Sony's best dedicated cdp before sacd...

I think it was the XA7ES. If you look at Sony's history, you'll see a numerical pattern:
X7ES
X77ES
X777ES
X779ES
XA7ES
All these were the top CDP's at thier inroduction.

xa7es

XA7ES.. I still kick myself for selling mine. An excellent CDP.

Chris

But I wouldn't be surprised if their absolute top-of-the-line redbook cdp is the SCD-1.

-IMO

It was the CDP-XA7ES, but it is not as desirable as the CDP-X707ES and CDP-X779ES. The XA7ES has a really cheap and unreliable transport (built around $15 laser pick up) which is not even close to the one found in X707ES/779ES as used also in the top Accuphase CD players/transports. The only other transports to compare are the legendary "swing arm" by Philips and "VRDS" by Teac.

You can forget about "belt driven's" and "stable platters" with confidence.

Regards,
Alex

Interesting point, Stehno!

Heh. XA7Es seems like a pretty damn robust transport to me.

That said, the SCD-1 is better on redbook. I have both.

The JDM-market only top of the line units were the CDP-R10 and DAC (or DAS?)-R10. Transport/DAC, used a clocklink setup. Rather rare, and still commands fairly high $. There was also a lesser -R1 version of the same idea. Both pairs were japan-market only.

-Ed

I've had my XA7ES on 24/7, (unless I'm out of state),
for about 5 years.
My SCD-777ES is in the box, waiting to be sent in for repairs.
You tell me which player is more "robust".