[Jolojl]

Hi!

I'm curious to know about the experience people have had with the Sony DVP-S7700 as a transport. I've tried some different transports (nothing fancy but various ones with different sound properties), and before using the S7700 I used a Sony S725D (also a DVD-player) ... I do find the S7700 to be an excellent transport in many ways but there are two things that worry me: it's a bit up-front and also a bit "hot", that is compared to all transports I've tried, but specially compared with the S725D. The S7700 has a fuller sound, better bass, better overall hifi properties but I actually think that the S725D swings more and has more "air" in its presentation of the music ... I have two questions around this ...

1) Has anyone else noticed and been worried about the up-front and "hot" presentation of the S7700?

2) Maybe I should go PC and Squeezebox at that, BUT I do not want the same presentation as the S7700. Has anyone made a comparison?

My system is as in the signature, and I don't think anything there would bring things up-front (even though up and a bit forward for the TVC) or hot ...

Thanks for any response!

Johan

[byteme]

I used to use a 7700 for a transport w/ digital out into a Scott Nixon tubedac.  I really liked it but based on reviews here I sent it to Empirical Audio for the turbo mod and jensen cap.  You can read what I wrote about the differences in the review I posted here and there are also excerpts on the EA site.  I was very happy with it's original performance, didn't notice any forwardness in it and in fact thought it was the best transport I had tried to date.  Upgraded it was awesome.

It was in my system for almost 3 years modded and 4 years at least total.  I recently sold it and went squeezebox because I wanted more ease of use and also to take some money out of my system.  I've been listening to 2 channel less, that is to say I HAD been listening to 2 channel less because I just didn't have the time to sit and listen.  Now, with the squeezebox I can just put on a playlist and let it run all day or all night and very often find myself stopping what I'm doing just listening to the music.

I've not done a critical straight comparison between the 7700 modded and squeezebox because it took about a month to get all my CDs ripped and everything set up so I couldn't really compare the two.  My squeezebox has the RWA mods to it (fully monty) and sounds wonderful.  As I said, I find myself getting lost in the music at times and to me, that's really what its all about!

Prior to the 7700 I had a bunch of transports and I hung on to the Sony about 8 times longer than any of them!!

[Jolojl]

Hi byteme!

Thanks for the response! I really agree that the 7700 is a good transport except for that mild forwardness and somewhat hot presentation ... It had a new laser when I received it and has changed quite a bit since I started playing, it has about 400 hours now on it and maybe it just needs some more playing ...

Glad to hear about the good sound of the modded Squeezebox! Seems like a good route! Have you used ever used its digital out to the Scott Nixon Dac and compared with the Squeezebox analog out?

All the best!
Johan