Best Budget SCD-777ES DAC?

Get a Perpetual Technologies P3A on A-Gon. You should be able to get one for under a grand.

The SCD-777 has a reasonably good DAC. To beat it significantly you will need a really fine DAC and Digital Cable. My preference would be a used Muse Model two ninety six (you can find these for around $1400) - I have one and it is amazing only dCS and maybe Audio Aero Capitole (both bi bucks) beat it INMHO. There are other options though: the EVS Millenium II DAC is $1050 new and very impressive. The P-3A is also very good especially if you get the Modwright level 2 mods and the powersupply upgrade (but at that price you could get a used Muse 296 it seems to me). At any rate for under $1500 you can definately take your redbook playbacy up several notches.

I think it would be VERY difficult to beat without spending big dollas. I have heard my old xa-7ES (the 777's predecesor) against a levinson 36, and there was a very small improvement. I hear much more from a cable change. I was thinking of buying the 36 until I heard it and decided the difference was negligible.

Moving on to more current standards, I also loaned my new SCD-1 to a friend who has the levinson 360S. He said there was barely a difference with the levinson being 'maybe' a little better. I know in my own listening of other's systems that these sony's are 98% of anything out there. The only thing I have heard that is SIGNIFICANTLY better is the 192 mhz upsampling DCS/Delius upsamping Digital compuer/DAC.

If you are a tube guy, you might have a great preference for a tube driven output. That does change the character of the presentation fairly significantly.

Check out Dan Wright's website - www.modwright.com. His website has some comparison data. Dan himself gives some very honest opinions on upsamplers (he hotrods them) verses contemporary cd players.

Why spends extra $$$$ for an external DAC? My modified SCD777ES sounds more like a $5k outboard DAC. There are several folks out there who are willing to do the mods for less than $1k. Check on audioasylum.com under hi-rez hiway thread, there are numerous debates and reviews on their mods.