Cost effective mods for a Sony SCD-777ES

Tvad

I agree with your assesment that the house sound, as you call it, if sony has a house sound, is changed; no doubt. And also agree that once modded you probably can not go back; depending on the mods performed.

My modded SCD-1 is so far beyond where it started it isn't even close in comparision. I put about $1800 in mods and feel it was well worth it. I do not feel I could ever achieve this level of performance by simply adding a DAC; although I could be wrong. I wasn't willing to add another component in the food chain as I believe in less is more or simplicity over complexity.

The sony is an inexpensive player and the mods are inexpensive (IMO) especially given the performance gains. The resale value while always a consideration wasn't as much of a factor for me as I was searching for the best sonic improvements for the dollar. This becomes even more evident to me when I compare the performance of my player relative to what a competitive player costs. In most cases the depreciation of those players is more than what I paid for the mods and the player. Good discussion though as everyone here has valid points.

Chuck

Chuck hits the mark that if the cost of the mule plus the mods produces a player that matches commercial offers costing 2-3 times as much, the mod has been justified financially & also in terms of personal satisfaction, regardless of resale issues.

Tvad, yes I am generally in your camp, but when I look inside a hi-end player and see parts-bin compromises like the cheapest varieties of op amps, one-chip clock oscillators, and three-pin voltage regulators rather than discrete regulation circuits, I just can't rationalize the result as "house sound" or "flavor." These are simply shortcomings.

I spoke to a reputable modifier - xxxx last night. Their opinion was, the SCD-777ES is already good (I agree)and the risk that something happens if one ships a heavy player like this back and forth or breaks by age is too large. Obviously, it is not worth to have to buy a second player to keep a stock of spare parts. In summary keep the player "as is".