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

Podeschi, I agree with you completely. I too own an analog rig "that costs many multiples more" but since my MW arrived several months ago, most of my time has been spent rediscovering cd's I haven't listened to in ages.

Seriously, the best digital I've heard!

Dgarretson, great post!

I see this tread has been running for a while so I might as well jump in.

I'm one of those not so curious individuals who bought the 5400 and had it shipped direct to Modwright. I've heard several Sony ES players over the years and to my ears, for anything other than SACD, they just sounded OK. The 5400 may be a different animal but I doubt it.

I just decided I wasn't going to waste the time or additional shipping charges on a stock unit that I only purchased in the first place to have modded by Dan.

If you own a stock unit or some other brand that you think sounds wonderful, that's great but if you haven't heard the Modwright/Sony, don't assume it's just another decent sounding player to be compared with other $3-$4k players.

A good friend of mine who also happens to be a dealer(not Modwright), purchased a 5400 and had it sent to Modwright same time I did. He too is very impressed with the sound but like many audiophools, he's sometimes tempted by what he reads in the audio rags. In this case, he's been itching to hear the $15k Playback Design unit that's gotten a number of gushing reviews.

Well, last week he took delivery of a used Playback Design he found on the 'gon for a measly $9700. Such a deal! I went to his house Friday night for a listen, wondering as I drove there, what if the Playback Design sounds a lot better? Would I be willing to ante up for the improved sound? Probably not; I really can't find any nits to pick with the Modwright.

I get there and his system's all warmed up, both players feeding his VAC Sig. Mk2 preamp via balanced Siltech cables and the Modwright's making beautiful music. We listened to 5 or 6 tunes then switched to the Playback Design. Oops, the whole soundstage shrank. The sound went from 3-dimensional organic images to something that could only be described as 2-dimensional, lean and analytical. The music lost it's magic and all I could think was, the $15k player sounds like good digital but not at all believable.

I'm thinking, something's gotta be wrong here. I ask my buddy, how long's your system been on? A couple hours. How many hours on the player, is it broken in yet. He says he's the third owner but the guy he bought it from says it still needs breaking in. Hmmm.

So, after a few more hours of listening and going back to the Modwright, we both agreed, either the Playback Design needs a LOT MORE break-in or the audio rags have lied to us again!

I've been living with my Modwright/Sony for a couple months now and I'm still shocked at how good it sounds. I'm also shocked at how average the Playback Design sounded in comparison. I read a couple of the reviews and they do say it needs 4-500 hours to sound it's best but with my friend being the third owner, you'd think it would sound better than what we heard. Another friend of ours stopped by for a listen a couple days ago and while he really likes the Modwright, he was less than impressed by the Playback Design unit.

Now, I'm not saying the Modwright is the best player out there but in my experience, you're gonna have to spend a lot more than the $3300 or so for the Sony and the mod, to get anything near the sound quality. I'm so impressed, I'm looking into a spare laser, just in case! Dan tells me, it's about the only thing that's likely to ever go bad.

I too am using a 14 gauge Belden on the MW and it sounds fantastic. I've always heard the benefits of upgrading interconnects and speaker cables but have never been impressed by power cords, and I've tried many.

Ain't no way a power cord is gonna cure what's wrong with the Playback Design. Maybe a couple hundred more hours of break-in but to suggest that swapping a power cord will somehow magically make the necessary sonic improvements strikes me as naive.

Like Dbphd, I see so many posts suggesting a power cord change to correct bad sound, it's laughable. Buy a component that sounds good in the first place and you won't have to worry about Anaconda sized power cords!

Lula, JWM and I have made the same exact "upgrades" to our MW's as you; Audio Magic, new umbilical, NOS Mullard and Tungsols(black glass) and each change made for serious sonic improvements and were all worthwhile. That said, the "stock" MW still sounds fantastic.

You may well be right about the additional break-in time needed for the PD. It really does sound pretty ordinary at the moment but JWM has it running 24/7 and we're waiting to hear what happens. One of us will no doubt report back.

Dave_b, if your MIT power cord made a significant sonic improvement, that's great but in my experience and the experience of four 'phile friends who own very expensive systems, we're all in agreement, the sonic changes made by power cords are subtle at best and often not for the better.

All but one of us have dedicated 20amp lines powering our equipment. I have four; one for each mono amp, one for digital source and one for analog source. We've all tried various cords, some quite expensive, and often, we try them in each others systems. As I said, the consensus is, the changes are subtle at best.

My suggestion to anyone considering a power cord change, upgrade your power first. What I find interesting in your case, you spent more on your MIT power cord than on most of your other components. Some might find that odd.

Podeschi, I'm not familiar with the 208 but knowing Ralph is a big fan of Tri-Planar(Tri Mai too), I'm sure they'll make beautiful music together.

I have the most recent version and it mates very well with my Galibier Gavia table(Thom Mackris is a TP fan too) and XV-1s cartridge. It's fairly easy to set up and I love the repeatable settings.

Paulfolbrecht, I listen to most types of music but I'm not into country, R&B, or rap crap!!!

Like you, I prefer jazz from the 40's thru the early 70's though I don't care for bebop or the more abstract stuff. I love Ella, Ellington, Satchmo, some Miles, etc. and I also listen to a fair amount of classical, from small scale to full orchestra.

Having gone thru the 60's, I still enjoy old rock and blues; Doors, Beck, Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Beatles(Parlophone), Traffic(love Mr. Fantasy), Cream. I also love old Motown; Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, Temptations.

Throw in some popular stuff, Linda Ronstadt, Mamas & Papas, Judy Collins, maybe some old Mel Torme, Sinatra, Nina Simone. I could go on!

I own many more lp's than cd's/sacd's and while I agree with you that a well recorded lp(in good shape) will almost always edge out well recorded digital, I don't find that I suffer from fatigue or enjoy the music any less through the Modwright. I've spent more than a few evenings listening for five or six hours at a time and the only fatigue was caused by the fact I was going to bed at 4 or 5am.

I don't recall reading any of your posts mentioning whether you swapped out the Russian and Chinese tubes for NOS but if you didn't, you missed out on some very substantial sonic improvements. Ditto for Dan's "upgraded" umbilical cord.

I haven't gotten around to listing my system on the 'Gon yet but like you, I'm running tubes; Atma-Sphere MP-1 Mk3 w/phono and Atma-Sphere MA-1 Mk3 monos; both with all upgrades including V-Caps and Caddocks. I'm using Siltech Gen. 7 interconnects and speaker cables and I must say, my system is about as revealing as it gets.

In the past, like you, I quickly got bored with digital, even to the point of irritation. I went for a couple years and didn't even own a player/separates. With the Modwright, to my ears, the gap has narrowed to the point where I can now thoroughly enjoy extended listening sessions.

Audioholik, don't take this the wrong way but there are thousands of pieces of audio gear for sale on this website(and others), purchased by lemmings who believe everything they read in the audio rags.

After making a few disappointing purchases, the average 'phile begins to realize that most of those Bozos reviewing all that expensive equipment can't hear, have bad taste or more likely, rarely give bad reviews for fear of losing those advertising dollars manufacturers spend in their magazine.

I'm guessing the Oppo 95 does sound better on redbook than the Sony but I'd be surprised if the Sony isn't better on SACD. Then again, it does all boil down to personal taste.