Sony SCD-XA5400ES-Best SACD for under $10,000

Rfogel8, what kind of music do you listen to? I am curious for this reason: I have learned that comparisons of digital to vinyl are very music-sensitive.

This is what I mean. I listen mainly to 40s-60s jazz and have found that, while good digital recordings on good players can be very good, good records on vinyl are still substantially better. And, even more importantly, there are many many more good recordings of this genre on vinyl than digital.

(I had a MW 5400 but ultimately sold it. It was truly great - best digital I have heard - but a vinyl setup not much more expensive was still much better. By "much better" I mean much less fatigue and more enjoyment over long listening sessions.)

Podeschi, I'm not familiar with the 208 but knowing Ralph is a big fan of Tri-Planar(Tri Mai too), I'm sure they'll make beautiful music together.

I have the most recent version and it mates very well with my Galibier Gavia table(Thom Mackris is a TP fan too) and XV-1s cartridge. It's fairly easy to set up and I love the repeatable settings.

Paulfolbrecht, I listen to most types of music but I'm not into country, R&B, or rap crap!!!

Like you, I prefer jazz from the 40's thru the early 70's though I don't care for bebop or the more abstract stuff. I love Ella, Ellington, Satchmo, some Miles, etc. and I also listen to a fair amount of classical, from small scale to full orchestra.

Having gone thru the 60's, I still enjoy old rock and blues; Doors, Beck, Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Beatles(Parlophone), Traffic(love Mr. Fantasy), Cream. I also love old Motown; Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, Temptations.

Throw in some popular stuff, Linda Ronstadt, Mamas & Papas, Judy Collins, maybe some old Mel Torme, Sinatra, Nina Simone. I could go on!

I own many more lp's than cd's/sacd's and while I agree with you that a well recorded lp(in good shape) will almost always edge out well recorded digital, I don't find that I suffer from fatigue or enjoy the music any less through the Modwright. I've spent more than a few evenings listening for five or six hours at a time and the only fatigue was caused by the fact I was going to bed at 4 or 5am.

I don't recall reading any of your posts mentioning whether you swapped out the Russian and Chinese tubes for NOS but if you didn't, you missed out on some very substantial sonic improvements. Ditto for Dan's "upgraded" umbilical cord.

I haven't gotten around to listing my system on the 'Gon yet but like you, I'm running tubes; Atma-Sphere MP-1 Mk3 w/phono and Atma-Sphere MA-1 Mk3 monos; both with all upgrades including V-Caps and Caddocks. I'm using Siltech Gen. 7 interconnects and speaker cables and I must say, my system is about as revealing as it gets.

In the past, like you, I quickly got bored with digital, even to the point of irritation. I went for a couple years and didn't even own a player/separates. With the Modwright, to my ears, the gap has narrowed to the point where I can now thoroughly enjoy extended listening sessions.

Thanks for the feedback. I used NOS 6SN7s but not the better cord. Perhaps my specific favorite recordings are just better on vinyl.

P.S. My listed system here is very out of date. I still have my Audio Note DAC, though. I had a hard time deciding if I liked the MW Sony or AN DAC better on redbook. Good SACDs edged out the best redbook which were invariably XRCDs on both. Also the MW as transport into the AN DAC was substantially better than the Mac Mini I was using (and am still using).

Good jazz SACDs are just so rare. I take it you're listening to mostly redbook in that genre. XRCD?

According to Stereophile's Kal Rubinson the new Oppo BDP-95 universal player ($999) beats the SCD-XA5400 in stereo.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/now-newsstands-istereophilei-vol34-no9