Would an external DAC improve the sound of my SONY

i would agree with bigkidz. sony doesn't have the best sound in cd playback. the transports are very good and there are a lot of people that modify these transports to sound very musical. another way is to purchase an external dac unit. other dac's to audition would be from cal audio. they make some nice tube dac's and if you modify the stock tube, you can achieve a wonderful sound from any sony.

Agree with Bigkidz & Rbstehno, esp. a Cal Alpha.

Even new sonys have their own distinct sound. Personally, I think they make great transports but will only use one with an external DAC. I like warmer, less analytical sound.

Hi! I have Sony NS 999ES SACD/CD and have been doing extensive A/B testing, trying to compare my Sony with Musical Fidelity A3 24 upsampling DAC, that I have on loan in my system for the last few days. Mind you, the MF DAC MSRP is the same, as Sony ($1200), and it's been highly acclaimed by Sam Tellig of Stereofile not so long ago.
My conclusion so far is: no matter how hard I tried to like MF DAC ( and I can get a real good price on it), I could only hear very marginal difference b/w the two. Possibly a little bit more refinement in the HF region, and maybe, just maybe, slightly better articulated mids.
But again, the difference is so insignificant, that I cannot justify paying for such marginal improvement yet. I really tried to like it.

Medium to high-cost Sonys make great transports once they are modded properly, particularly the DVP-S7700. My personal DAC favorites are modded Perpetual P-3A and modded Birdland Odeon-lite.