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Experiences with ModWright Sony 999ES



Hi,

I'm in the market for a new CD/SACD player. A short
list of my top contenders are the following

Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista SACD
Wadia 302
Audio Aero Prima
McCormack UDP1
Krell SACD Standard(Not really sure about this one though)

On a recommendation I got from my previous post I called
Frank Stuppel at fsaudio.com. Franks a nice guy and was
extremely helpful with his opinions and suggestion. One
option he said I should consider is the ModWright Signature
Truth Sony 999ES for about $2700.

After doing a little research here and on AudioAsylum it seems that Dan Wright and Richard Kern really do some impressive work. I do admitt to being a little more that
curious now. I was hoping to get some feedback from anyone
who has a Modwright Sony. Have you had any reliablity issues? Do you feel that the ModWright Sony is in the
same league sonically as my other contenders? I would
certainly appreciate your experiences and advice.

Thanks
Cmach
cmach
rbstehno
1,432 posts
 
the tri-vista sacd is one heck of a player, very nice sound. another fantastic sacd player for the same amount of money is the esoteric sacd. i have heard a few of dan's modded sacd players. i just heard his tubed modded sony 9000es sacd, which sounded very nice. i'm not sure about the modded 999es, but an option would be to purchase a good used sony 9000es on audiogon and have dan apply his mod's on top of that. i would be less than 1/2 the price of the tri-vista or esoteric.
good luck
cmach OP
193 posts
 
Hi Rbstehno,

Thanks for your response. I plan on calling Dan today.
If I could ask you for a quick opinion. Did you feel
the Modwright Sony was competitive to the Tri-Vista in performance?
The Tri-Vista was actually my first choice but the price
is really pushing my budget. I would appreciate your
thoughts.

Thanks
Cmach
tombowlus
416 posts
 
I was going to buy a modded NS999ES from Dan, but after talking to him for a while, I asked him about the Denon 2900, which he thought was not as good as the Sony in stock form, but which exceeded the Sony after similar mods. This led to me revisiting the Denon products, and ultimately I chose to have Dan mod a 5900 for me. It is absolutely phenomenal. I don't have another tubed output digital source to compare it to, but it certainly gives my FMJ CD23T a run for its money (and in some ways exceeds it) on Redbook. I am thrilled with the sound of my modded 5900 from ModWright.
glreno
224 posts
 
I have a Modwright Sony 999ES. It's a fabulous player. I would highly recommend it. Very musical, lots of detail, black background, very involving. No problems after a couple of months. Seems to be very well done.
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