Hello Everyone,
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Sony DVP-S7700, tested here as a CD stereo player and transport.
This will be my second review of a DVD player, after the Denon DVD-3910. I will only review it as a CD player and Transport, like I usually perform. So don't ask me about the obsolete video performances, I won't be able to reply.
Sony DVP-S7700 - Presentation
Release around 1999, this was a flag ship from Sony, including everything possible at the time but excluding SACD playback.
The price was pretty high at the time, near 2'000€, that was a lot to ask.
I like a lot the look of this player even if I'm not much into golden devices. And, if you don't see the tray, it's because it's hidden behind the front panel that comes down when you want to insert a new disc:
That's really cool. It will also play in that position, and that's the purpose of the button named "Panel", it will only move that front panel up and down. How cool is that?
On the back, standard connection with a sense of luxury:
Good old scart and video components, from another century. We get audio digital out via Toslink and Coax, count on me to test them.
Inside, it's really busy, with SMPS on the left, mech in the center with video processing on top, audio conversion at the back of the player, video outputs on the right :
Below the metal plate, we find the video processing, and the mech (dual laser heads) is below that, also protected by a plain metal plate:
The rainbow cables that you see are, I suspect, a mod to get multi-zones.
The Audio section and associated conversion is all below that copper sheet which is in a plastic folder:
You might have noticed that there's a Phones output on the front, which is not common for a DVD player, and it gets its dedicated card:
All of that is nice.
For a DVD player, I was not expecting the same pleasure to use the drive as I get with old dedicated CD Players. How wrong I was! This player is so fast, it equals the best of CD players I have. What a good surprise. The real only drawback is fast forward that works only via the remote control JOG button, and that is painful to use.
Sony DVP-S7700 - Measurements
I described my measurements in the post “More than we hear”, and like I said, I'll review this DVD player as I review a CD player, for instance the Onkyo-C733. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
The Sony DVP-S7700 outputs 2.4Vrsm, and there was a slight channel imbalance of 0.19dB (which is ok). The single-ended outputs respect absolute polarity.
Let's go with go with the 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) as the main measurement:
Right and left channels are shown but only one gets evaluated in the dashboard. Results are nearly identical between left and right, which is good.
This is a very decent trace for a DVD player. I encourage you to compare with the Denon DVD-3910.
The THD sits at a very low -99dBr, and it is H2 dominated which is very easily masked by the main tone. Therefore, nothing to worry about.
Let's run the same test but at -6dBFS:
The THD is even lower at -105dBr, very good news.
I'm now used to show what we can extract from the CD Audio, using shaped dither. This technique allows to lower the noise below the theoretical one of the audio CD, up to 5kHz. It should show as a lower noise floor. This below is an overlay of 999.91Ht @0dBFS without dither and with shaped dither:
We can see some gain but it's limited by the noise floor of the Sony. This is a small improvement and shows the limits of the player. It can resolve a little more than Audio CD, but not by much. It's better than several ancient dedicated CD players, though...
You probably already noticed that this is a quiet DVD(CD) player, with minimum power supply–related spuriae in its output :
This is a trace we don't necessarily get from high-end devices... Right channel goes up to -120dBr, while left is at -130dBr in the worst case, there's nothing to hear in both cases
Bandwidth is nearly flat but shows the gain difference between the two channels, at almost 0.2dB (not a concern, though):
Move on to the oversampling filter behavior (from periodic white noise) and together with dual tones 18kHz+20kHz (AES17) :
The attenuation is at maximum -80dB which is ok. On that trace which goes up to 80kHz, you can recognize the noise floor raising with frequency, and that is because of the noise shaping applied by Sony at conversion, just like what we would see with an SACD player. This is below a different way to look at it from a 999.91Hz test tone:
[EDIT#1 BEGIN]
As mentioned by @Scytales, the Sony offers a choice of sharp and slow filter. I initially tested with the Sharp filter, and here below are two additional measurements with the slow filter.
First, this is the bandwidth:
As you can see, I had to change the scale to show the attenuation of -5dB at 20kHz. It is already -0.5dB at 7kHz! This is very likely to be heard (I did not listen to it with this filter).
This is due to the oversampling filter being indeed very slow, with an early roll off. The below measurement shows how it works:
This is my standard overlay with AES test (18kHz+20kHz dual tones). The attenuation is poor at around -55dB and obtained very far in frequency (40kHz+).
As a consequence, and as opposed to the same view with the sharp filter, the aliases of 18k+20k are barely attenuated (24k+26k), and that is because of the (too) slow filtering.
So, between the very early and significant roll off + the high energy of aliases, I can't recommend the utilization of this filter. It’s actually worse than no filtering at all as we would see less attenuation at 20kHz.
The other measurements (SINAD, THD, etc...) are unchanged.
[EDIT#1 END]
Multitone (1/10 decade) shows a happy DVD(CD) player, not having much issue to clear 16bits of data::
That said, you can see some distortion reaching -90dBr, here and there. More about that below with a 10kHz test tone @0dBFS (Linear Frequency Scale, up to 45kHz):
I noticed that the Sony DVP-S7700 will generate a low level pack of noise below the test tone, with higher frequencies. That's also what generated low level disruption in the multitone test. I suspect an interaction between the signal and the power supply, but I'm really unsure of that is.
Fact, is, it also disrupt the Jitter Test:
The red trace is from the digital output of the Sony (which is therefore unaffected and perfect, by the way). But yeah, that's not nice, although impossible to hear because way too low. Fact is that my friend @Vintage02 has two DVP-S7700 too, and measured exactly the same issue with both of them. So that's a deign flaw or maybe a constrain that Sony could not or simply decided not to resolve.
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
I kept some references and will keep the same for other reviews, so you can quickly compare. The results of the Sony DVP-S7700 mean the oversampling filter has no headroom to process inter samples over in standard mode. The manual says we can set a 6dB attenuation in the menu, in which case the S7700 has more than 3dB headroom. You can see that the second line of results shows the same THD+N which is entirely dominated by the noise shaping (actual respective THD are -80.4dB, -69.1dB and 78.1dB). I think this is very good news when playing "hot" masters.
Other measurements (not shown):
Stereophile was often using the 3DC measurement as a prof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude signal:
The Sony does well in that test, but shows a little more noise than the best CD players I tested. The symmetry is respected and only low level noise come to disrupt that view.
[EDIT#2 BEGIN]
There is also an "Attenuation" function which reduces the output by 6dB, and this is obviously done in digital domain (see above fact that there's no issue with intersample overs). I wanted to check the impact on our 3DC view, here you go:
We get more disruption because there is relatively more analog noise, but we still recognize the 3DC levels.
[EDIT#2 END]
Last but not least, I like to have a look a the THD vs Frequency when using a -12dBFS signal. This has proven to me to be a key differentiator, especially when I'm reviewing an old CD Player using R2R conversion. Here are the results with the Sony (Left and Right analog Channels shown, together with one channel from the Onkyo C-733, for reference) :
This is very good, but the previously reviewed Denon DVD-3910 did a little better. Note that from 2kHz, we are at the limits of what's recorded on the test CD. So we hit the limits of the Audio CD, not those of the player. We shall be happy.
Sony DVP-S7700 - Measurements (Optical Out)
I've seen several of you reviewing CD players using their digital outputs, in case the results could be improved from an external DAC. Let's see if that DVD player can compete.
Even if the clock did not do better than 31ppm, it was still possible for me to get the below decent view:
What you see is so close to what's on the test CD (and the original WAV test file) that I can't really differentiate them. To my experience, this is what we expect from the digital output.
Same as in analog, I use the Stereophile 3DC measurement (see explanation of what it is above). I'm reusing this test in digital domain to show potential modification as I saw them with the Fiio DM13 for instance. This is the result with the Sony:
This trace shows what we expect from digital output, perfect symmetry. The digital output does not appear to be modified. The rigging is due to the Gibbs Phenomenon in (audio) band limited.
With that, I have no reason to suspect digital modification of the digital signal. The Sony DVD-S7700 will make a perfectly suitable transport.
Sony DVP-S7700 - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
The drive was able to consistently continue playing, without generating typical digital clicks, with dropouts of up to 2mm. The interpolation effect remained hidden to my ears when it kicked-off (at 1.5mm dropouts) and succeeded to maintain a constant flow up to 2mm dropouts. The Onkyo had no issue with variable linear velocity and/or track pitch, as well as with HF detection. These are better than many old regarded CD drives that I tested...
Conclusion
I remember this player generated quite a lot of discussions at the time as to its quality when it came to play a CD. What? A DVD that can make music? Nah, impossible, you must be deaf.
Well, not exactly. This player delivers. I could only find that strange pack of noise appearing at low level when playing high frequencies, but that will remain completely hidden into music.
The slow filter is to be avoided and the resistance to intersample overs when using the attenuation function is a real advantage.
So, that, plus the fact it is as fast as a true dedicated CD player, and does better than many when it comes to deal with scratched CDs, what more to request? A good looking device? Oh yes, on that, and on my perspective, it truly delivers. I love that look.
Last good news, it will make a perfect transport, as we now know we can associate it with low value high resolution DACs.
This little unexpected player joined my second system which is made of golden gears too, and it fits really well.
Enjoy the weekend.
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Sony DVP-S7700, tested here as a CD stereo player and transport.
This will be my second review of a DVD player, after the Denon DVD-3910. I will only review it as a CD player and Transport, like I usually perform. So don't ask me about the obsolete video performances, I won't be able to reply.
Sony DVP-S7700 - Presentation
Release around 1999, this was a flag ship from Sony, including everything possible at the time but excluding SACD playback.
The price was pretty high at the time, near 2'000€, that was a lot to ask.
I like a lot the look of this player even if I'm not much into golden devices. And, if you don't see the tray, it's because it's hidden behind the front panel that comes down when you want to insert a new disc:
That's really cool. It will also play in that position, and that's the purpose of the button named "Panel", it will only move that front panel up and down. How cool is that?
On the back, standard connection with a sense of luxury:
Good old scart and video components, from another century. We get audio digital out via Toslink and Coax, count on me to test them.
Inside, it's really busy, with SMPS on the left, mech in the center with video processing on top, audio conversion at the back of the player, video outputs on the right :
Below the metal plate, we find the video processing, and the mech (dual laser heads) is below that, also protected by a plain metal plate:
The rainbow cables that you see are, I suspect, a mod to get multi-zones.
The Audio section and associated conversion is all below that copper sheet which is in a plastic folder:
You might have noticed that there's a Phones output on the front, which is not common for a DVD player, and it gets its dedicated card:
All of that is nice.
For a DVD player, I was not expecting the same pleasure to use the drive as I get with old dedicated CD Players. How wrong I was! This player is so fast, it equals the best of CD players I have. What a good surprise. The real only drawback is fast forward that works only via the remote control JOG button, and that is painful to use.
Sony DVP-S7700 - Measurements
I described my measurements in the post “More than we hear”, and like I said, I'll review this DVD player as I review a CD player, for instance the Onkyo-C733. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
The Sony DVP-S7700 outputs 2.4Vrsm, and there was a slight channel imbalance of 0.19dB (which is ok). The single-ended outputs respect absolute polarity.
Let's go with go with the 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) as the main measurement:
Right and left channels are shown but only one gets evaluated in the dashboard. Results are nearly identical between left and right, which is good.
This is a very decent trace for a DVD player. I encourage you to compare with the Denon DVD-3910.
The THD sits at a very low -99dBr, and it is H2 dominated which is very easily masked by the main tone. Therefore, nothing to worry about.
Let's run the same test but at -6dBFS:
The THD is even lower at -105dBr, very good news.
I'm now used to show what we can extract from the CD Audio, using shaped dither. This technique allows to lower the noise below the theoretical one of the audio CD, up to 5kHz. It should show as a lower noise floor. This below is an overlay of 999.91Ht @0dBFS without dither and with shaped dither:
We can see some gain but it's limited by the noise floor of the Sony. This is a small improvement and shows the limits of the player. It can resolve a little more than Audio CD, but not by much. It's better than several ancient dedicated CD players, though...
You probably already noticed that this is a quiet DVD(CD) player, with minimum power supply–related spuriae in its output :
This is a trace we don't necessarily get from high-end devices... Right channel goes up to -120dBr, while left is at -130dBr in the worst case, there's nothing to hear in both cases
Bandwidth is nearly flat but shows the gain difference between the two channels, at almost 0.2dB (not a concern, though):
Move on to the oversampling filter behavior (from periodic white noise) and together with dual tones 18kHz+20kHz (AES17) :
The attenuation is at maximum -80dB which is ok. On that trace which goes up to 80kHz, you can recognize the noise floor raising with frequency, and that is because of the noise shaping applied by Sony at conversion, just like what we would see with an SACD player. This is below a different way to look at it from a 999.91Hz test tone:
[EDIT#1 BEGIN]
As mentioned by @Scytales, the Sony offers a choice of sharp and slow filter. I initially tested with the Sharp filter, and here below are two additional measurements with the slow filter.
First, this is the bandwidth:
As you can see, I had to change the scale to show the attenuation of -5dB at 20kHz. It is already -0.5dB at 7kHz! This is very likely to be heard (I did not listen to it with this filter).
This is due to the oversampling filter being indeed very slow, with an early roll off. The below measurement shows how it works:
This is my standard overlay with AES test (18kHz+20kHz dual tones). The attenuation is poor at around -55dB and obtained very far in frequency (40kHz+).
As a consequence, and as opposed to the same view with the sharp filter, the aliases of 18k+20k are barely attenuated (24k+26k), and that is because of the (too) slow filtering.
So, between the very early and significant roll off + the high energy of aliases, I can't recommend the utilization of this filter. It’s actually worse than no filtering at all as we would see less attenuation at 20kHz.
The other measurements (SINAD, THD, etc...) are unchanged.
[EDIT#1 END]
Multitone (1/10 decade) shows a happy DVD(CD) player, not having much issue to clear 16bits of data::
That said, you can see some distortion reaching -90dBr, here and there. More about that below with a 10kHz test tone @0dBFS (Linear Frequency Scale, up to 45kHz):
I noticed that the Sony DVP-S7700 will generate a low level pack of noise below the test tone, with higher frequencies. That's also what generated low level disruption in the multitone test. I suspect an interaction between the signal and the power supply, but I'm really unsure of that is.
Fact, is, it also disrupt the Jitter Test:
The red trace is from the digital output of the Sony (which is therefore unaffected and perfect, by the way). But yeah, that's not nice, although impossible to hear because way too low. Fact is that my friend @Vintage02 has two DVP-S7700 too, and measured exactly the same issue with both of them. So that's a deign flaw or maybe a constrain that Sony could not or simply decided not to resolve.
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
| Intersample-overs tests Bandwidth of the THD+N measurements is 20Hz - 96kHz | 5512.5 Hz sine, Peak = +0.69dBFS | 7350 Hz sine, Peak = +1.25dBFS | 11025 Hz sine, Peak = +3.0dBFS |
| Teac VRDS-20 | -30.7dB | -26.6dB | -17.6dB |
| Yamaha CD-1 | -84.6dB | -84.9dB | -78.1dB |
| Denon DCD-900NE | -34.2dB | -27.1dB | -19.1dB |
| Denon DCD-SA1 | -33.6dB | -27.6dB | -18.3dB |
| Onkyo C-733 | -88.3dB | -40.4dB | -21.2dB |
| Denon DCD-3560 | -30.2dB | -24.7dB | -17.4dB |
| Denon DVD-3910 | -65.3dB | -63.2dB | -64.5dB |
| Sony DVP-S7700 | -33.4dB | -25.0dB | -17.7dB |
| Sony DVP-S7700 (with Attenuation set) | -61.9dB | -62.3dB | -65.4dB |
I kept some references and will keep the same for other reviews, so you can quickly compare. The results of the Sony DVP-S7700 mean the oversampling filter has no headroom to process inter samples over in standard mode. The manual says we can set a 6dB attenuation in the menu, in which case the S7700 has more than 3dB headroom. You can see that the second line of results shows the same THD+N which is entirely dominated by the noise shaping (actual respective THD are -80.4dB, -69.1dB and 78.1dB). I think this is very good news when playing "hot" masters.
Other measurements (not shown):
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -95.1dB
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -91.3dB
- IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -89.2dB
- IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -90.9dB
- IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -106.4dB
- IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -106.2dB
- IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 7kHz 1:4) : -86.2dB
- Dynamic Range : 96.7dB
- Crosstalk: -151dB (100Hz), -146dB (1kHz), -128dB (10kHz)
- Pitch Error : 19'997.62Hz (19'997Hz requested) ie +0.0031% (31ppm)
Stereophile was often using the 3DC measurement as a prof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude signal:
The Sony does well in that test, but shows a little more noise than the best CD players I tested. The symmetry is respected and only low level noise come to disrupt that view.
[EDIT#2 BEGIN]
There is also an "Attenuation" function which reduces the output by 6dB, and this is obviously done in digital domain (see above fact that there's no issue with intersample overs). I wanted to check the impact on our 3DC view, here you go:
We get more disruption because there is relatively more analog noise, but we still recognize the 3DC levels.
[EDIT#2 END]
Last but not least, I like to have a look a the THD vs Frequency when using a -12dBFS signal. This has proven to me to be a key differentiator, especially when I'm reviewing an old CD Player using R2R conversion. Here are the results with the Sony (Left and Right analog Channels shown, together with one channel from the Onkyo C-733, for reference) :
This is very good, but the previously reviewed Denon DVD-3910 did a little better. Note that from 2kHz, we are at the limits of what's recorded on the test CD. So we hit the limits of the Audio CD, not those of the player. We shall be happy.
Sony DVP-S7700 - Measurements (Optical Out)
I've seen several of you reviewing CD players using their digital outputs, in case the results could be improved from an external DAC. Let's see if that DVD player can compete.
Even if the clock did not do better than 31ppm, it was still possible for me to get the below decent view:
What you see is so close to what's on the test CD (and the original WAV test file) that I can't really differentiate them. To my experience, this is what we expect from the digital output.
Same as in analog, I use the Stereophile 3DC measurement (see explanation of what it is above). I'm reusing this test in digital domain to show potential modification as I saw them with the Fiio DM13 for instance. This is the result with the Sony:
This trace shows what we expect from digital output, perfect symmetry. The digital output does not appear to be modified. The rigging is due to the Gibbs Phenomenon in (audio) band limited.
With that, I have no reason to suspect digital modification of the digital signal. The Sony DVD-S7700 will make a perfectly suitable transport.
Sony DVP-S7700 - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
| Test type | Technical test | Results |
| Variation of linear cutting velocity | From 1.20m/s to 1.40m/s | Pass |
| Variation of track pitch | From 1.5µm to 1.7µm | Pass |
| Combined variations of track pitch and velocity | From 1.20m/s & 1.5µm to 1.40m/s & 1.7µm | Pass |
| HF detection (asymmetry pitch/flat ratio) | Variation from 2% to 18% | Pass |
| Dropouts resistance | From 0.05mm (0.038ms) to 4mm (3.080ms) | Up to 2mm |
| Combined dropouts and smallest pitch | From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm | Up to 2mm |
| Successive dropouts | From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm | Up to 1.5mm |
The drive was able to consistently continue playing, without generating typical digital clicks, with dropouts of up to 2mm. The interpolation effect remained hidden to my ears when it kicked-off (at 1.5mm dropouts) and succeeded to maintain a constant flow up to 2mm dropouts. The Onkyo had no issue with variable linear velocity and/or track pitch, as well as with HF detection. These are better than many old regarded CD drives that I tested...
Conclusion
I remember this player generated quite a lot of discussions at the time as to its quality when it came to play a CD. What? A DVD that can make music? Nah, impossible, you must be deaf.
Well, not exactly. This player delivers. I could only find that strange pack of noise appearing at low level when playing high frequencies, but that will remain completely hidden into music.
The slow filter is to be avoided and the resistance to intersample overs when using the attenuation function is a real advantage.
So, that, plus the fact it is as fast as a true dedicated CD player, and does better than many when it comes to deal with scratched CDs, what more to request? A good looking device? Oh yes, on that, and on my perspective, it truly delivers. I love that look.
Last good news, it will make a perfect transport, as we now know we can associate it with low value high resolution DACs.
This little unexpected player joined my second system which is made of golden gears too, and it fits really well.
Enjoy the weekend.
Last edited:
