Rotel RCD-1072 vs Sony XA5400ES

No comparison. Definitely the Rotel. Its one of the best CD players I have ever owned. I'm sorry I sold it. Rotel should have never stopped making it.

Jonathan1257,

I totally respect your opinion buy when I made my comment, it was based on listening to both units. I wasn't just guessing on the Sony. I also put it next to my 9000ES and it was still quite a bit better. But thats just my opinion.

Mkash3,

Reading your post, you talk about the Sony having the better DAC. I don't know if I would agree on that. There's more to a DAC than just the chip. The overall design and quality of the other components that go into supporting the DAC chip are important to consider as well. Also, you can't forget the analog portion of the DAC. That's every bit as important as the digital section. The Rotel just gets the whole package right. There's nothing wrong with the Sony either, I just prefer the Rotel.

"Zd542, no disrespect was intended, so I hope none was taken."

None whatsoever. Your opinion is every bit as valid as mine, and its an honest one. Nothing wrong with that.

"04-30-15: Mkash3
Zd542, both players use Burr Brown DACs but I do believe the Sony chip has much more impressive technical prowess. The spec sheet for the PCM-1796 will reveal that. It's one of BB's top-of-the-line chipsets whereas the PCM-1732 was decent but more noteworthy because of its ability to also decode HDCD."

Yes, but does it sound better? You can't tell how something sounds by looking at the spec sheet, or even what dac chip it uses. CD players can, and do sometimes, sound completely different even though they may share some of the same components.

"However, I think it's safe to assume that the PCM-1732 (RCD-1072) falls short against the technical performance of the Sony player."

I don't see that one either. Who designed the Sony? With Sony ES, sometimes they make it, and sometimes they don't. This market segment is what Rotel does best. And its not a sometimes thing. I haven't read reviews for at least 10 years, but most people here do, so I'll reference one. The 1072 was was given product of the year by TAS. Not budget product of the year, because of its low price, but product of the year regardless of price. Its one of the few times that the magazines got something right. (Just my opinion).

The reason I'm going on here is not to tell you that the Rotel is better. You need to listen to both players and decide that for yourself. I'm going on because there's absolutely no reason at all to think that the Rotel will automatically fall short of the Sony just by looking at some specs. In the end, though, you may have to settle for something like the Sony because its so difficult to find a used 1072. I replaced mine with an Arcam fmj 33. Looking back at the Rotel, I feel the Arcam is a little better, but if I didn't get a good deal on it, and had to pay retail ($2800, I think), I wouldn’t have done so.