dvd or cd player

[edwin]

Planning to upgrade my cd player and I saw a new sony DVP-S7700 dvd player, i think this was their TOTL model years back. at a reasonble price. Would it be better to purchase the DVD player and use it only for audio? Thanks for any advise .

[Andyman]

Check out the threads for a discussion of the Toshiba SD-3960/3950. Very nice DVD player that sounds great for $70.

[Lazarus Short]

...is an SD 1200, and it does a very credible job on audio CD's as well as DVD's.

Laz

[Thatch_Ear]

Been using Toshibas for years and Sonys during the same time. Not only did the Toshibas sound better but they are all still working, while the Sony players are in land fills.

[F1nut]

If you truly want to upgrade then you might want to consider a seperate CD player, something with a tube output stage will be a major upgrade.

[ProAc_Fan]

Some of the really nice DVD players do a very credible job with CD only use. For example my Pioneer DV-09 was one of Stereophile's reference CD players and also was unrivaled as a DVD player. Sure this 40 lb monster cost $2K new but you can find them used in the $500-$600 range.

Mike

[michael w]

If you only want good CD playback then forget about a DVD player and get a dedicated CDP.

The Sony 7700 is ancient for a DVD player ( I have one), came out ~1999.

Like Mike's Pioneer DV-09, it did do a good job of playing CD's and makes a very good CD transport. The machine is old school Sony with battleship build quality; two aspects that you will not find in any $70 player.

If it was dirt cheap ( say ~$200) it would be worthy of consideration.

But if you are also looking at top notch DVD playback, things have moved on considerably since 1999 and the Sony will prove lacking for DVD duties.

[Punker X]

Originally posted by michael w
But if you are also looking at top notch DVD playback, things have moved on considerably since 1999 and the Sony will prove lacking for DVD duties.

I have a 7700, just wondering what I'm missing. It has perform flawlessly since I got it on close out when they discontinued it.

X

[michael w]

Hi X,

The only things missing from the 7700 that really matter are progressive scan video, the latest wide bandwidth video DACs and true 96kHz digital audio output, in standard form it downsamples to 48kHz.

There are aftermarket modders who can add progressive scan but most of these are not worth the money or effort.
Others can modify the digital output.

I have kept mine stock except for a multi-zone mod.
When I bought mine it would not play RCE DVDs but that's of no concern to US users.

The 7700 was built to last, has good performance and wonderful ergonomics unmatched by other machines.

The biggest improvement I have seen was when I got my new 16x9 TV. When running in 4x3 mode the Sony picture is artifact free but also a lot softer than other players. In 16x9 the picture sharpens up appreciably.

I'll probably keep ths machine for a long long time.

[Pioneer727]

Ive heard some bad things about my toshiba SD-1700 but i have had mine for 2 years now and no problems no skips or still frames.
and i like the sound.