2. digital
  3. 1262881641

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

This Sony player supplanted my Ayre C5-XE 3, which I still have, months ago. I paid $6000 for the Ayre after determining that it was the best-sounding unit for under $10,000. The Sony blows it away!!!
A unit costing $1500 besting all others under $10,000? That is exactly what it does!
For reference, I am using Audio Research electronics and Vandersteen speakers and subwoofers (about $30,000); a similar system has repeatedly been lauded as "best of show" at CES, so we are NOT talking second-rate stuff here.
This Sony is the only SACD/Cd player I have EVER heard that puts a classical piano live in my living room; nothing I ever had before even comes close.
This unit is a small miracle. I would have gladly paid $8000 for it, but if they want to give the thing away for $1500, who am I to argue?
This unit is going to send the engineers at Audio Research, Luxman, Esoteric, and Ayre back to the drawing board; their current units at 4 to 5 times the price are not even close. Some engineer at Sony is a freaking genius!!!
wa6itd
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
tthere are no absolutes as far as quality is concerned.

food, literature, art, or any other aesthetic activity has no absolutes. why ? the standards for evaluation are subjectively determined.

also absolutes requuire certainty , not probability. in the disciplines of mathematics and logoc--the world of abstraction, there are absolutes.

in the world of experience there are no absolutes.

i would welcome an explantion of how something can be absolute in the world of experience.

admittedly such an explantion has no relevance to audio. it is a subject of philosophy.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Food, art, and literature indeed have no absolutes.
lubes3
35 posts
 
For those of you using the Modwright Sony 5400, any power cord recommendations for the transport and the PS9?

Thanks,
Lubes3
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,185 posts
 
Yes Audiomagic makes a totally new technology as in their new line of cables they are a liquid polymer and donot have the inherent drawbacks of a metal based cable such as emi and rfi these cables have none of that and even the entry level cord has beaten other brands at 2x the cost .
Yes even a power cord for the 4pin xlr umbilical power cord.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
hi wa6itd:

my friend has the ayre 5 and raves about it. i have not heard it.

i am curious why you prefer the sony ?

i am also wondering which of the two players is more full-bodied and how both react to poorly recorded cds.
More to discover