refurbished xa7es or scdxa9000es

Doug,

I'm in the same boat with my Sony SCD-777ES SACD player.
It powers up but recognizes (& plays) cds or sacds approximately 1/2 of the time. It has been in the box for over a year. Sony's regional service center used to be here in Scottsdale, AZ, about 1 mile from my house. Now I have to ship the player out of state, using those non-believers at UPS or FED Ex to ship it. Both have earned their incompetance stripes with me, recently.
I'm not familiar with the SCDXA9000ES, does it have a variable out? That is a very important feature, to me. It may not be as important to you.

the xa9000es does not have a variable output, only fixed in either multi-channel or 2 channel

I was under the impression that the SCD-1 is discontinued, leaving the XA-9000ES as the flagship player.

The last batch of SCD-1s was built by Sony in June 2002. It's highly unlikely there any new ones left.