality is excellent. all of my cds play equally than or better than my previous player (modded pioneer dv-525). and when you switch to sacd, its a revelation my friend. i think it may be true that you'll hear its benefits more if you have a more higher end system but isn't that true with all players regardless? i mean if you have crap going in, playing on an sacd/cd/dvd/? player, and crap down the line, what do you think will come out...CRAP no matter what format! unfortunately the 777es and scd-1 have been discontinued in favor of lower priced players to appeal to the more average music buyer. they will still offer a hi-end player but it has yet to be released and no one knows anything about it yet. you should check out the hi-rez forum at the www.audioasylum.com site. there you can learn anything you ever wanted to know about this new format and the players that support it. as for a comparison to the xa7es i could not tell, i never heard it. but i couldn't sit back and let these previous posters give you such broad and unhelpful answers.
