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
 
hi kal:

if i want sauteed garlic on my broccoli there is no need to taste the broccoli if it has not been sauteed in garlic.

with respect to the cd player, if i want a tube flavor, and i realize that a cd player has no tubes, there is no reason to listen to the player. ss and tubes do not sound the same.
jylee
306 posts
 
Your analogy suggests because you like sauteed garlic on your broccoli, you'll put sauteed garlic on everything, like on chocolate and ice cream, before tasting them first without garlic. Yuck.
zmanastronomy's avatar
zmanastronomy
738 posts
 
Do I think the Sony is the best SACD player under $10k? No.
But, I have heard one in my system and it sounded very good. It out performed my current CDP and I'm going to buy one soon.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
hi jylee:

i was only talking about sauteed garlic. no where did i say that i liked garlic on everything.

my point was to answer kal's suggestion to listen to a component first, before modifying it and i suggested that if i wanted a tube sound, via a buffer or gain stage, e.g., there would be no need to listen to the sony.\

that is, if i was trying to create a flavor which a component does not have , there is no need to listen to it to determine that it does not have the flavor.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,707 posts
 
Feh. I just wrote a lengthy riposte but the clumsy interface here erased it while I looked up some other info. So, let's leave you with your last word and the taste of garlic in your mouth. I'd rather let the chefs (performers and recording engineers) ply their art than eat the same thing all the time.

Kal
More to discover