Ed, that might be the most fair handed and unbiased assessment of Sony players I have ever read.
I had a Sony XA777es here to compare with my 9000 es and our test went pretty much like yours. I will say that the deep bass was better on the 777 and the midrange was more recessed (in a nice way) than the 9000.
So throw in the fact that video on the 9000 is excellent and you have a very good player for a fair price.
I had a fellow Audiogon member send me a CDR, and I assumed it would be limited to play in my car. For whatever reason, my 9000 accepts and plays it perfectly. The CDR blank was a common silver one typical of those sold at Comp USA. I need to find out what recording technique and software was used to burn this !
I had a Sony XA777es here to compare with my 9000 es and our test went pretty much like yours. I will say that the deep bass was better on the 777 and the midrange was more recessed (in a nice way) than the 9000.
So throw in the fact that video on the 9000 is excellent and you have a very good player for a fair price.
I had a fellow Audiogon member send me a CDR, and I assumed it would be limited to play in my car. For whatever reason, my 9000 accepts and plays it perfectly. The CDR blank was a common silver one typical of those sold at Comp USA. I need to find out what recording technique and software was used to burn this !