[Dracule1]

I hear this unit has a dual laser pickup unlike most other multiformat players, but I'm not sure if the bits that come out of the digital out is good as the high end Sony player/transports. Anybody ever compare it to other higher quality transports out there?

[rbrb]

I think long term reliabilty may be an issue with that model. I know someone that had one that gave up the ghost in about a year.

[audioengr]

I have compared it head-to-head with the best transport I have ever heard, the Sony DVP-S7700, both having power and digital mods.  

So far, before it has broken-in, the Philips is very clear and focused, but sounds a bit cold and lifeless.  I have not put a Superclock2 in it yet, but this is the plan.  Hopefully, after the Jensen cap breaks-in, things will sound better.  The digital out signal is one of the cleanest that I have seen (textbook perfect), but it is the digital signal processing after the bits are read off the disk that makes the magic happen.  If the Philips does not do this right, it may never sound good.....  I will post results on my forum after break-in.

[Dracule1]

...  the Philips 963 or Sony 7700?  I was also thinking of getting a used 7700 and having you modify it.  But if the modded Philips 963 sound as good as the modded 7700, I would go with the Philips.

[audioengr]

So far the Sony 7700 is still the winner.

[ABEX]

What are the difference between the 2 in stock and Modded form?

TIA

[Dracule1]

Steve, I'm not much of an electronics whiz.  May  be you can explain to me why the Sony S7700 is such a great sounding transport, but not such a great  sounding CD player.  You'd think that the DVD circuitry would impede its performance.  Does it have a special transport mechanism that is different than the other high-end Sonys or is the digital processing special?  It seems like this transport has gained cult status among audiophiles.  Will your mod actually improve the sound of the CD playback comparable to lets say your modded Perpetual DAC?

[kbuzz3]

Im a 963sacd owner as well. My unit was previously modded by evs/ric.  On Red book The high end is really transparent but ive never really bonded with the upper freq. as much as i am floored by the slam of rics mods.

As such i recently threw in a john wright updated mietner bitsream dac and am using the 963 with some good results.  However, as usual im wondering if cant go further with this machine.

Steve, or anyone else.....what do your mods do that might improve the phillips? Why exaclty is the sony better as a transport??

Finally, I will candidly say that as others have noted my  phillips player's transport is noisy and the unit runs hot. HOWEVER, I HAVE USed it daily for close to a year with problem...

so does one sell the phillips which is great on video-- and try out a sony...or work on th phillips further...

[audioengr]

Steve, I'm not much of an electronics whiz.  May  be you can explain to me why the Sony S7700 is such a great sounding transport, but not such a great  sounding CD player.  You'd think that the DVD circuitry would impede its performance.  Does it have a special transport mechanism that is different than the other high-end Sonys or is the digital processing special?  It seems like this transport has gained cult status among audiophiles.  Will your mod actually improve the sound of the CD playback comparable to lets say your modded Perpetual DAC?

The Sony 7700 is great for several reasons:

1) dedicated CD laser and second dedicated DVD laser
2) room for a Jensen 4-pole capacitor
3) PLL chip uses a crystal input rather than an oscillator module
4) DSP processing that just gets it right
5) transformerless digital output

No special transport mechanism, although newer Sony's don't seem to have the same magic.  The CDP playback of the 7700 I have never tried to improve.  My reference DAC is a P-3A upsampler and the 7700 does not upsample.  The DAC in the 7700 is probably not as good as the Crystal DAC in the P-3A.  However, I have listened to the headphone jack and the analog outs on the 7700 after doing power and digital mods and installing Superclock2 and it is impressive indeed.  With analog mods it might be a real contender, but it will probably never hit the smoothness and clarity of the P-3A with Turbomod. And of course, it will never play SACD.

[audioengr]

What are the difference between the 2 in stock and Modded form?

TIA

The 7700 is not a great transport in stock form, but superb in modded form.  It does not have particularly low jitter before mods and not the best after either.  The ergonomics on the Sony is first-rate.  It reads quickly, resonds fast and does everything you want it to do.

The Philips 963 has very low jitter in stock form and almost unmeasurable in modded form.  After digital mods including the Jensen 4-pole cap, it is almost as good as the Sony.  With Superclock2, I believe it will be on-par with the Sony 7700, maybe even better.  The Philips does not have great ergonomics.  It takes too long to open the drawer.  There is no way to defeat the "instant-play" feature.  The remote buttons have to be pushed real hard and there is no tactile feedback.  If you are in DTS mode watching a movie and skip to the next scene, the audio cuts out for about 15 seconds.  Mostly ergonomic issues.

[audioengr]

Steve, or anyone else.....what do your mods do that might improve the phillips? Why exactly is the sony better as a transport??

As I say in my other posts, I believe it is the DSP in the Sony, the transformerless digital out that I redesign and the Jensen 4-pole cap.

However, I am making real inroads with the Philips now.  With the 4-pole Jensen cap installed and broken-in and a lot of digital and power mods, my prototype is now an excellent transport.  You should read my article in PFOnline to understand what makes a great transport and cable length issues:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue14/spdif.htm

If you intend to use the Philips as a transport, there are a number of things that I can do to improve this:

1) redesign the S/PDIF output to speed-up the edge-rates
2) match the output impedance to exactly 75 ohms
3) improve the power delivery to the digital circuits
4) improve the power supply - 4-pole Jensen cap and Black Gates
5) Install a modded 33 MHz Superclock2 module
6) isolate the S/PDIF output with a high-performance pulse transformer

I have not priced these mods yet, but they will be in the $650-$750 range including the Jensen cap.  The modded Superclock2 is $450 installed.

We should really take this discussion to the Empirical Audio forum.  Sounding too commercial now.