Sony SCD-C 555ES

The_kid- Because your friend bought it used doesnt mean it was broken in properly.
These units need hundreds of hours before they open up and show their stuff.
Many sell gear before its properly burned in because they dont like the sound and dont realize the importance of a long break in.

First of all, i thank everyone who has offered their advice/opinion. I checked my interconnects twice and they are properly hooked up. My system is strictly 2 channel. Let me add to my original post what components i'm presently using:
Parasound 2200 II amp
Adcom gtp 750 Preamp
Parasound line filter
Interconnects are Mapleshade Cryo'd Ribbon
Speakerwire is LAT 1000
PSB Gold speakers

I may change off on my interconnects, but, you know, the Mapleshades have always given whatever system i had a wonderfully large and deep sound stage and added half an octave to my bass. Anyway i'll try something else - but i'm still going to ride it out - each time i was about to give up waiting for interconnects or speaker wire to burn in the sound suddenly "blossomed". i simply cannot believe that the Sony 555 SACD sounds markedly inferior to redbook as played on my Cal Audio changer.
Thank you all again for your interest.

David99,

Good point but I forgot to mention, the unit was over a year old and had plenty of use. My friend kept it for about 3 weeks and things did not improve. I have to assume it was broken in.

Chris

Dan-To answer your question about break in.
You need to have the SACD player playing music or a burn in track.If you can,just put the player on repeat and let it go at very low volume for a couple of weeks.You can also listen to it during this time! :~)
You have to do this for SACD mode AND CD mode.
I 'think' the SACD mode takes longer than the CD mode.

I think it has a lot to do with the source material rather than the player. It is a well-known fact even among SACD enthusiasts that there are many SACDs out there that sounds like crap. Fortunately, there are more and more SACDs that really show off their edge over CDs. Try some SACD samplers like Opus3, Concord Jazz Sampler, classical recordings with very little noice such as Dvorak Slavonic Dances or something conducted by Szell who's usually pretty well-recorded. Yo Yo Ma Solo and Bernstein conducts discs should have plenty of body. The 555ES is a great player but it's also an accurate player. If the source and room are bright there's nothing that the 555ES will do to lessen that.