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REVIEW: Vacuum State Electronics SCD-777ES SACD Player (Modded)

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Model: SCD-777ES
Category: SACD Player (Modded)
Suggested Retail Price: $1500
Description: VSE Level 5 Mod to Sony SCD-777ES
Manufacturer URL: Vacuum State Electronics
Manufacturer URL: Vacuum State Electronics

Review by speyer ( A ) on September 03, 2005 at 17:54:25
IP Address: 68.112.149.184
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for the SCD-777ES


Inmate Joel Waterman posted his review of the VSE Level 5 mod to his Sony SCD XB940 a couple of days ago. My comments on the same mod to my SCD-777ES dovetail nicely with that review. His listening experience is quite similar to mine.

I had the mod installed by the same person, Warren Gregoire, and re-inserted the unit in my system 5 days ago. I listen to various forms of music, rock, R&B, classical, but mainly jazz.

Preliminary (week one) reaction: I'm stunned by the improvement.

The unit now plays music. I really don't know a better way of describing the sound reproduced by the modded player vs the stock. The music seems to have come alive. It seems to sparkle with the energy of the performance. There is a purity and clarity of the notes, the tonality, the texture of the musical performance. In audiophile terms, the soundstage expanded and the performers are better defined in their own space. There is more detail, more definition, greater clarity, the bass is tighter and more extended as are the highs, but there is also a purity or "sweetness" or perhaps an absence of distortion and low level noise that I had not previously been attuned to. I don't think what I'm trying to describe is similar to the differences between "classic" tube sound and SS. I think that comparsion is focused on the sound of electronics vs music. Perhaps I'm suggesting that I'm hearing more of the music now vs the equipment. I don't know; I'm not an analytical listener. Let me just leave it at the point where I began: the reproduction of music has reached a qualitative level that I had not experienced before from digital.

I have been in this hobby for 30 some years, and my listening is primarily vinyl. While my system may be viewed as "vintage" by some (my TT is a 15 year old Merrill mounted with a ET 2.5 air bearing arm and my speakers are a pair Apogee Duetta Signatures that I purchased in 1989 to replace a set of Quad ESLs), it does music very well. And what the VSE mod has now permitted me to do is to enjoy the musical experience via digital (both sacd and rbcd, but more on sacd) at a level that I had previously only experienced on vinyl.

And that ain't too bad!!!

SACDs
Miles Davis; Poncho Sanchez; Alison Krauss; Luther Vandross; Burton, Corea, Methany, et al; Anne-Sopie Mutter; Gloria Estefan; Santana

RBCDs
Miles Davis (xrcd); Bill Evans (xrcd); Dave Grusin; Emmy Lou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton; Sarah Brightman


Product Weakness: none
Product Strengths: Gets much closer to the music


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Odyssey Mono Extremes
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Custom Phono; Placette
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Merrill Heirloom/ET 2.5/Music Maker II
Speakers: Apogee Duetta Signature modded
Cables/Interconnects: VH PC⁣ Cardas
Music Used (Genre/Selections): jazz, rock, r&b, blue grass
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): BPT, Aurios, various accessories
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Vacuum State Electronics SCD-777ES SACD Player (Modded) - speyer 17:54:25 09/3/05 ( 1)