My review of the SONY SCD-CE775 SACD

I purchased this unit at $199, fearing the local Beast Buy won't have it in stock, ever again at their advertised price $179. The reason was pretty simple - great SACD playback on the cheap when most units are in the thousands of dollars....

Taking the unit out of the box, everything seemed rather normal. INteresting how Sony gives you fairly decent (but cheap) RCA interconnects. Ah, A REMOTE CONTROL! I'll add it to the 12 I have in a basket in the living room!

Immediate thoughts after setup-

Changer is noisy and rickety, light and feels like a square tin can. Operation is easy, and any audiophile should be able to fully use everything without reading a manual. I see Sony hasn't given up on the 3"CD, as the trays accomidate such discs! Will we someday see 3" SACDs/EP's? Umm....nah!

Test SACDS -
Dave Brubeck "Time Out"
Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue" (Mch)
(I'll get more later)

Cds:

The Doors (DCC)
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (SBM 20-bit/UNI)
Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story (MFSL)
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 (DCC)
Billie Holiday - Songs For Disguine' Lovers (JPN Remaster/UNI)

Now, for a while, people have been "dogging" the normal CD playback of this unit, because of it's cost. I found that the clean, dynamic playback wasn't as impressive on the SACDs for one reason: For both of the SACDs I bought, I had DSD mastered CDs (JPN/Sony recently mastered) that sounded basically identical with a few dynamic exceptions. YES, the SACDs sounded much better, but the wild expectations I had were a bit heavy. What I should have done is bought a Direct-DSD mastered disc, or even a title that never got wholly remastered by Sony recently.

Ok, SACD was neat. Now, for the CDs.

Wow. Blew me away.

Now, I had a basic Sony CDP unit, single draw w/opitcal for the longest time. It never let me down. For the CE775 that went in to replace it, once I put in regular Cds, the room totally lit up. Ah, those critics at AA weren't always on the money for this side of the player!

I put in the Doors DCC. Right away the room totally seemed to change in a weird way, and the power of that album came forth in a way I've never remember hearing.

Heck, llllet's give it some recently mastered Coltrane. Again, fairly impressive. The bass was tight, fast and Coltrane blew the hair around my hears around for 10 minutes. It was a wonderful experience. Also noticed this CDR copy I implimented CD Text in which the titles of the song and album displayed and read easilly on the player face. Ah, neat, but who cares... The sonics performed made me feel I missed upgrading my CD player for a long time!

Highway 61 - Made me wanna hide behind the couch! No lie. Supernatural, and the band's in all around! Now, the funny thing immmediately was, the musicsians seperated quite well. One could get spoiled, for sure. By this time I was fully impressed with the ability of the player.

I played Billie Holiday's "Songs For Distingue' Lovers" for a while as I noticed the piano and Billie's voice ring through with realism and charm. I played the Rod Stewart for about 10 minutes before I quit early to greet a late day after work for a long, energectic bike ride on the Cape Cod trail paths. Can't miss that! Rod's going to have to wait..

No, the CE775 IS a steal, and also makes quite an impressive CD player. No frowns here, or for a long time. Enjoy!

 

Very, very good review Sckott! I agree with your observations. I found that the 775 sounded great out of the box and only got better and better with break-in. It is a steal for $179 or even under $300.

Well, I'm going to admit something I did last night. Downtown NY was having a 3 day tax free period to get people to shop in the stores affected by 9/11. I went to J&R (near work) and decided to buy the Sony SCD-C555ES ($538/haggled). I've read a lot about it and decided to take the plunge (I also liked the price & warrantly). On Saturday, I'm going to return the 775 (which I loved but couldn't settle with) to Circuit City. Another "selling point" for me is that I'll be using this player for many years and I think I would've kept thinking I should've gone a little further for the 555ES.

I played some Lee Morgan tracks last night on the new player and out of the box it does sound a bit fuller than the 775 (which is indeed a great player). I'll give it time to break-in before any critical assesment. I like the build quality (like a tank). Also, it uses the same remote as the 775. The funny thing is it has the same cheapo interconnects as the 775 yet they have gold plugs (ooooh). Another nice thing is it came with 2 free SACD's in the box, an expired offer for two more and an Acoustic Sounds catalog (must be paying Sony a lot or maybe provided one of the free SACDS). Anyway, I feel a bit guilty (will have to tighten belt for a few weeks to $$$ recover) but in the long run I think I'll really enjoy it...

Todd

 

Does the 775 play CDRs and/or MP3s?

Sckott, does the 775 play CDRs and/or MP3's??

If it does CDRs I might pick up one this weekend......a new Best Buy is opening near my house.


thanks,

mikey

 

Plays CDR/CDRWs but no Mp3 discs. Actually, the only players that seem to do Mp3s well are the Apex DVD's and HDCD/DVD players (and the like).

However, many more brands are going Mp3s....

It's no new news, but the Sonys are putting in CD Text more and more. Great for CDR nuts!

Someone at Beast Buy said the CE775 is OOS even in the central warehouse. Out in many locations too. If you want to snarf one, you might wanna try J&R for $199. It's still very worth it.

I would have gotten a 777 if budget would allow. Think of this 775 unit as a bridge to wet your appetite for better things. Remember CDs in the infancy times? Players were $400 average! Then times changed.

 

Re: Does the 775 play CDRs and/or MP3s?

Yes it does play CD-R's and CD-RW's, but no MP3's. By the way, why would one want ultra hi and ultra lo resolution on the same machine?

 

Re: Re: Does the 775 play CDRs and/or MP3s?

>>>>>Only because when I have "company" over, its nice to throw on a cdr with 50 MP3s and not have to change it all nite. Got it, Sam?

)

 

That's why I keep my Apex DVD player very near and dear to me, bought last year for $89 at Wally World. Put in an MP3 cd and party your croud all night! More fun than any changer, and useful. Trust me, once you've had an MP3 playback disc unit, you'll acutally use it occasionally.

Neat fact: The drive onboard most SACD players are made to read DVD discs by virtue of the SACD technology USING the DVD ISO standard. An SACD is very different, but the disc is actually from "planet DVD". You'll see when you check out the discs. Sony is using DVD technology to make SACDs. Both DVDs and SACDs and technological cousins.

No, the SACDs cannot be read on DVD-Rom drives. There's enough encode protection in the pit length to make most non-SACD drives to go crackers. I'm sure Steve's SACDs will have that protection, although some do not.

Not like that will be FOREVER, but.....

 

I just picked up a 775 here in Los Angeles at a Circuit City ($193.99).
Best Buy was sold out around town and I don't think there are too many of these
around...brand new in-the-box, that is...

I had an older Sony ES carousel with an optical out the a ran thru a Musical Fidelity
D/A converter. Never quite happy, but it still sounded better than the analog D/A
built into the player.

Recently was "GIVEN" a Sony DVP-500...my introduction into SACD...
Sounded great and I could run a COAXIAL into the outboard D/A converter.


WOW!!!

WHAT A REVELATION!!!

C.D.'s came alive!!!

So why the 775 instead of the DVP-650? (DVD/SACD/CD Carousel)

I like having a changer and would have to use the analog outs of the player
to mix SACD and CD's. The 775 is just more of an elegant player with the text
and such than the 650 ....which is on sale now at Best Buy for $249.

I will be burning in this 775 all week and will bring you updates later in the week!

 

Read this!

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/hirez/messages/78495.html

 

Has the 775 been discontinued or will the stocks be replenished?
I thought I'd wait a few months and check out the newer SACD models, but someone told me that Sony is sticking with these models for the time being.

 

The CE775 is not like any low-priced SACD player out there, and stock is VERY low. New players are coming out, and many are pricing the 775 as "clearence".

So, be quick. Be smart.

 

I think it is being discontinued. I went to the Sony website & they are selling it for
$199. IMHO I think that we will be seeing less and less of audio only players and
more DVD/SACD/CD combos. That is why they are blowing out the 775. Most consumers want a "do-all" piece of gear. The DVP-650 DVD/SACD/CD combo has
no texting, awkward programming, no music calendar...which I like...AND it also has a "display off" function. (The 650 may also do that, too...my 500 does)

 

It seems like every one is running to this machine now. I've been reading tons of posts on AA about puchases of the CE 775. It's a very good machine and I think anyone sitting on the fence about getting their feet wet with SACD should grab this. New machines are coming out in the fall but for $179 (the cost of a night out on the town), I think it's a steal. Ask other stores if they can price match the CC $179 price or throw in a free SACD or two (why not?). I did end up getting the C-555ES (a few silly reasons, etc./returning 775 Saturday) but I think it's worth it for the price.

Todd

 

I have the 775 and it's a fine machine! I was at Circuit City yesterday to look at ES models and the clerk told me that this model (775) is to be discontinued. This means 2 things...those who want one ought not to delay and new models are soon on the way. I have a feeling that they won't be less than $200 though.

 

I agree with MagicAlex. If you're thinking about getting this machine for this price you should jump on it because I think when they're gone they're gone. From what I read, the CE775 is a strange Sony bird. They released it as their first entry level SACD player yet really did some fine quality work on it's design to help push the format and prove even with entry-level it kicks butt. I don't know if they're going to go this far with the new entry level stuff? Also, I think Sony is making the right move with all these price drops.

Todd

 

Many of the normal outlets are OOS on them, inlcuding Crutchfield. J&R has some still, but I would call it in to make sure you're not ordering "phantom" stock. Check your Beast Buy, but if there's no boxes at the foot of the display, forget it.

The player is modifyable. Can also be bought with Mods...

http://home1.gte.net/res0f2t3/sacd.htm

 

I'm going to try and be a nice guy today (one of the lads) If someone's local (in NYC) and can't find one. I'm returning mine to CC Saturday morning (around 11AM). I wouldn't mind selling mine to a forum member for $179 (plus the NYC tax I paid). I'm not into going through a shipping process but if it's that difficult to find and someone really wants it, I don't mind. I got it a week and a half ago (perfect condition). I'm not making this offer to profit in any way (CC will take it back for full refund) or any other reasons (just trying to be nice)...

Todd

 

Thanks Todd. Maybe someone should, because they're going for $199 almost everywhere else, and these units are showing up scarce.

eBay is showing most units selling for OVER $200. Just an FYI

 

Thanks, Sckott. It's no problem doing this. I think it's just a waste to return it to CC and that's that. Again, I'm just trying to be helpful...

Todd

 

I will add my 2cents here.

I have 3 SACD players, a C333ES, a CE775 and an XA777ES. The only reason I purchased the CE775 was for it's MCH SACD capability (since I already had a C333ES - and had no intention of ever buying the XA777ES).

Even though I would agree that the CE775 is a great player for $199 (I paid $299 upon release last July), it just does not compare to either my C333ES or XA777ES.

My XA777ES was recently in for repair (there seems to be a definite bug in a batch of these machines since others that post on AA also had the same exact problem)- so I was forced to put the CE775 back into my system for MCH SACD playback. I was also forced to use my C333ES (which I reserve now only for CD-R playback) until I got my XA777ES back yesterday.

I utilized the time the XA777ES was at the Sony repair facitlity to listen to a lot of different discs on the CE775 - since there has been so much activity and talk about the player, and I wanted to see if maybe my impressions of the machine were in error. I still stand by my initial impressions of this machine (the CE775) compared to the C333ES.

The CE775 just does not have the same quality of presentation, soundstaging or smoothness in overall sonic quality as the C333ES or the XA777ES. With SACD the CE775 is a tad brighter and more forward sounding, with less distinct separation and overall smoothness than either my 333ES or XA777ES. With redbook CD, there is no comparision - both the C333ES and XA777ES present a more weighty and fully defined presentation - with a deeper black background behind the music.

My views are probably jaded due to the fact that I had been listening to both SACD and CD on my C333ES for more than 6 months prior to buying the CE775 for MCH playback. I then heard a friends XA777ES in my system, and right then and there I had to have one. The XA777ES presents, to me at least, more of what I am looking for in both a Stereo/MCH SACD player and as a stereo redbook CD player. Is the XA777ES worth more than 10 times the cost of the CE775, probably not. Is the CE775 worth $199 or even $299 - most definitely.

Even so, I am not stating all this to squash anyone's enthusiasm for wanting a CE775 - as it is a killer machine for $199 (as I mentioned). But I would heartily recommend that if anyone can afford the better Sony ES players - that they seriously consider auditioning one of them vs. the 775. You may be even more pleasantly surprised.

 

Mike,

I think that's a very fair assessment of the difference in quality at these different price points. I've had the C-555ES for a few days and does sound better than the CE775 in SACD/CD playback (it should for the additional cost). I can't make any firm observations yet because my preamp is waiting for a new rectifier tube (using Yamaha for now) but I do hear a fuller sound. Also, I need to let it break-in. For the money, I think the CE775 is a great deal. I think it does a pretty good job on redbook (despite claims to the contrary).

Todd

 

Todd, you made the right decision. The 'CE775 is a great player, especially for the low price of $180, but the 'C555ES is in another league. $538 is a great price. Nice going!

 

I too felt the price for the 775 was too good
to pass up for an entry player--got one yesterday,
and it's burning in now.

Those of you who have this player, what were your
break-in experiences? I've just loaded up the
carousel and decided to put some hours on it before
doing any critical listening.

Any thoughts?

 

I've heard 5 different SACDs, and while I think the SACD layer is fantabulous, the more I listen to Redbookers, the more I REALLYY like this player. Jazz titles are really livening up BIG time.

 

Keith,

Thanks for your input. I was driving myself nuts thinking should I or shouldn't I go for the c-555ES and then I was just like do it. I knew I would always be thinking I should have, so I did it. The player sounds great...


Todd