I just put my Sony 5400 ES in my 2 channel system. It was taken out of HT system a few years back and replaced with an Oppo
203, and been in storage since. My current DAC is a Bryston DAC3, which 4 HDMI inputs, and the Sony can output the DSD
of the SACDs. Currently I am using an Oppo 105 I the same system in the same fashion.
The Sony sounds fantastic here. I was never particularly enamored of it before, where it had sounded kind of soft and fuzzy connected to an AVR via HDMI. The Oppo does sound a bit more incisive in comparison but the Sony gives a slightly bigger sound stage. The difference between them is slight and I am glad the DAC has multiple HDMI inputs so I can play them both.
I tried the Sony directly into the Cary Preamp via analog outputs and was much less impressed, to the point where I was wondering if if the Sony was outputting DSD over its RCA outputs. I will have to check the Sony manual on that, if someone knows the answer I’d appreciate it, but I will be using the HDMI exclusively so it doesn’t really matter.