[Cherokee Mist]

I'm wondering where a modded Sony SCD-CE775 would fit into this equation. I actually prefer the sound of my stock Sony to the Philips in my current system with speakers although the Philips' low level detail retrieval is obviously better with headphone listening. That being said, I think that the Philips price tag is more than reasonable for the picture quality alone. I know that it would be much cheaper to mod the Sony than the Philips, so I'm curious to find out how much of an improvement would I hear with a modded Sony. Can anyone enlighten me to how the modded Sony CE775 compares to the other Sony's in this thread? Thanks!

Regards

 

[sacd lover]

The 775 is almost the same as the 222es. But the 222es has a heavier construction, a few better parts and seperate analog and digital power supplies, where the 775 has the power supplies combined. Matt has an additional mod where he adds another transformer to the 775 to create seperate analog /digital supplies. You can look it up on his website. The modded 775 should sound very similar to the 222es. If you go to audio asylum and look up the sony section under reviews, you will find some reviews on the sacdmods 775 by some of their members. This is where I came across sacdmods.

 

[spaceman]

Anyone recommend a good online dealer for Sony sources so I can start browsing around?

 

[ServinginEcuador]

www.sonystyle.com

This has all their current stuff. Price can be found by doing a quick search on Dogpile.com or your favorite search engine.

 

[orl2222]

I have a Sony C222ES, and its a great player for a 5 disc SACD and rebook. I use it for my headphone only listening. It has a quieter tray than my 7775(which I use in my speaker system). It provides the lil details even in rebook play. I agree, its bulit like a tank! It has a very solid feel to it. The 5 yr warranty is great also if your not going to mod it. It compares very favorably to my sleeper unit, NS 9000 V, which iactually like more than my philips 963sa.

 

[TimSchirmer]

These modded CDP's remind me of rice rocket cars.

I don't think they are worth the money. You might as well sell it and get a better CDP, that way you are paying for a better circuit design.

 

[markl]

Quote:

I don't think they are worth the money.

You are of course speaking as someone who has never heard one.

Might just change your mind!

 

[dd3mon]

Quote:

Originally posted by TimSchirmer These modded CDP's remind me of rice rocket cars. I don't think they are worth the money. You might as well sell it and get a better CDP, that way you are paying for a better circuit design.

I think your logic is wayyy off here. What are the best deals in audio? DIY projects. The actual costs of parts and labor is much less (and in some cases FAR FAR less) than the retail. If it was an easy task, the best cdps would be homemade pieced together with top-end DACs, transports, clocks and output stages - but fitting these together requires more engineering than say a great DIY amp. Next best thing? Modify a CDP that has a good foundation (DACs and Transport), update the other components to the best stuff around, and poof you have a CDP that would cost several times as much if the original company had made it that way.

Although modders seemingly charge more than the paltry fees for labor the DIY amp makers charge around here, it's still nothing compared to the profit margins of the companies who make the players in the first place.

EDIT: I believe 'rice rocket cars' refers to modified hondas, etc that kids drive around? Well last time I checked the goal of a piece of audio equipment was performance, and for a fraction of the cost you can get ferrari-style performance out of a modified road vehicle. Your analogy was right on, but the conclusion was off. Sure you're not going to get ferrari's looks, warranty and prestige, but if you could afford one in the first place, why would you bother with mods? (Not that I'm into modified cars, I think most of them look/sound ridiculous, but the ones made for street racing can sure perform).

-dd3mon

 

[Xerxes]

I disagree that the 963sa has inferior build quality. It uses ultra high-speed (>100Mhz), low noise op-amps which are rarely used in other player. It also uses the AD1955 A/D converter (M_Ankler is completely wrong here) that is has the highest spec in the industry. The 192khz ADi upsampling chip is also quite rare (most use the Crystal 96khz ones). I can also site the high precision crystals (5ppm) which are quite rare in players like this.

The player also uses 4 layer board (far more expensive) which helps in achieving one of the best Thd, S/N ratio, very low jitter and and out-of band noise performance.

Having said the above, performance can be quite easily applied to extract even more performance. The simplest (and one of the most effective) mod that I would like to recommed (completely reversible) is to use cardas RCA caps to cover unused terminal. This dramatically reduce the already low noise level even further.

 

[markl]

Xerxes,
I think Matthew's comments about the 963SA's build quality is in relation to the better-built (and more expensive) Sony players. I think you could argue that it's unfair to compare a $400 DVD player to a $800 and $1600 dedicated CDP, of course there are going to be differences in build quality, but that doesn't mean his evaluation is "wrong" per se. I'm sure good as the 963SA is, it is a $400 unit, although a very well-made $400 unit, but it should be no surprise that a stock 963SA does not have the internal build quality of a $1600 555ES, for example. I don't want to speak for him, but I think that's the basis of his comparison.

Mark

 

[grohan]

Tweeter offered me to choose between a 555 and a 963 for the same price...I got the philips, as it was better on redbook playback and about even with SACDs, dvd as bonus... built quality, the sony is much better, of course, but I found that the upsampling is more important than an extraheavy bottom plate. There are also professional comparos-see one german hi-fi magazine top posted here a while ago, that ranked the 963 above the 555.... comparo wise, we got to talk about stock cdps, as the moded 555 is almost 4 times as much as a new 963 and has a voided warranty...

as for the SACDmods.com dude- he is doing mods on the 555 for living, what it is resonable to expect him to say?

 

[markl]

Quote:

as for the SACDmods.com dude- he is doing mods on the 555 for living, what it is resonable to expect him to say?

Well, grohan, if you read the thread *carefully* you'd see he's working on mods for the 963SA as well.

People really are so jaded these days.

 

[sacd lover]

For what he gives you the sacdmods are the most reasonable I have seen. He works in his dads appliance store and goes to school. He is a GOOD GUY and comes from a GOOD FAMILY. He isnt a gouger he could charge a lot more.

 

[spaceman]

Quote:

Originally posted by sacd lover For what he gives you the sacdmods are the most reasonable I have seen. He works in his dads appliance store and goes to school. He is a GOOD GUY and comes from a GOOD FAMILY. He isnt a gouger he could charge a lot more.

How long does a mod usually take, excluding the shipping times?

 

[sacd lover]

It depends on the model and how busy he is. He had all three of my players each done in a week or less. I live nearby so I dropped them off on a Saturday and picked them up the next Saturday. He is currently doing a rectifier mod on my monarchy amp and its the same story.