Review: Sony SCD-XA5400ES CD Player

I just bought one on the 'gone at a great price; $300-$400 less than any other internet price. This player replaces my old Phillips SACD 1000 that had bitten the dust in typical fashion (a slow disintegration of functions and abilities).

I've had it for 48 hours and am in the process of burning it in. So far the SACD side is great and had a noticable improvement after playing for 24 hours.

The CD side is coming along although my 5 year old Ah! player with upsampler and Amperex tubes still wins. Do a search in reviews for more info. Out of the box I was not impressed by the CD side but am very hopeful now. The CD part is supposed to have a VERY long break in period. We'll see....

You should note that the player is not multichannel unless you are running HDMI to a home theater set-up. Otherwise this is a stereo player.

Build quality is good. Very heavy and deep although the sheet metal should have been dampened.

One quibble so far: On SACD you can get album and track titles scroll across the display but you have to page the remote to get there. IMO Sony should have allowed you to set a default display.

Be prepared to invest a lot of $ for software (SACD discs) that do not have a whole lot of titles and may or may not be a viable format. I have a lot of SACD discs, and I'd like to loose a box in my equipment rack so it made sense for me but it may not for you.

More to come after 200 hours....

The Sony needs as good a power cord and IC as you can afford to sound it's best. Some brass weights on top help anchor the sound a bit and reduce some smearing for better bass and soundstaging. If your system can allow the Sony to be heard properly I have no doubt you will be impressed. Tube output devices can euphonize the sound but can not deliver the complexity and agility of a well done SS player. Musical fidelity does a good job at melding both technologies together quite well, such as in their A5 CD player.

Tube output devices can euphonize the sound but can
not deliver the complexity and agility of a well done SS player.
Dave_b (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)

Bssed on my experience with digital players built with tube output stages, I
disagree.

A player's agility, and its ability to convey complex pasages is completely
dependent on the player's design, regardless of whether its output stage is
tubed or solid state.

A well designed and implemented tubed output stage can be more agile than
a solid state output stage, and vice versa. One should look at the attributes
of each individual player rather than generalize across the board.

The output impedance of the source and the input impedance of the preamp
(or amp if connected directly) will also affect the perceived agility of a player,
since high output impedance matched with low input impedance can result in
rolled off bass and highs which can translate to a perceived pack of agility,
clarity or complexity. This is why a solid state player can sound more agile to
more listeners, IMO, because more solid state players will optimally match
with a wider array of preamps due to the inherent lower output impedance of
solid state designs.

Therefore, one should look at the impedance match between a tubed
component and it's mating preamplifier before determining that the tubed
source component is somehow lacking agility or complexity. It could simply
be a poor impedance match, which could be ameliorated with a higher input
impedance preamp, or by using an impedance matching buffer made by
Burson (for example).

Tvad makes good points and I can only speak from my own experiences with tubed players. I understand and have heard what a well designed tube player can offer, but at the end of the day it doesn't quite deliver an honest representation of the music for me:O)

The power cord supplied with the UK XA5400ES is a total disgrace for this price product and such a poor fit that it will disconnect if accidently slightly touched. However I do not believe in expensive power cords all you need is a heavy duty one fitted with a 13 amp fuse in the UK.