Grant, actually, it's the other way around - the Philips is far better than the Sony.
From what I understand, that wasn't the case more than 5 years ago. However, since Sony shifted production to China, the quality of its laser assembly has really fallen off the cliff. In the case of a bunch of the Consonance players that used the Sony that I imported in 2007, you were lucky to have the laser work when you opened the box and took the player out. That's quality control for you. I've never had to repair a Philips, the number of Sonys I've fixed in a 2 year period was somewhere between 75 and 80.
The first CD player I ever bought, a Pioneer PD5100 in 1987 for $99 has played flawlessly multiple times a week since I brought it home that day. So, as has been said, there's little correlation between time and use and reliability. Sometimes I've wondered if a player or transport built several years ago is a good option for an audiophile in the market, as if you have a laser that was built in Japan and is working soundly, there's no reason it won't continue to do so far into the future.
