i have to agree with some posters on some things and others and other things. as an owner of a 777, i have heard the new audiophile sound. my system cost me about 6000 and i have sound that rivals many systems regardless of price. true, an ultra high expensive levinson trans/dac combo will sound better than redbook on 777 and will come close to sacd (but not reach it). associated ocmponents make a difference too. if you're running an sacd on nad gear (no offense to nad owners) it defintiely will not sound as good as sacd on classe/bel canto/levinson/what other respectable high end names you can think of. lets just say if you can afford a levinson trans/dac, chances are you're running some pretty high quality downstream equipment as well. also mentioned above was the long break in time on these players. i actually heard the unit transform at about 375 and it is gradually but diminishingly getting better reaching its full potential proabbly in another 100 hours. i have also heard increased everything using a power plant with the unit, which i suggest to anyone who has one. further, regarding first generation player comment, the 777, scd-1, sa-1 are indeed first generation but were designed to keep up with time for awhile due tot he fact that these players were designed to show off all that sacd can do. true there will be improvements and parts quality could sure be upgraded but newer players will only gain in the area of better opamps (or none at all), better digital filters, and better quality parts but for the most part retaining an almost identical dsd sound with respectable company sonic signatures (sony will sound like sony stuff, levinson like levinson stuff) when dvd came out i bougth the pioneer dvd-525. a first generation player. this unit is still sold, and is one of the better dvd players out there (especially after mods) even though it diesn't have all the fancy dancy features that the new ones have. and speaking fo mods, if you ever frequent the audioasylum site a few have begun to mod their sacd players and one member who has both a wadia 2?x player and a 777 said after he replaced some parts with better quality parts the redbook performance went from average for $1500 range to almost equalling his wadia (beating it in some respects) with the wadia barely edging it out overall. sorry if this post seems slanderous to opposer of the new format, but many of you put down a format that you have never heard or can not afford, or if this is not the case you are probably the kind who is so prided on the nameplate your equipment bares that you psyche yourself into thinking you have sound that cannot be bettered. everyones mileage will vary, the ultimate notion is that sacd is defintiely a step up from cd and finally answers the lp vs. cd question (for the most part). sure replacing redbooks with sacds of the same kind might sound rediculous but hook up a dac to your 777 or whatever sacd player you have and you have a very nice (and i mean very nice and very well built) transport to feed your dac to listen to your redbook cds. many people over at the sylum have been using dodson or audio note with great results. so again don't knock something that you wouldn't buy for whatever reason you come up with. just because you wouldn't buy it doesn't mean that it doesn't sound better or perform better. it just means that your content with waht you have and that to YOU (and your budget) the sound could only be better by ultra expensive gear. if this is so, then you have reached what all of us crazy philes try to do for years, and that is enjoy the music, i know i sure am.
