Sony SCD-XA5400ES-Best SACD for under $10,000

I have everything on tiptoes. I've also tried resonance control on the top and bottom of the player. I've tried four power cords, ferrite magnets, power conditioner IN and OUT of the system, four pairs of interconnects(though I still like to call them patch cables :-)), two pairs of speaker cables, single barrel bourbon, and turning my chair around so it faces away from the speakers. Each of these things made a difference obviously (except the bourbon) but the glare remains in varying degrees. The power cable swaps and the conditioner changes seem to have the most impact on the offending frequencies.
As for getting any "life" out of it, I'd have to say it has the best dynamic range of any player I've ever heard (yeah, really!) but the mids are a bit recessed and as a result it doesn't have quite the palpable "instruments in the room" effect that my old XA7ES had.
Sorry if my humor is out of line, I really appreciate you're weighing in. I was actually thinking this morning of taking the tiptoes OUT of the equation. It seems like every tweak that made my old player sound better makes this one sound worse. The rest of the system has been fed by numerous sources over the years so I'm pretty confident nothing is being caused by pre/power/speakers.
I'm surprised no one has offered any opinions of the Arcam CD37. I was hoping someone had made a comparison they could share. I will say that the borrowed CD17 is starting to sound pretty sweet and I will even go on record (in case anyone is doing a forum search) as saying that it sounds as good as my old XA7ES. It's a little tubby in the mid bass but that's easier to remedy.
What sort of equipment/cables were you using when you had the 5400? As I stated in an earlier post, I thought the included cable was a joke.

Kudos to you Prsmccarty if you garner that much pleasure out of micromanaging your system the way you do. I know you're not alone here, but it strikes me as a bit obssesive compulsive, IMO

Perhaps the Clever Little Clock may help (Google it for a laugh) ... or that little jar of pebbles for $795 (again, a real product ....lol)

LOL who said I was garnering PLEASURE?!?! It's more of a curse than a blessing. :-)
I had a revelation while I was doing some listening this evening and I'm going to try something else in the morning. It's late now and I'm just not up to it. It'll probably keep me awake and I'll be doing it at 4am.
Seriously though, all those tweaks make a difference and often tweaks are the difference between good and great results. I often reminisce about systems and equipment I've owned in the past and thought "if I only knew then what I know now". The devil is in the details, and details are what this hobby is about, right?I learned a long time ago (and learned the hard way) that you can't just buy a bunch of expensive components, hook them together, and expect them to sound magical.
As I was trying all the patch cables I have, I got to a very old pair of cables which I've had since the 80's. They immediately made my system sound two dimensional with no soundstage depth whatsoever. How many power amps do you think I sold back then because "they didn't have any soundstage depth"? It bothered me for days to think of the potentially great pieces of gear I'd sold off because I was using crappy cables.
I DO draw the line at pebbles, coins on my speakers, funky stick things that go on a stand in the middle of your room and various other bizarre tweaks. I will say however, that if you blindfolded me and set a book on top of my cd player I could not only tell that you did so, I could tell you which side you set it on. I've already proven that one out with a friend who thought I was crazy.
I'll keep you all posted on tomorrow's tweak.

I bought Neal's XA5400ES and am very pleased with its portrayal of timbre, dynamic range, and soundstage. In my system the sound is detailed yet smooth. I use analog XLR interconnects to my preamp, and replaced the power cord with something that looks like a garden hose.

db

At this time it appears as though I have traced the issue to another part of the system (after I so boldly proclaimed it wasn't) and the Sony was not the culprit. I'll need another day or so to be sure, but for now things sound pretty awesome. Glare is gone and nothing touches the 5400ES when it comes to detail, dynamics and soundstage as you have stated.
If my preliminary observations are correct, I'll post a more detailed report. Special thanks to my friend who loaned me the Arcam. If I had not had such a different sounding player to swap into the system I never would have traced the problem.
Also, special thanks to Audiogon for allowing me to have this forum as a vehicle to show the rest of the audiophile community just what a flaky basket case I can be! I promise you guys, I'm not this screwed up when it comes to the REST of my life. :-)