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Sony SACD XA777ES vs. old 777 vs. a good dac?

I'm interested in finding out if Redbook playback on the new 777 is improved over the old 777, and if so, by how much. Stereophile's review of the old 777 wasn't exactly a rave for Redbook playback.
I'm also interested in finding out how the new 777 works as a transport, in case my dac still beats the 777. Am I correct in assuming that the new 777 has a different transport from the old?
My front end is currently:
Cal Delta
Meridian 518
Meridian 563 with the 24-bit upgrade
Illuminations Orchid balanced cable.
Thanks for your help, and any other thoughts or suggestions you'd like to add would be appreciated.
Steve
stevegolf1
themusicshop
41 posts
 
The latest issue of The Absolute Sound said the new 777 is good but the complete review won't be out until next time. I would also like to know the same things.
sbruzonsky
25 posts
 
About two months ago, at the Audio Video Improvements forum at www.avsforum.com, I reviewed the new Granite Audio 657 tube cd player. On redbook CD it by a small margin outperformed a Bybeeized Sony SCD-777ES playing the same SACD version, in my system, and in another system I listened in, too. I was surprised. And I immediately sold the SACD player. Redbook ain't dead yet, not until the SACD players have better analog output stages. I recently upgraded my Theta Casablanca 2 DACs to Xtreme and after some weeks of burn-in, I find that now my using the Casablanca Xtreme DACs is comparable to the Granite tube cd analog output sound quality.
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