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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
 
ss and the classic tube sound do not sound the same. if i prefer a certain coloration, i am confident that the sony doesn't have it.

i would be willing to do a test comparing the stock sony 5400 with the modded sony and bet that i would prefer the modded sony.

in life when making choices it is too time consuming to listen to all products.

there have been very few solid state prodducts i have heard that i would want to own. thus my confidence is that the sony would be bought and modded, without listening to the stock version.

kal would you take me up on my wager. i happen to prefer a tube flavor using nos tubes. what is the purpose in listening to the stock sony ?

i will be able to criticize its flaws but that is a waste of time. i can't think of anything that i would learn that is of great value.

back to the garlic situation. i did not say every food should have a garlic flavor, only broccoli.

nor did i say anything about recordings.

obviously a classic tube flavor is like a tone control. changing the tubes changes the sound. you can't change the sound on a stock sony unless you make some change to the player.
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
why do the most expensive cd players and dac (Esoteric, dcs. EMM, etc.) in the world not use tubes? I love tubes, have many, but for some reason the best players I have heard don't seem ti use them - and yes, I do like them.
dgarretson
2,615 posts
 
"you want to go out for a Italian dinner on a $50 budget and are thinking of getting saltimbocca at Restaurant "Mama Sonia". Would you order their $20 pasta dish first to make sure their cooking is OK, and get the saltimbocca on a second visit? No. You order the saltimbocca and if you don't like it you never come back."

It is a mistake to order steak in a hamburgher joint. When gauging any restaurant except for the very best, I try to find out what they do well, which is usually something modest. In this sense the stock Sony is a hamburger and should be enjoyed as such. However at a better restaurant like Casa Dan Wright the Sony is just an ingredient. One is inclined to trust Dan's experience on this a priori.
edorr
714 posts
 
I think the best analogy is Pizza, because it is an "upgradeble" dish. Say you love Pizza quatro stagioni. So you find this Pizzeria Danielo which has stellar online reviews and four Zagat stars to boot. Of course, on a first visit you order the $20 quatro stagioni. You would not dream of trying the undoubtedly excellent $10 pizza margarita first to see if the base, cheese and tomato sauce is to your liking.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
if you want an orange, why eat an apple ?

the stock sony soes not have the facility to alter its sound, so there is no value in listening to the 5400.
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