XA777ES vs Meridian 508.24 vs Gamut CD1 in redbook

I bought a XA777ES and was so bummed out by the Redbook ! I couldn't believe Sony would make a player sound so good in SACD and so poor in Redbook. My friends and all liked my SCD 333 ES better for Redbook. I thought about a Benchmark or Musical Fidelity DAC but didn't want the extra cables etc, so for half of the price I sent it to TRL and had it modded. All I can say is sweeeeeet! It realy sounds great. It passed the acid test when I started to pull out alot of my old cd's andstay up all night listening.
Check out Tube Research Labs, it's $550.00 and I think well worth it !

Chris,
I realize every system is different, different cables etc.
I am very pleased with what Paul at TRL did with my 777.
He offers a money back guarantee. My 777 got a deeper, wider sound stage, more midrange bass and above all, it got a tube like smoothness to the top end. Have fun whatever you do!

Cheers!
Fran

Rob,

I am not trying to sell anything, I am just throwing in my 2 cents on my XA777ES experience. The $550.00 is not for a DAC but for a TRL mod. Before I bought my 777, I read a lot of reviews, most were very good and a few were very bad.
I thought that the bad ones were just Sony haters or very anal. I was surprised when I got my player,andIhad others listen too. The SACD was far better than my SCD333ES. The Redbook was much more detailed than my 333,but it was a very flat,dark and analytical sound with very little sound stage, at least on my system. I called around and not many people will mod a 777 and those that will for $1500 don't really recommend it because the newer players have better chips. So I thought sell+get a DAC but that also means a few cables that take a $1000 DAC price up to $1500 or more.
So the most affordable upgrade was to give the TRL mod a try. I really like it, and I think it is a good deal at $550.00 Have fun !

Frano