Sony s7700 mods by Empirical Audio.

I've compared an EA modded 7700 against a few other well regarded transports and it came out stunningly well, or better, then these in most every way. I know some others who have also compared it against Mark Levinson & Meridian transports and are now using it as their reference standard.

I bought mine already turbomodded and added the Jensen cap myself later on. No clock upgrade on mine.

You can find modded one's available once in a while. For about $200 for a stock one, plus $500, it is a true bargain. Get the Turbomod version for an extra $200. The Jensen cap is a nice to have, but it is an expensive nice to have. The clock upgrade is also a very nice mod, but again expensive. However, some say the clock mod itself may be the single most important change you can make to any transport or DAC.

There's lots of notes about it on Audio Circle. You may want to search there also, on both the EA circle and the digital circle.

Enjoy,
Bob

I'm curious to know as well. I have a Bel Canto DAC2 and considering sending in my S7700 for mods to Empirical. Would be nice to hear from someone who uses a modded S7700 with Bel Canto DAC2.

Thanks Bob.
Also, I'm surprised that Empirical Audio doesn't offering
IEC plug installation. I think that after market power cords will make a difference as well. But of course I can do this myself.

Regards,
Igor

I'm curious myself on how the modded s7700 with the Bel Canto DAC2 sounds.

Supposedly, if you're using the 7700 as a transport the power cord really doesn't matter - according to Steve at EA. If you're going to install an IEC I would be careful of the grounding. The unit only has an ungrounded 2 prong power cord now, so I would actually leave the IEC ground unattached, or perhaps only ground it to the case itself.

One other thing, as a stand alone CD player after the mods the 7700 sounds really really nice too. You need a very good DAC to beat it on its own merits. Just missing some leading edge transient detail and punch/dynamics and air. But it is very smooth, extended and enjoyable on its own.

Good luck,
Bob