Eujin
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2001
- Messages
- 549
First of all, let me say up front that I have no financial interest in the company/person who did the mods for my 775. I just want to head off any possible controversy that may be generated by what I'm about to say; the type of controversy that I've seen degenerate into flame wars over at Audio Asylum.
That said, let me begin with some background. I initially picked up the Sony SCD-CE775 because I wanted to get a taste of SACD. At the time, the player had just been marked down--from something like $400 to $169, which I got on sale from an authorized online retailer (I'd also had an open box from Best Buy, but returned it to get the brand new one which was cheaper). At the time, I was very impressed with the smoothness and detail of this very cheap player's SACD performance. However, Red Book performance left MUCH to be desired--my budget NAD C521 player left it in the dust in terms of smoothness, detail, body, soundstage, and just about any category of performance imaginable. After a couple of months, I decided that I wanted to have a single player that I could use for both SACD and Red Book. I'd pretty much decided on selling my 775 and upgrading to the Sony 555ES when I came across posts on Audio Asylum mentioning modifications being done on 775s by a certain Matthew Anker of SACDmods.com. Curiousity piqued, I decided to do more digging. I even posted a couple of times on this very board during my decision making process. It was a dilemma: go with the 555ES, a proven performer for both SACD and Red Book, or a modded 775 which I would not be able to audition, based only on the few positive user reviews by those intrepid souls who'd taken the plunge before me. After much hand-wringing and research into the components used for the mods, I decided to trust this young man who had come, seemingly out of nowhere. Actually, he hails from Ohio and if the mods he's currently performing are any indication, he's got a bright future in audio.
I just got my player back today, after a turnaround time of about 2 weeks. Matthew offers several mod packages for the 775, but I decided to go with the works. These, as listed on his site, are:
1. Harris high speed, soft recovery diodes (FREDs)
2. Black Gate Capacitors installed on the output stages (47uFÊ Non-Polarized NX HiQ series).
3. LC Audio LClock XO2: The definitive upgrade for the player improves midrange and high frequency especially.
4. Cardas GRFA RCA females installed to replace the flimsy circuit board mounted stock RCA jacks.
Total cost for parts and labor came to $345. As you can see, these mods plus a stock 775 would have been the equivalent total dollar value that a 555ES would cost online (a little under $600).
Well, after listening to the player for most of the evening, I can happily say that it has totally justified my decision. Matthew says that I should continue to let the player burn in for a further 72 hours at the very least before making any subjective judgement. However, it is already plainly obvious that vast improvements have been made. The one big thing I was concerned about, which was Red Book performance, is now a non-issue. If further burn-in will improve the sound coming from this player, I know I'm in for a treat. One of my favorite tracks for testing Red Book is from an obscure CD by a very obscure artist, Calvin Russell. The album is "Crossroads", a series of live acoustic recordings made at various small venues across Europe. On track 6 of this album, with high-end players and good components, you can plainly tell that he is playing in venue with extremely different room acoustics than the previous tracks. I first heard this difference on a Rega Planet 2000 but could not afford its $850 price tag and eventually settled for the NAD C521(loved that player--what a killer budget player!). I subsequently heard that difference in room acoustics on the current Audio Refinement CD player (can't remember the model name) and Arcam FMJ. I tried but failed to hear it on any of the Arcam Alpha models. Suffice it to say that the modded 775 passed this test with flying colors.
Overall, there is a smoothness that just wasn't there before on both SACD and Red Book playback. Digital harshness is virtually gone--I say virtually because some of it is still there, but it's a huge improvement from before. As far as I'm concerned, I will no longer lust after either the 555ES or Rega Planet (my wife and I wanted this player in the worst way last year). EVERYTHING just sounds so much more musical now. The only downside is that I'm leaving to go to New York for the weekend in the morning :frowning: . I will let the player continue to break in while I'm away. In the meanwhile, if anyone else is interested in these mods, let me know what music you'd like me to test with and I'll be happy to try it out if I have them.
By the way, here are my associated components--very modest in my opinion, but great bang for my buck:
Pre/Power--Harman/Kardon AVR-320 receiver (my system has to do double duty for HT)
Speakers--Triangle Titus 202 on Tyler Acoustics stands
Sub--SVS 25-31CS powered by an old Onkyo receiver
Cables--TNT Triple T for speaker cable (non-bi-wired config.) and cheap Acoustic Research Gold interconnects (next on the upgrade list).
Before I go, I should mention that Matthew is also a member here on HTF. He's been wonderful to work with and been very patient with all my questions. As far as value goes, his mods are just awesome--cost of parts alone make the $345 I paid him money well spent.
That said, let me begin with some background. I initially picked up the Sony SCD-CE775 because I wanted to get a taste of SACD. At the time, the player had just been marked down--from something like $400 to $169, which I got on sale from an authorized online retailer (I'd also had an open box from Best Buy, but returned it to get the brand new one which was cheaper). At the time, I was very impressed with the smoothness and detail of this very cheap player's SACD performance. However, Red Book performance left MUCH to be desired--my budget NAD C521 player left it in the dust in terms of smoothness, detail, body, soundstage, and just about any category of performance imaginable. After a couple of months, I decided that I wanted to have a single player that I could use for both SACD and Red Book. I'd pretty much decided on selling my 775 and upgrading to the Sony 555ES when I came across posts on Audio Asylum mentioning modifications being done on 775s by a certain Matthew Anker of SACDmods.com. Curiousity piqued, I decided to do more digging. I even posted a couple of times on this very board during my decision making process. It was a dilemma: go with the 555ES, a proven performer for both SACD and Red Book, or a modded 775 which I would not be able to audition, based only on the few positive user reviews by those intrepid souls who'd taken the plunge before me. After much hand-wringing and research into the components used for the mods, I decided to trust this young man who had come, seemingly out of nowhere. Actually, he hails from Ohio and if the mods he's currently performing are any indication, he's got a bright future in audio.
I just got my player back today, after a turnaround time of about 2 weeks. Matthew offers several mod packages for the 775, but I decided to go with the works. These, as listed on his site, are:
1. Harris high speed, soft recovery diodes (FREDs)
2. Black Gate Capacitors installed on the output stages (47uFÊ Non-Polarized NX HiQ series).
3. LC Audio LClock XO2: The definitive upgrade for the player improves midrange and high frequency especially.
4. Cardas GRFA RCA females installed to replace the flimsy circuit board mounted stock RCA jacks.
Total cost for parts and labor came to $345. As you can see, these mods plus a stock 775 would have been the equivalent total dollar value that a 555ES would cost online (a little under $600).
Well, after listening to the player for most of the evening, I can happily say that it has totally justified my decision. Matthew says that I should continue to let the player burn in for a further 72 hours at the very least before making any subjective judgement. However, it is already plainly obvious that vast improvements have been made. The one big thing I was concerned about, which was Red Book performance, is now a non-issue. If further burn-in will improve the sound coming from this player, I know I'm in for a treat. One of my favorite tracks for testing Red Book is from an obscure CD by a very obscure artist, Calvin Russell. The album is "Crossroads", a series of live acoustic recordings made at various small venues across Europe. On track 6 of this album, with high-end players and good components, you can plainly tell that he is playing in venue with extremely different room acoustics than the previous tracks. I first heard this difference on a Rega Planet 2000 but could not afford its $850 price tag and eventually settled for the NAD C521(loved that player--what a killer budget player!). I subsequently heard that difference in room acoustics on the current Audio Refinement CD player (can't remember the model name) and Arcam FMJ. I tried but failed to hear it on any of the Arcam Alpha models. Suffice it to say that the modded 775 passed this test with flying colors.
Overall, there is a smoothness that just wasn't there before on both SACD and Red Book playback. Digital harshness is virtually gone--I say virtually because some of it is still there, but it's a huge improvement from before. As far as I'm concerned, I will no longer lust after either the 555ES or Rega Planet (my wife and I wanted this player in the worst way last year). EVERYTHING just sounds so much more musical now. The only downside is that I'm leaving to go to New York for the weekend in the morning :frowning: . I will let the player continue to break in while I'm away. In the meanwhile, if anyone else is interested in these mods, let me know what music you'd like me to test with and I'll be happy to try it out if I have them.
By the way, here are my associated components--very modest in my opinion, but great bang for my buck:
Pre/Power--Harman/Kardon AVR-320 receiver (my system has to do double duty for HT)
Speakers--Triangle Titus 202 on Tyler Acoustics stands
Sub--SVS 25-31CS powered by an old Onkyo receiver
Cables--TNT Triple T for speaker cable (non-bi-wired config.) and cheap Acoustic Research Gold interconnects (next on the upgrade list).
Before I go, I should mention that Matthew is also a member here on HTF. He's been wonderful to work with and been very patient with all my questions. As far as value goes, his mods are just awesome--cost of parts alone make the $345 I paid him money well spent.
