SACD Dominates Recommended List

As has already been said, the only people who profit from the experience of others are biographers. That notwithstanding, here is my experience. I got a 777es as a birthday present( OK, to myself, but that's irrelevent), on A'gon, for what I consider a great deal. I hooked it up and thought it sounded very good, red book and SACD.In fact, it sounded as good as my then digital configuration of Theta Jade to dCS Delius/Purcell 24/192 upsampled. So, I used the Sony as a transport to the dCS, and with the flip of a switch could A/B the Sony redbook with the dCS upsampled.I did this over a Fri-Sun, with a couple of buddies, blindly. We each thought the Sony not only sounded as good, but actually better than the upsampled 12K worth of dCS gear. On redbook. The SACD was even better, not as good as vinyl IMOP, although I know there are those that would argue. I knew the SACD would be good, I'd heard it before, but the early critiques of the redbook playback of these units I find completely unfounded. Now, there may be better sounding units out there, I've not heard the Dodson or Entec # Cruncher, but I've heard the top end ML, Wadia and some others, and I just don't hear them as being any better. Forget that the unit is a steal, particularly on A'gon, where units are going for $1500-1600 lately. The fact is, it sounds phenomenal, and not just SACD. To me it was a no brainer: 1 piece, 1 PC, 0 Digi cable, tank build quality unit that sounds AT LEAST as good as 15K of transport/upsampler/DAC, or the latter. I sold the dCS, and the 777 is being modified as we speak by Richard Smith at Audience. Total price for what I paid for the unit and modification will be right around what a decent transport alone cost. Although not ubiquitous, there are bargains in this hobby, my experience is that this is one of them. Period. And I mean bargain, not trade-off . You may or may not agree, but that's my story and I'm stickin to it! Thanx to the above posts, I always learn something on this site. Happy listening.

Mes,

Which upgrade are you doing at Audience? The $1640 Cabledriver upgrade or the $450 upgrade? These prices do not include the their cord. Thanks

Mikeg- I'm doin the whole enchilado, including Cabledriver, sans cords. I may audition the Powerchord and see, I'd be surprised(pleasantly) if it bests what I already have, but I'm open to that possibility. I must say my interaction with Richard at Audience has been nothing less than pleasant and informitive, and best yet, a no BS approach. I'll hopefully have the unit in a couple of weeks, thats where the rubber meets the road, so we'll see. Mark

Great post Mes, thank-you for sharing your results. I agree that in audio there are a few great changes that come as a real bargain. IMO SACD players are an amazing value. It's exciting to think of where this technology will lead over the next years. For now again IMO spending more than the price of a SACD player on digital is foolish, and not at least trying SACD is even more foolish.

Twenty years ago the introduction of the CD was a distinct step backward as far as sound reproduction was concerned. Fortunately, within the last few years the CD format has sufficiently advanced to the point where it produces high quality playback. Compare that to SACD, which in its initial rollout is clearly head and shoulders above the "mature" CD format. If it's this good in its infancy, then imagine to what sound level it will mature? In this modern age, no format will last forever. In the future music delivery formats will probably last no more than 5-10 years before the manufacturers effectively stop supporting the format. My advice is not to get hung up on the equipment (which includes the little silver discs), but to instead keep moving forward towards the music. Rather than the small, incremental changes afforded by upsampling and expensive cables, the SACD represents great leap forward in sound reproduction.