infomatique,
finally got your DVD-A1, huh ?

I agree that DVD-A1 truly sounds nice.
After I've had my A1 quite sometime now, I can honestly say that sonic performance is amazing. (I'm on the second A1 now. I had to return the first A1 due to its physical defects.)
I've never listened to Sony's XA777ES. But I use ARCAM's flagship FMJ CD23 for redbook cd player. (I don't know if this Arcam sounds better/worse than XA777ES).
I've done extensive sonic comparison between DENON DVD-A1 and Arcam FMJ CD23 for redbook, and HDCDs.
I level matched the outputs as closely as possible. The sound of the two players was noticably different. I won't try to describe the sound of the player, but overall I was impressed with the Denon.
On some of my favorite recordings, the Denon seemed to highlight different, and more parts of the musical performance.
Comparitively this made the Denon seem more revealing than the Arcam.
IMO, sonic quality of Denon is definately better than Arcam. Two of my mates concluded with the same opinion.
Anyway.....I'm not an audiophile at all. Mostly I don't really care how it sounds to be honest.

Usually, but not always, if it sounds better than average, that's enough for me.

But I tend to be critical when viewing images/pictures though.
I don't know what to do with my Arcam now...

It is a bit expensive to dump.
