Review: Sony SCD-XA5400ES CD Player

Kal Rubinson, in the new issue of Stereophile, kicks the tires on the Sony XA5400ES player and declares it the best CD/SACD player he has heard to date...more to follow.

The Sony XA5400ES is an excellent player for both RB CD & SACD but only sounds best via HDMI I look forward to reading Kals review. May Stereophile not available in the UK untill the end of this month.

I just bought one on the 'gone at a great price; $300-$400 less than any other internet price. This player replaces my old Phillips SACD 1000 that had bitten the dust in typical fashion (a slow disintegration of functions and abilities).

I've had it for 48 hours and am in the process of burning it in. So far the SACD side is great and had a noticable improvement after playing for 24 hours.

The CD side is coming along although my 5 year old Ah! player with upsampler and Amperex tubes still wins. Do a search in reviews for more info. Out of the box I was not impressed by the CD side but am very hopeful now. The CD part is supposed to have a VERY long break in period. We'll see....

You should note that the player is not multichannel unless you are running HDMI to a home theater set-up. Otherwise this is a stereo player.

Build quality is good. Very heavy and deep although the sheet metal should have been dampened.

One quibble so far: On SACD you can get album and track titles scroll across the display but you have to page the remote to get there. IMO Sony should have allowed you to set a default display.

Be prepared to invest a lot of $ for software (SACD discs) that do not have a whole lot of titles and may or may not be a viable format. I have a lot of SACD discs, and I'd like to loose a box in my equipment rack so it made sense for me but it may not for you.

More to come after 200 hours....

The Sony needs as good a power cord and IC as you can afford to sound it's best. Some brass weights on top help anchor the sound a bit and reduce some smearing for better bass and soundstaging. If your system can allow the Sony to be heard properly I have no doubt you will be impressed. Tube output devices can euphonize the sound but can not deliver the complexity and agility of a well done SS player. Musical fidelity does a good job at melding both technologies together quite well, such as in their A5 CD player.