2. digital
  3. 1262881641

Sony SCD-XA5400ES-Best SACD for under $10,000

This Sony player supplanted my Ayre C5-XE 3, which I still have, months ago. I paid $6000 for the Ayre after determining that it was the best-sounding unit for under $10,000. The Sony blows it away!!!
A unit costing $1500 besting all others under $10,000? That is exactly what it does!
For reference, I am using Audio Research electronics and Vandersteen speakers and subwoofers (about $30,000); a similar system has repeatedly been lauded as "best of show" at CES, so we are NOT talking second-rate stuff here.
This Sony is the only SACD/Cd player I have EVER heard that puts a classical piano live in my living room; nothing I ever had before even comes close.
This unit is a small miracle. I would have gladly paid $8000 for it, but if they want to give the thing away for $1500, who am I to argue?
This unit is going to send the engineers at Audio Research, Luxman, Esoteric, and Ayre back to the drawing board; their current units at 4 to 5 times the price are not even close. Some engineer at Sony is a freaking genius!!!
wa6itd

Showing 1 response by dgarretson

dgarretson
2,612 posts
 
"you want to go out for a Italian dinner on a $50 budget and are thinking of getting saltimbocca at Restaurant "Mama Sonia". Would you order their $20 pasta dish first to make sure their cooking is OK, and get the saltimbocca on a second visit? No. You order the saltimbocca and if you don't like it you never come back."

It is a mistake to order steak in a hamburgher joint. When gauging any restaurant except for the very best, I try to find out what they do well, which is usually something modest. In this sense the stock Sony is a hamburger and should be enjoyed as such. However at a better restaurant like Casa Dan Wright the Sony is just an ingredient. One is inclined to trust Dan's experience on this a priori.
More to discover