[Silver]

I somehow came across a completely new D-777 back in 2003 and have been using mine not too often (I think average over the years 2 hours per week). I really enjoy its headphone out directly with a pair of Grado SR80s. However, 7 years have passed since then. It still reads my own collection of CDs fine but it often has difficulty to read the "abused" records from the public library. Not sure if it is normal. I start to wonder when it would come to its end of service.

I also have been thinking about possible replacement. iPod Touch seems to be a very convenient and attractive "jack of all trades". However, I have not managed to find someone willing to lend his Touch for hours of trial. I honestly expect that I would probably be far less satisfied with Touch in terms of SQ but I would be grateful if anyone hearing both Touch and any of the 90s Sony discman could tell me if that is the case. Thanks!

 

[Yukster]

Considering how similar our equipment setup is, I will chime in.

I picked up a in store display unit D777 back in 2005. My guess is that it was one of those "inside a glass display case" type units. I also was a pretty heavy portable MD user also. My current gear consists of a 2G iPod Touch -> ATH-CK100.

From my experience, my Sony CDP/MD have a very different sound signature than my Apple units. I find this especially true with the D777. I am not going to attempt to describe the difference, since I don't think I know enough technical terms, but it is safe to say that they are almost the polar opposites of each other. The only way I fixed this is to use a LOD and an external amp.

If you really want to replace your D777, you could try to find some late model Sony CDPs, such as the d-ne9x0 series used. People have been saying a lot of good things about the Sony DAPs, so you may want to consider those as well.

As for your D777, have you tried cleaning the lense with a lense cleaning kit?