Modwright sony xa5400 vs Modwright Oppo 95

Yo, JWM and I spent a few hours at his house last night going back and forth between both modified players and we continue to agree on most points.

The Sony is a wee bit more revealing and I think it excels at leading edge transients. I hear more air on top and more decay. To my ears, it's more exciting to listen to and I think more believable. The Oppo is somewhat forgiving of mediocre discs but I think you get more truth with the Sony. It never offends and to my ears, is superior to all digital I've heard previously, including the $15k Playback Design that JWM unloaded recently.

That said, the modified Oppo doesn't fall all that short of the Sony in terms of resolution and it really does sound very open, airy and extended. As I mentioned previously, it might be preferable with solid state gear.

Bottom line for me, I like 'em both a lot and could easily live with either one. Fortunately, like JWM, I don't have to choose. After hearing both players side by side, first at RMAF and again last night at JWM's, I'm ready to pull the trigger(is that phrase politically correct?) on the Oppo for my AV system.

Thanks Rfogel8. Really helpful. Which one out of the two gives fuller presentation... say for strings/piano? Thanks again.

The Oppo definitely gives a warmer, fuller presentation. Beyond that, they are more alike than different.

One question for both JMW and Rfogel8. I apologize if I just missed it, but could you clarify that these listening impressions are based on redbook and SACD. My redbook collection is probably 100 times larger than my SACD collection, so redbook playback is more important to me. I would imagine these observations apply to both formats, but we all know what happens when we assume.

Yes both redbook and SACD were tested. The redbook sounds almost as good as the best SACD's.