What's with all the Sony 5400ES units for sale?

I have no idea but maybe useful laser life is starting to become an issue and people are hedging their bets? This is complete speculation though.

Many folks are moving to computer audio and DACs and see no reason to use or hang on to expensive transports. Among the other sound reasons above. Eliz, love the knitting joke!

or could it actually be they are not pleased with there new purchase ? The hype did not exceed there expectations ! I hated the knitting joke !

I think it is also a "product cycle" that we see with big sellers. There seemed to be some slightly shady business with this one however. The 540ES was occasionally on sale direct from Sony at a very low price and people were trying a short while back to flip them for a profit. Not sure what this might have to do with your question.

Elizabeth..........

The Sony 5400ES player comes up almost weekly. I have heard it and it sounds like a 1000-1500.00 player. There was a lot of hype about the player and it sounds just average to my ears.

It just failed to catch on as a 'Cult' classic, so it's time to move on to the next 'Giant Killer'. In my opinion it just looked tooooo SONY.

Folks have made the same comments about the PS Audio Perfect Wave transports and D/As. Got rave reviews but there are a bunch for sale. But perhaps that's bexause PS sold a lot of them...

BTW, I'm not sure you can find a digital ripping alternative to SACDs, which still require a player like the Sony to utilize.

There are a lot of Merlin speakers for sale recently. That doesn't mean they are not that good. The stock Sony is a good piece. It's not perfect. SACD playback is very good, RB is a step down. Buy one and send it to ModWright if you want to hear something special. Wow! Best move I ever made.

I bought two, had one modied ed by VSE. Spectacular!
I'll be putting the second up for sale.

....Suggest you try a different hobby. One less stressful, like knitting.

had a good laugh reading this suggestion! :-D

Flavor of the month has changed?????

KISS:

people sell components whose sound they don't like.

sellers may provide explanations which do not reveal their sentiments about what they are selling.

i have never sold i product i liked, unless i was remiss in breaking it in.

i think you can apply the principle of not being satisfied with a product to almost any product that is sold.

however, most sellers won't admit that they no longer like the product.

imagine if you spend a lot of money for something and then shortly thereafter, sell it. cognitive dissonance comes into play and people seldom reveal the true reasons for why they sell things so as not to bruise their egos.

let me add to my last post with a question:
what seller would admit to not liking a component, if asked why the component is being sold ?

Yeesh. I cant stand these weekly/monthly threads. Why is there so much Macintosh? Pass? Aerial? Fords? Hyundais?

Mrtennis you're right, it would be like shooting one's self in the foot, you'd be stuck with a boat anchor.

Visit a car lot, the sales guy will tell you his is the best thing since sliced bread and better than the other brands, otherwise he'd lose his job.

His pitch would be "we only have a few of these, and at this price they're gonna go fast" yeah right.

I had the Sony and found it too clinical and hyper detailed. It didn't sound natural in my system so I sold it.

Now the Modwright Sony is the way to go and I would definitely consider that as a possible upgrade. I ended up going with the Modwright tube Oppo 83 and have been happy as a bird.

hi erndog i too have the modwright oppo 83se. i use it as an sacd player, not for redbook.

I have the modwright oppo 95 tube player. I had the Sony modright player and like the oppo better.

This is Audio, we all sell and upgrade gear often.

It's simply another $1000 player that was hyped by new buyers and the audio press.

Nothing new there.

I've heard a couple of them and they are remarkably unremarkable.

Good components don't get traded often. Any audiophile thats worth his salt will know when he has something special and hang on to it. I owned the 5400 for over a year and although it's sound was fair enough for it's price, I always walked away feeling something was missing, certainly not warm and musical. When the unit started breaking down regularly it was time to bid it a fond fair well.

They sold a lot of these over five years, so there are a lot for sale.

There is actually one 5400 for sale this morning, four Cambridge 840c's...