Krell KAV CD verses Sony xa777es?

I have never directly compared the 2, but I do have an XA777ES, and I would not categorically dismiss the quality of the CD playback without at least listening. In fact, the Stereophile review of the SCD-XA777ES actually concluded that it was probably worth it's price for CD palyback alone. The multi-channel "XA" is different from the 2 channel version in that when playing back CD it uses all 6 of it's DAC's, 3 per channel operating in parallel. My understanding is that this is quite different from the first generation Sony SACD players (SCD-1 and SCD-777ES). Additionaly, I have also had no problems playing any CD or CD-R on my Sony. In fact, it plays several discs that I have always had trouble playing on other players.

I bought my unit used here on the 'gon, and have been very pleased with all aspects of it's performance. Good Luck,

Mike

Just briefly, the Sony SA's play Cd's through standard Sony Es circuitry. So in that, the Krell would beat it soundly. I have a 250CD and it plays CDR's with very very few delays, rare that I have to ask the disk to start twice and once it didn't help.
I have many many CDR's.