Best redbook CD player

Sony XA7E.S. the sheer number of players that have bowed

down to the Sony continues to grow. The Japanese put both

feet into building this masterpiece of reliability and

ability to resolve, and transfer the entire contents of the

Disc to Your speakers. I am not alone, here is a fellow

Sony owners take...

A nice condition and perfectly working Streophile Class A rated Sony CDP-XA7ES. Bought used 2 years ago but played less than 50 hours as I have many cd players. The XA7ES is one of the best sounding redbook player ever released by Sony and it is on par if not better sounding than my stock Sony SCD-1 and SCD-777ES. I also like the sound of the XA7ES better than the Cambridge 840C that I used to have. A bargain at the asking price. You can add on external DAC for even better performance. You will not find a better redbook player than the XA7ES at the asking price

For $650 a steal.

Enjoy The Music!

Actually, just as much as I hate to admit it, MrT just might be on point on his reco here. Just look at this thread also posted today, to see some high end transport nightmares. Read Trejla's reply in particular, this from an importer/distributor. As Joe puts it so well:

12-19-08: Trelja
I consider them (transports) the achilles heel of the high-end audio hobby, and do not recommend costly CD players in most instances, as one is simply buying a glamorous case and (hopefully) well designed/implemented power supply and output section all wrapped around a cheap piece of junk that is more than likely destined for the type of failure that leaves one's machine not much beyond a large, expensive doorstop.

At the very least, if you cannot go with a computer drive now, you may consider an inexpensive transport with a high quality DAC instead of a CDP. One that you can still use when you are ready to make the move to a music server in the future.

Cheers,
John

At the very least, if you cannot go with a computer drive now, you may consider an inexpensive transport with a high quality DAC instead of a CDP.

Cheers,
John
Jmcgrogan2 (Reviews | Threads | Answers)

Another reason a used APL Denon 3910 (with DAC input option - coax only) is a great value right now. Exceptional silver disc player with an exceptional DAC section.

I use mine with a Squeezebox/Apple MacBook Pro combination for really high quality background music (streaming wirelessly...hence it's not reference quality).

i am suggesting using the lector as a one box player, thus using its transport and dac as a digital front end.

by the way, i spoke to ps audio today. during the spring of 2009, they will release the perfect transport, which embodies many of the features a computer embodies. its retail price will be between $2000 to $2500.

i would suggest that it is worth the time to speak to a technical specialist at ps audio to get information about this product.

i suggest staying away from the 24 bit lector players.
at best, listen to the current lector products, before you buy. i reviewed the lector .6 and was not impressed.