Why is Sony Digital sound more like vinyl?

Usblues,

A great observation that is too often understated in these posts and reviews in general. I have known many audiophiles in my life and none of them has the same composition of gear in their rigs. They may have owned the same gear at some point or dragged their gear over to a friend's house, etc. etc. but "settled" (if we ever do:-) on different gear to comprise their systems. I think this speaks volumes as to how we hear and specifically, what we find "real". Some people are taller than others and the "sweet spot" listening area we have for ourselves may not be the same for someone 5" shorter. I had an audiophile friend who had large ears that stuck out somewhat (think Alfred E. Newman - almost)who I always disagreed with over what sounded best. The point is, if it mimics what you percieve to be real and you are happy with it - cool!

I have owned a lot of digital front-end gear and currently have the Sony 999es residing in that spot. Some who know me thought it was a trade "down" but I got sick of having 3 racks dedicated to transport/DAC/upsampler not to mention cables, etc. You can see my review of the Sony in other threads. Is it "the best" I have heard (or owned) - no. Is it a sound I can live with - yes. At the end of the day, it does more things right than wrong. To the original point though, it would be interesting to see a study done on ear structure (and shape) with relation to hearing perception. I think it is a much more complicated (and subjective) human sense that doesn't get its due consideration when the "war of words" starts over audio gear - IMO. - Tony

Yeah,its always nice to see a litle more light and a little less heat,that being said,its an amazing pastime,been listening to music since Jailhouse Rock and this time and place is about as good as it got,with the possible exception of Berkeley in the old days,though that was live stuff.This is a great place to engage to learn and get happy and get mad I reckon.Theres some funny guys here besides the aces who teach us the fine points.Hve a large day my friend....Bob

Not giving up the Sony XA777 yet: My audiophile pusher finally talked me into trying a better A/C power cord, (Audioquest nrg2), and low and behold, the sound *is* more beguiling, and more ambience is evident. Interesting. I'm taking the unit to a modifier today to see if better caps and power supply will fit; if so, I'm going to have these items installed. I'll let you know if such mods give the player more oomph.

JDaniel-I recently recieved my XA9000ES player and was disappointed with the sound vs my XA777ES player until I plugged it into one of the new Monster Cable power strips...Freakin Hell, what a difference in every respect...bigger soundstage, tonality improved, hash gone and overall harmonic balance more natural..all this with increased low level resolution and better extension and control!! Go figure?

Got my hands on the latest ML No.390S and I am running it direct...it is amazing...nothing comes close to this experience...even the best of us get sidetracked!!