scd 777es sacd sony mod worth it?

Mike, quite a bit, not counting shipping from Europe to the US and back about 2900 bucks! But it seems to be worth it. If you look at their webside, which shows all that they have done with this mod, it does not seem a rip-off, but fairly reasonable. (audience-av.com)

Well Detloff, I'm glad to see you got your player back and that the mod seems to be worth the money. Let me know if you agree or disagree with me about how SACD done right stacks up to vinyl. I recently upgraded my Ovation with the Debut platter/bearing/vacuum, and I still think SACD is similar to it in many ways--better in some, not quite as engaging in others, but clearly a level up from even upsampled CD. And something I can listen to in the same listening session as vinyl without a letdown.

Rcprince, you make a few excellent points. Its a bit early to tell still, but my experience seems to point into the same way as you suggest. Haven't listened to classical music yet, but with the Jazz stuff I listened to, I felt I could get easily drawn into the music, which is always a good sign. I marvel at the dynamics, which seem to better those of vinyl, but I hate the hiss, (mind you, you have that on some of the old Mercury LPs as well, but I hate that there too) which my ELS's and plasma tweeters reveal mercilessly. This is disturbing, especially at pppp levels, which the unit itself seems to disolve very well.

Congratulations and thanks for the follow up. I would tend to agree that as you found originally with break-in on the SCD-1, it will probably be at least the same with the new mods. Although the $2900 may seem expensive, if it can replace your Levinson Reference gear sonically, it will well be worth it financially.

Please keep us updated.

Jonathan, Robert at Audience actually told me, it would in time be better than the Levinson stuff. Well, I'm sceptical, but we'll see. Its broken in for about 70 hours now and I noticed a great leap forward in transparence , dynamics and general musicality on SACD after about 60 hours. Tried a classical, big orchestral piece, found it far better in every respect to any big orchestral Redbook stuff I'd ever heard, simply because it was closer to the real thing, than any CD I'd ever heard. VERY different from vinyl, which my ears are accustomed to. Need to listen more and do more breaking in , before I can report at depth.