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


This Sony player supplanted my Ayre C5-XE 3, which I still have, months ago. I paid $6000 for the Ayre after determining that it was the best-sounding unit for under $10,000. The Sony blows it away!!!
A unit costing $1500 besting all others under $10,000? That is exactly what it does!
For reference, I am using Audio Research electronics and Vandersteen speakers and subwoofers (about $30,000); a similar system has repeatedly been lauded as "best of show" at CES, so we are NOT talking second-rate stuff here.
This Sony is the only SACD/Cd player I have EVER heard that puts a classical piano live in my living room; nothing I ever had before even comes close.
This unit is a small miracle. I would have gladly paid $8000 for it, but if they want to give the thing away for $1500, who am I to argue?
This unit is going to send the engineers at Audio Research, Luxman, Esoteric, and Ayre back to the drawing board; their current units at 4 to 5 times the price are not even close. Some engineer at Sony is a freaking genius!!!
wa6itd
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. :-)
Yeah, maybe I was too hard on Tgyeti, I really DO love tweaking this stuff. I think I'm going to try and DIY that pebbles tweak he was talking about :-)