Beating a dead horse.... SACD

The 5400 was Sony's last great "ES" spinner.
Happy Listening!

I just put my Sony 5400 ES  in my 2 channel system.  It was taken out of HT system a few years back and replaced with an Oppo
203, and been in storage since.  My current DAC is a Bryston  DAC3, which 4 HDMI inputs, and the Sony can output the DSD
of the SACDs.  Currently I am using an Oppo 105 I the same system in the same fashion.
  The Sony sounds fantastic here.  I was never particularly enamored of it before, where it had sounded kind of soft and fuzzy connected to an AVR via HDMI.  The Oppo does sound a bit more incisive in comparison but the Sony gives a slightly bigger sound stage.  The difference between them is slight and I am glad the DAC has multiple HDMI inputs so I can play them both.
  I tried the Sony directly into the Cary Preamp via analog outputs and was much less impressed, to the point where I was wondering if if the Sony was outputting DSD over its RCA outputs.  I will have to check the Sony manual on that, if someone knows the answer I’d appreciate it, but I will be using the HDMI exclusively so it doesn’t really matter.

A Denon 3910 should be easy to find and fit into your price point.I had one and liked it.Its built like a tank.The only reason I still dont use it is that one of my cats decided it was nice and warm and at sometime decided that it could double as a latrine.

If the majority of your SACD disks are multilayer (with redbook playability) why bother @ such a price point?

This said, I was less than impressed with early SACD (sounded imbalanced/phasy) with SOTA gear @ the time, but it could have been the SACD discs/recordings themselves. 

DeKay

I have not had the chance to compare the 5400 to anything.  I have had a couple of OPPO and thought they were good with an exception....I believe the British reviewers call it PRAT, and the OPPOs I have used were a bit lacking in that.  One of the most involving/PRAT units I had was the Classe CDP-1....the old Ultra Analog DAC unit. 

dbphd
Thank You.  Happy Listening!

jafant, IIRC Kal Rubinson thought the Sony 5400ES was superior in his Stereophile review.

db

whatjd
how does the Sony ES compare to the OPPO 83SE?
Happy Listening!

Forget the SCD-XA5400ES I recommended.  They're listed near $1K in the Blue Book and for some reason seem to be on the rise with the most recent being $2K.

db

OP might want to consider a Sony 5400ES. IIRC, they were thought to be a bit of an improvement over the 9000 and venerated SCD-1. I have one or two in the original box in the garage waiting for me to get off my ass and sell stuff I no longer use.

db

I recently got my Vacuum State moded Sony SCD-1 out of storage and back into my system.  I have to say it is a pleasant surprise after all these years. I am also enjoying the slower pace of selecting a disc and playing it on the SCD-1. A nice change of pace from the sometimes faster paced streaming I do via TIDAL and Qobuz.

The DAC on this player is 20 years old so I am thinking it is the Vaccum State V5+ mods I did 15 years ago is what is making this player still sound great. My current DAC is the Benchmark DAC3B a neutral and extremely revealing unit. It is a much different sound than the SCD-1's internal DAC, but I love both. 

I sometimes see this player on sale for under $1000. Though I would not use the original packaging to get it shipped to you. The packing foam will be useless at this point. It weighs about 50lbs.

BTW - Dark Side of the Moon on SACD on the SCD-1 is the best sounding disk and music on any format that I have heard.

@lalitk 

agree that the OP should look for something better......especially since the OP says that he has had high end equipment over the years....so he should know that it would make sense to spend a little more on a good quality player.

@riley804,

I hear you. My post was not to knock down your suggestions under OP’s budget. It was more in line with a reality check on his bid for a ‘good sounding player’ :-)

@lalitk 

the whole point of me mentioning the ones that I did was because the OP said that he didnt want to spend more than $500.....and he was already familiar with the Sony model.

the one you suggest is already over what the OP wants to spend and the bidding isnt over yet.

If you would like something new Sony still makes players that play sacd.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158X1100ES/Sony-ES-UBP-X1100ES.html

+1, @thyname said!

Seriously, why bother with choices given by @riley804. You might as well digitized all of your SACD’s. Unless you consider a player like this, you’re just filling an empty spot in your rack.

https://www.hifishark.com/goto/65_174473245809/5b65369c-0c14-11eb-b228-393262613334

OP: based on what you have laid out so far, the choice of the SACD would not matter. Meaning it won’t impact anything. So pick the cheapest you can find. Good luck 

you said that you enjoyed the Sony S9000ES when you had it and you then say that you would like to find something under $500. there is one for sale right now for $250 , which is well under your budget.

why not get that ?

 I have enjoyed the camaraderie and shared experience of other audiophiles on this site and will continue to do so.   In taking classes at all levels of learning and teaching classes at many levels I have experienced wonderful camaraderie from the students and leaders in shared knowledge and experience.  It seems to be one of the benefits of this site. 

I am using an OPPO 83SE as one of my digital sources, and have a few others, mostly less "esoteric" and more for casual listening. 

Pioneer UDP LX50 or Sony Universal Players

What is your DAC?

I enjoyed the old Sony DVP-S9000ES when I had it.

have you ever tried searching for things yourself ?

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa4a6c-sony-dvp-s9000es-cd-sacd-dvd-player-cd-sacd-players

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649650966-sony-dvp-nc555es-sacdcddvd-five-disc-changer/

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649616029-yamaha-dv-c6770-5-disc-sacddvd-audio-changer-mint/