Sony SCD-XA5400ES CD Player

psurquhart

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Nov 15, 2010
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Hi,

Dont know much about the above. Does anyone have one ? Has it been superceeded ?

Would be especially interested in knowing if anyone uses one with a Sony DA5400es av amp which I own.

Although I know its an SACD player I would mainly use it for cd playback.

I am trying to get the best audiophile sound from an av amp hence the interest ( only want a one box set up ).

I now know it has the Sony H.A.T.S hdmi link ( recently through questioning on another post about my amp ) which is where my interest stems.

I also know its discontinued so would buy 2nd hand. At work, fleabay blocked so cant get a price comparison either. Unless anyone knows of any supplier still selling one ?

From what I understand through delving they are quite rare ?

Can anyone shed any light ?
 
T

the record spot

Guest
They're rare alright, not cheap and popular when they do crop up. It also does multichannel SACD and was the flagship player in Sony's SACD range.

I tend to lose the "audiophile" bit to be honest. Too easy to get caught up in all that. More accurately, you want the best sound for your available budget that fits your idea of what good sound should be like and forget the rest. I'm sure it would make a very good partnership, however, cheaper options are out there - you could combine a standard CD or DVD transport, then stick on something like MF's M1 DAC, or step up a gear and try out Eastern Electric's Tube DAC, both of which are worth a look. Good connectivity on the two as well so they'll take a series of inputs unlike some of the cheaper units (like mine) which are limited to three in a one-of-each arrangement (Coax, USB, Optical for instance).
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hi,

happy user of this CD player which is superb in sound and overall build quality. It strong points are exceptional clarity and dynamic as well as detail and refinement.

My setup is 2-chanel analog stereo, have not tried the Sony hi-end receivers from the ES series and cannot comment. Will have to audition Sony receiver before I make a step to buy, the promess there is to transmit the DSD signal via HDMI and decode it in the receiver which according to Sony will minimize the noise. However, it is not clear why have a high-quality DAC in the player and send over to the receiver the signal in digital where it is decoded by another high-quality DAC. Not optimal in terms of investment. Why not use another cheaper digital source and the receiver is not answered yet.... Also, not sure what to think about the quality of the Sony amplification - I have some reserve to that idea :hand:

Now, back to the SCD-XA5400ES. The advantage is simply the outstanding sound quality, for SACD and even more for CD. I have other CD players from Marantz and Sony and the difference is particularly pronounced in CD playback, the sound is full, overwhelming and ananlog-like. In comparaison the Marantz is muddy. The rest of the players which I used are more jittery-sounding, detail-reduced if compared to the SCD-XA5400ES. Distortion and noise are left behind and the music is what this player is about. Be sure to match the player with good amp and speakers to get the advantes along the chain. I think that *this* is how this player gets expensive :p

The big disadvantage is that you cannot use external sources. Impossible to use this great DAC inside :roll: - you will need the ES-series receivers for that. The price is steep if you have to buy another DAC or the receiver and also it needs extensive period of breaking. Up to 2 months took for me so about 300 hours or even more. I have two SCD-XA5400ES and they both needed a lot of time to open up.

I love this player, I actually consider it the only player which I can listen to. Everything else is a kind of compromise to me, the precision and the clarity is spoiling you faster than you realize :boohoo:
 

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