Sony ES vs Rotel

Rotel is not a Japanese brand that I know of unless they were bought out recently. They are based and designed in the UK and made in Taiwan, or maybe China. I forget. Of the 2 brands, I prefer Rotel, but there have been some very nice Sony ES components, as well.

Rotel has always been a Japanese brand. In fact it is still family-owned with headquarters based in Tokyo. They do share the same distributor as B&W Speakers and are usually partnered with B&W at dealers and various shows.

Obviously, this is a very subjective question. For sound
quality from source components, I prefer Sony ES over Rotel.
My perception of Rotel has always been "a quality product
at a real world price," similar to NAD. That's not a
negative, but for my money I'd prefer one of the classic Sony
products, i.e. SCD-1, SCD-777 or any of the copper clad 9000
series. The Sony 5400ES gets positive reviews on this forum
frequently. The only negative with Sony products is that if
the laser ever fails, which seems to happen frequently, it can
be a costly repair.