Pulled the trigger- Sony SCD-777ES on the way

M Jarve

M Jarve

Audio Geek and NGE Freak
Sony SCD-777ES on the way - or - I probably just made a huge mistake

So, having first passed off SACD as something of a solution looking for a problem, my recent experience using the Denon DVD-2900 as a SACD player for a couple days changed my perspective. You see, I had based my opinion on what could be described as a super-market sample. It gave me something to chew on, but it was not really representing all that it could be. Hearing something resembling a proper SACD player changed that. I was able to definitively tell the difference, and, for the most part, it was for the better.

So, I now knew what I wanted- a great SACD player. But, reality has this nasty habit of rearing its head on occasion. I would have to sell my beloved Cambridge Azur 640c to help fund it, which meant I would be giving up a great CD player. Not only would did I want a great SACD player, but I would need one that was also a great Redbook CD player.

After performing some research, I found that to get something new that met that criteria would cost me much more than I can afford. So, I had to look back a few years. Among the units in contention, the SCD-777ES appeared to be the best. And, at under a grand, it was something I could afford (as long as I thinned the herd a little).

So, after selling a lot of kit (for me, anyways), I finally have a SCD-777ES on the way. I hope I made the right decision. But, the way I see it, any CD player that tips the scales at 60-lbs, that works, has got to be good.
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
The specifications on the Sony SCD-777ES are simply phenomenal. You should be enjoying music in such detail and musicality that you'll be going through your library of CDs looking to find out what was missed before. I was lucky enough to get a cd player in the Sony ES series (Sony CDP 508ESD) for less than ten bucks. It changed my expectations of CD performance. I sold it later as leverage towards an OPPO DVD/SACD player... I love the OPPO, but I am not fully convinced that the Sony was that far behind, if behind at all! Enjoy! :)
 
M Jarve said:
So, having first passed off SACD as something of a solution looking for a problem, my recent experience using the Denon DVD-2900 as a SACD player for a couple days changed my perspective. You see, I had based my opinion on what could be described as a super-market sample. It gave me something to chew on, but it was not really representing all that it could be. Hearing something resembling a proper SACD player changed that. I was able to definitively tell the difference, and, for the most part, it was for the better.

So, I now knew what I wanted- a great SACD player. But, reality has this nasty habit of rearing its head on occasion. I would have to sell my beloved Cambridge Azur 640c to help fund it, which meant I would be giving up a great CD player. Not only would did I want a great SACD player, but I would need one that was also a great Redbook CD player.

After performing some research, I found that to get something new that met that criteria would cost me much more than I can afford. So, I had to look back a few years. Among the units in contention, the SCD-777ES appeared to be the best. And, at under a grand, it was something I could afford (as long as I thinned the herd a little).

So, after selling a lot of kit (for me, anyways), I finally have a SCD-777ES on the way. I hope I made the right decision. But, the way I see it, any CD player that tips the scales at 60-lbs, that works, has got to be good.
Click to expand...

Our Audio Club has used a Sony 777ES in it's reference system for several years and it's an excellent player, with the one drawback that it's as slow as molasses loading the disc.
With the SACD format becoming obsolete, it's perhaps not as necessary to have it much longer, but it works and sounds nice on everything.

Yours should give you excellent service for many years to come.

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
I don't have the big girl yet... But, here is a pic provided by the seller. The dang thing just looks like the proverbial brick *hithouse. Even more interesting, I have a somewhat functioning Yamaha CDX-10000 on the workbench getting a servo rebuilt- be pretty fun to compare the two TOTL units from 12 years apart. I'm guessing, aside from the obvious, more similarities than differences.
 

Attachments

  • 1292788525.jpg
    1292788525.jpg
    83.1 KB · Views: 185
yeah, its a great unit...I had one for awhile...doesnt matter that SACD seems to be fading. thats what the used market is for..:-)
 
I've already got a collection of SACD's and Hybrids, including the Beethoven Symphony cycle recorded by the MSO (who, in my estimation, perform the Ninth more closely to how it was intended than any other rendition I've heard).

But even if I never buy another SACD again, as long as it's CDDA performance is at least as good (or better than) my old Cambridge deck, I'm still ahead.
 
Those are supposed to be very nice, Mike! I'm sure it will make for a great player for you.

Keep an eye out for sales on those online CD stores. I picked up about $200 worth of SACD's when one of them had a sale a couple of years back for $5.00 a pop!

I think that was a advertising error on their part but the honored the price. I've seen similar sales since then for around $10.00 each.

Can't say that all have been eye opening SACD experiences but many are pretty amazing when compared to redbook.


RC
 
I guess the deck shipped today and is now in FedEx's hands. Good-golly, I can hardly wait for a knock at the front door. Right now I'm running my old ADC CD-2000E, and while a good performer belying it's age and stature (certainly not as good as the old 640c, however), it's making me impatient for the time when I can hear it as intended again.
 
I Had One Of These Several Years Ago

The physical construction on this player is impressive!

Sound on CD is typical Sony, which means its a touch on the smooth side, but nice to listen to. Does a great job on SACD, which it really should. But yes the load times are slow. But it gives you time to get back to your listening chair, pick up the remote, and be ready to make your selection.

But there is a potential problem. The SCD777ES was known for developing tracking issues. Sometimes the machine would develop problems reading the SACD portion of the disc. Sony does service them, but the repairs were not inexpensive. Not sure if a good DIY person could accomplish this on their own, but I get the impression they can't as some specialized tools are needed.

Hope you get a flawless one, mine never gave me any trouble. In the end I found that the SACD thing wasn't a big deal to me, and that I was able to get better redbook sound from a DAC/Transport than the Sony. Actually I think the current CD stack I have in my house does better with 16 bit than my Sony could with SACD.

Disclaimer: Many of the SACD I had were single layer Sony offerings. They had been remastered so significantly that the music sounded different than the same redbook disc that it should have been related to. Like they were completely different performance, so no meaningful comparisons could be made.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
Congratulations! The 777 is an exceptionally well-built machine. I know these machines very well since I used-to modify these as a side gig. These units sound very good stock on SACD, and still sound pretty decent on redbook. But many of the better DACs these days will embarrass the stock player's redbook performance. However with the very best mods, these can truly kick-*** and I'd put one of these up against the very best digital that money can buy for either redbook or SACD playback.

The tracking issue referred to above does eventually happen with every single one of these players. 4 different things can cause these symptoms (not necesarily in this order):
1) The drive spindle bearings wearing-out.
2) The sled-motor wearing-out
3) One of the two lasers wearing-out or
4) The lasers are out of allignment.

I've never seen one of these players go far-enough out of allignment that alligning alone fixed this problem though. Usually by the time this is happening, one of the three other parts is failing. But the allignment is crucial whenever you install new lasers, or you risk the mis-tracking happening from day one.

Have fun with it!
 
Last edited:
goldear said:
Congratulations! The 777 is an exceptionally well-built machine. I know these machines very well since I used-to modify these as a side gig. These units sound very good stock on SACD, and still sound pretty decent on redbook. But many of the better DACs these days will embarrass the stock player's redbook performance. However with the very best mods, these can truly kick-*** and I'd put one of these up against the very best digital that money can buy for either redbook or SACD playback.

The tracking issue referred to above does eventually happen with every single one of these players. 4 different things can cause these symptoms (not necesarily in this order):
1) The drive spindle bearings wearing-out.
2) The sled-motor wearing-out
3) One of the two lasers wearing-out or
4) The lasers are out of allignment.

I've never seen one of these players go far-enough out of allignment that alligning alone fixed this problem though. Usually by the time this is happening, one of the three other parts is failing. But the allignment is crucial whenever you install new lasers, or you risk the mis-tracking happening from day one.

Have fun with it!
Click to expand...

Ouch! That's not encouraging at all. The reason I got the Cambridge deck in the first place was to put an end to a string of very good sounding and well built, but ultimately unreliable CD players I had been using. While the seller assures me that this unit has always performed flawlessly, I'm starting to worry about dropping close to $1k on a player that might only last a year- I'm not in the habit of "renting" gear, especially when it's this expensive...

And if the red-book performance is only so-so (contrary, it seems, to what Stereofool and others indicated), maybe I should have saved a lot of money and just gotten one of those cheap Denon DVD-2900/3900 series units. Seem to be about as reliable, had okay (though not great) red-book performance, and only cost 1/3 as much. Perhaps my first post after getting it should be in BT?
 
I think you should listen to it first and decide...everybody's opinion is different. For example, I like the CD sound coming from my Sony RC-w1 CD-recorder/player better than the CD sound from my Cambridge 640c vII...I can't imagine the SCD-777ES being below that. I'd love to have one! What a tank!
 
M Jarve said:
Ouch! That's not encouraging at all. The reason I got the Cambridge deck in the first place was to put an end to a string of very good sounding and well built, but ultimately unreliable CD players I had been using. While the seller assures me that this unit has always performed flawlessly, I'm starting to worry about dropping close to $1k on a player that might only last a year- I'm not in the habit of "renting" gear, especially when it's this expensive...

And if the red-book performance is only so-so (contrary, it seems, to what Stereofool and others indicated), maybe I should have saved a lot of money and just gotten one of those cheap Denon DVD-2900/3900 series units. Seem to be about as reliable, had okay (though not great) red-book performance, and only cost 1/3 as much. Perhaps my first post after getting it should be in BT?
Click to expand...
I have extremely high standards when it comes to Audio. What is just so-so to me is absolutely fantastic to many. I have heard some of the best of the best when it comes to digital, and when properly modified, this player is right up there IMO.

Regarding the rest: This player is not unreliable. With moderate use these will probably last >15 years before something fails, if it is well cared for. The modified units that I have encounted simply get used so much (because people absolutely love them) that they do eventually wear-out. There are some tricks that you can do to extend the life of this unit too (like cleaning and lubricaring the bearings, and not doing stupid stuff like leaving the player in pause, and then going on vacation for a week, or shipping the player with the puck in place) , so don't loose heart yet.

The rest can all be serviced and replaced, although admittedly it is a bit expensive to do.

FWIW: When I was modifying these players, the modified Sonys sounded better with a good redbook CD than the stock player did with a good SACD. And the sound from a properly modfiied unit on SACD was a couple of levels above even that.

Take a listen to it before you do anything. I could hapiliy live with a Stock SCD-777ES if I had to. But since I know what these units are actually capable of at their best, I have become spoiled. FWIW: My brand-new Oppo 93 (which I got for my my HT system) sounds very good when run in DSD mode. It deserves the rave reviews that it has received (at least for a universal player in its price-range). But a stock SCD-1 still sounds better on two-channel SACDs. So I doubt very-much that you will be dissapointed. Just try some dual-layer disks. These are always the first thing to start having problems when run in SACD mode. That is the way that I always used to test for this issue.

Just remember that all components eventually wear-out. And if you want for it to last forever, then I would recommend to you that plan on buying some spare parts, and on gving it a little TLC from time to time.

Have fun with it!
 
Last edited:
The SCD-777es is a beautiful machine. I have that and the big brother SCD-1. The only differences are the Digital & Analog power supply and one extra foot in the center on the SCD-1. Here are some pics and nudies if you like nudies. :D

5318534903_637a0ac0f4_z.jpg

57adb43b_DSC04643.JPG


b151b813_DSC00384.JPG
78c07614_DSC04646.JPG
 
Last edited:
goldear said:
I have extremely high standards when it comes to Audio. What is just so-so to me is absolutely fantastic to many. I have heard some of the best of the best when it comes to digital, and when properly modified, this player is right up there IMO.

Regarding the rest: This player is not unreliable. With moderate use these will probably last >15 years before something fails, if it is well cared for. The modified units that I have encounted simply get used so much (because people absolutely love them) that they do eventually wear-out. There are some tricks that you can do to extend the life of this unit too (like cleaning and lubricaring the bearings, and not doing stupid stuff like leaving the player in pause, and then going on vacation for a week, or shipping the player with the puck in place) , so don't loose heart yet.

The rest can all be serviced and replaced, although admittedly it is a bit expensive to do.

FWIW: When I was modifying these players, the modified Sonys sounded better with a good redbook CD than the stock player did with a good SACD. And the sound from a properly modfiied unit on SACD was a couple of levels above even that.

Take a listen to it before you do anything. I could hapiliy live with a Stock SCD-777ES if I had to. But since I know what these units are actually capable of at their best, I have become spoiled. FWIW: My brand-new Oppo 93 (which I got for my my HT system) sounds very good when run in DSD mode. It deserves the rave reviews that it has received (at least for a universal player in its price-range). But a stock SCD-1 still sounds better on two-channel SACDs. So I doubt very-much that you will be dissapointed. Just try some dual-layer disks. These are always the first thing to start having problems when run in SACD mode. That is the way that I always used to test for this issue.

Just remember that all components eventually wear-out. And if you want for it to last forever, then I would recommend to you that plan on buying some spare parts, and on gving it a little TLC from time to time.

Have fun with it!
Click to expand...

I read that Sony has stopped making some of the those parts you mentioned in a earlier post. As for Hybrid SACD discs issues, I read that it's a software problem. Sony does all the upgrades and repairs for a flat fee of $250 if you ship the unit to them. My biggest issue with shipping these is cosmetic damages like nicks and dings. These players are HEAVY so shipping is a problem. Both my units are in PERFECT shape without playback issues, yet. It's too bad no one but Sony can fix these beauties.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom