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Review: Sony SCD-XA5400ES CD Player

Category: Digital

I love natural recordings that capture the full acoustic envelope of the performances. The Shostakovich Sonatas performed by Ax and YYMa comes to mind...the Sony portrays the entire event in such an unforced and natural manner that it triggers ones acoustic memory into believing it is real. A player that offers no tone color or openness would be my worst nightmare. I replaced my BAT VK D5 24 bit CDP and was amazed at how much resolution and color was lost on the older design. The Sony re-creates the space, music and acoustic tones with overtones so completely that you start to smile and realize that you have been given a great gift...a peak into the performance as it occured at the recording session. My opinion of the Sony applies as much for the redbook section as it does for the SACD section. This player will become a classic product for digital playback....much better it does not get! It's a keeper at any price,,,for $1500 USD it is a freakin steal. This is Sony's best effort to date and manages to break new ground in the digital domain:)

Associated gear
Wilson Sophia speakers
Krell 400xi amp
Harmonic Tech Cables
MIT Oracle AC 2 power cord

Similar products
Sony SCD-1
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Sony SCD-XA777ES
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Wadia 851
Krell SACD Standard
MF A5
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ARC CD 3
dave_b

Showing 7 responses by audioman58

audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,302 posts
 
one way to make the very good Sony SCD-XA5400ES CD Player
even better is the Very extensive mod Modwright has just completed Dan says it is his best sounding mod to date for cd and for under $3500 total investment competes with units up to $10k that is a statement.
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,302 posts
 
I have compared the Sony 5400 forget the Benchmark it is not as musical -natural sounding , the Belcanto dac-3 may be a little better but remember for the same money plus a transport and cable for $2k Modwright will be modding
my unit soon and from what the beta testers have said and Dan it goes way out Vaccum tube ,Lundahl transformers
Burson master clock and a bunch of other stuff
apples to apples The Sony will compete with the big names
for for less moneys .
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,302 posts
 
The Sony is such a great platform to build on the worlds best commercial bit clocks and power regulation is beong done .
The clocks are the Terrafirma Lite clock. and the external version Terrafirma Uber clock .This by far has made much more of a difference than all the cap and cheap word clocks mods combined and was developed specifically for the Sony 5400.
My technician did a fantastic job and even offers over $200
off to help with the economic times for the top model ,no other tech was willing to help me out and this unit is Very close to
Analog and in some respects betters it .I am still in disbelief Finally I can listen in peace sacd or red book digital.
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,302 posts
 
How to make the Sony 5400 Much better ,
Start with taking out the garbade steel fuses the electrical resistance is 10x more than Silver the Hifi tuning fuses although expensive make a improvement across the board buy the 1a slow blow fuses x2, also Music direct sells a large sorbathane sheet to damp the transport ,also they carry 3m damping sheets for the chasis buy 2-3 1 under the hood ,and a piece for each side , then 2 pieces for the sides of the transport and anywhere metal is exposed ,also think about some good feet .I have the audio prisms that support the unit
at least a 5% improvement for $200 and change well worth it just for the inner detail alone , then when bucks are right have it modded the Terra firma clocks are the Best bar none , and Dan Modwright also has a vacuum tube mod to complement that then you have a $10+ player !!
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,302 posts
 
To Disbeliever Vaccum tubes are not just about distortion that is not correct ,for example the most sensitive medical equipment in the world and medically use Vacuum tubes uncluding your CAT scan machines why is this ?
Vacuum tubes are very stable at Voltage regulation ,
where solid state is good at currect since a cd player is very low voltage a seperate power supply is an idea filter buffer an my being totally seperate it isolates the diferent stages from any noise interaction ,and for the input stage the vacuum, tubes also help to filter the filter capacitors as well as providing a much more dimentional presentation .This is why some of the very best preamplifiers in the world are Vacuum tube .
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,302 posts
 
Regardless of the fact Vaccum tubes wear out what they do for Audio is what makes them so good .It was proven many years ago that you can make a solidstate amplifier
look almost perfect from a signwave standpoint when testing -in theory,in reality with no dimentional aspects to it's sonics. Why do you think Conrad Johnson, Audio Research, Rogue Audio amd Lamm Audio have done so well ? Because it sounds more realistic and the best gear by many experts in the field believe that vaccum tubes rule ,myself included ,until you have bought a quality vaccumtube amplifier or preamplifier and have use it in a system than you have not had the experience of the magic
of how well Vaccum tubes can add to the realism of the musical event .Try reading Stereophile ,or the Absolute sounds magazine, I have over 30 years as a Audiiophile and have heard very good solidstate as well as Vacuum tube having the combination in the system brings the best of
both worlds ,also Dan Modwrights mods with the Sony 5400
are by the best out there by Far ! Dont knockit untill have have tried it .
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,302 posts
 
After hearding the Terra firma Mod of the Sony xa5400 I Thought it was the best I am glad I waited, while on business I heard Dan Modwrights latest and very extensive transformation of this unit Now with a Vacuum tube OTL analog section as well as a Vacuumtube rectified Seperate power supply Just go to Modwrights webpage and check it out for $2k you now have a player that Nothing and I mean nothing that is in the class A section at $10k that will touch it ,he had a Esoteric 03-se there it was very good ,but the Sony was that much more realistic .I have spent more than a house on audio over the past 25 years and know when something is special sacd may be a little better but now even redbook cds can compete with a Very good turntable and that is saying a lot! My unit has just come back and I am giving it some run in time before giving a formal review ,so far even not runin yet I am not getting much work done for I am hearing nuances in the recording that I did not know that was there and the air around the instruments is much better than I expected I will get back here in a couple of weeks to update on the breakin.
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