Sony scd-777es,normal cd's

it is a steal at $1500 ... be prepared for a lllloooonnnngggg break in period though. I have used mine for about 500hrs now and the sound has finally settled in. It continued to improve up until about a month ago so I would say break it in for 400hrs or so. Also you must break in the SACD section for it to sound its best. Just put the thing on repeat for a few weeks if you can.

In my case, at something around 150 hours, it started to open up. I think I am at 225 hours now and it seems to improve at each 25+ hours. However, although I am hoping for the best, I am still contemplating having to use it as a transport only. Does anyone have a suggestion on a suitable DAC?

Hello, you are in the same boat as I. I will wait for the break in period and if this player is just average I will get a dac. One I have my eye on is the EVS millenium dac II and also I am on the list to get one [long waiting time] If your interested go to Rick Shultz web site which is tweakaudio.com Also another dac I have been reading about is the Birdland Audio Odeon-lite. The web is Birdlandaudio.com Oh yeah, one more is the Job DA96 made in Switzerland, this one had a review in September/October issue of the Listener. These three dacs rage in price,$800 for the EVS, $950 for the Birdland and $1250 for the Job. Jobs site is jobsys.com Let me know how you make out or decide. My e-mail is radiomanjh@aol.com Good luck! John

The regular CD playback on the 777 is excellent. I A/B'd the Sony against my upsampled dCS Delius/Purcell/Theta Jade and found the regular playback on the Sony it's equal, and possibly it's superior, more detail, less haze. Sold the 12K dCS, kept the 1.7 K Sony. The SACD is even better, not Vinyl,imo, but then again I have only about 30 hrs on the unit, and according to the above, it takes quite some time to break in. I love it already.