Sony CDP-XA20ES VS. Rotel RCD 971

I havent heard the Rotel, but I did have the Sony for a little while. I took it back and got a Denon 1650ar, which I have kept and use in a small home office system.

I tried to like the Sony, but, and I have no idea why, it sounded to me like a 33 1/3 rpm lp playing at 34 rpm. A little sharp, and ultimately very fatiguing. Maybe it was the unit I had and all the rest are fine. I have an old Sony 508es that is very smooth and listenable, so the 20es surprised me.

I think there are probably better cd players out for the same amount of money or even less (the Ah Tjoeb maybe?).

I have owned both. The Sony is more detailed and has much better build quality. The Rotel is smoother and more musical. Build quality is not that great. Pick your poison.

I have owned the XA20ES and have enjoyed it immensely. I did replace it recently with a XA7ES (its BIG brother) and after a suitable break in the XA7 now surpasses the XA20 in overall enjoyment. The point here is: both CD players required about 200 hours to start sounding real good and I feel the post by Paulwp is negative because he may not have given the XA20 sufficient break-in time. Perhaps he/she may care to elaborate on this. As regards the Rotel, I have heard it at my local dealer and it sounded "lightweight" with very poor low-end response. If we consider build quality the XA20 is way ahead, the RCD 971 is made in china and seems to use nothing but plastic parts. Maybe the RCD971 I heard was new out of box, however since I was put off by its extremely poor construction I did not investigate further.

I use an XA20ES in my secondary system and have been impressed with its build quaility and fixed laser transport. However, you may wish to consider the Sony C333ES SACD/CD player. It has much better CD sound than the XA20ES and offers SACD capability. The 333ES build quaility is at least as good as that of the XA20ES- it weighs over 23 lbs. If you move quickly, you can get the 333ES from Oade Brothers for $550- only $50-$75 more than an XA20ES.