Review: Sony SCD-XA5400ES CD Player


Category: Digital

I love natural recordings that capture the full acoustic envelope of the performances. The Shostakovich Sonatas performed by Ax and YYMa comes to mind...the Sony portrays the entire event in such an unforced and natural manner that it triggers ones acoustic memory into believing it is real. A player that offers no tone color or openness would be my worst nightmare. I replaced my BAT VK D5 24 bit CDP and was amazed at how much resolution and color was lost on the older design. The Sony re-creates the space, music and acoustic tones with overtones so completely that you start to smile and realize that you have been given a great gift...a peak into the performance as it occured at the recording session. My opinion of the Sony applies as much for the redbook section as it does for the SACD section. This player will become a classic product for digital playback....much better it does not get! It's a keeper at any price,,,for $1500 USD it is a freakin steal. This is Sony's best effort to date and manages to break new ground in the digital domain:)

Associated gear
Wilson Sophia speakers
Krell 400xi amp
Harmonic Tech Cables
MIT Oracle AC 2 power cord

Similar products
Sony SCD-1
Sony SCD-XA9000ES
Sony SCD-XA777ES
Levinson 39, 390S, 360S
Wadia 851
Krell SACD Standard
MF A5
BAT VK D524bit
ARC CD 3
128x128dave_b

Showing 3 responses by sequence56

Hi,

I also bought this Sony, which was my first purchase of any audio component in the last 15 years or so.
Prior to the Sony, which I bought without listening, I heard a lot of other players, mostly in unfamiliar dealer systems.
Although some of them were quite good, including Audio Research cd8, with an excellent staging, lovely dynamics and good tonality, albeit a little dark-sounding, more of the mega-dollar players, up to 25k, were not that convincing at all, particular for the amount of money, so I was very pleased to read the laudatory revieuw of Dave_B (thank you Dave) and others of a player in the 1500 dollar area, which beats or is equal to other players costing 6 or more times than the Sony 5400, according to some of the revieuwers.
And yes, just cold out of the box, the Sony was already very good, although too harsh in the heights, without too much focus and lacking openness. After 200 hours or so burning in, the sound is already clearly improving on all parameters, specially neutrality, openness, timbre and focus, in a way, that I barely can't stop listening to my familiar cd's (mostly Redbook at this moment). Just passing the 316 hour mark the improvement is still going on and I expect to reach the 400 hour mark in a few days.
Better than this player is unanswerable possible, but at a cost!

Next upgrade will be the stock powercord. Some candidates for replacement are Lessloss dfpc Signature, Shunyata Python CX or King Cobra CX or Acoustic Zen Absolute.
And yes, I read about Dave_B's Transparent powerlink MM.
Any thoughts about these in combination with Sony 5400 are welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Sequence56

I just put my new Shunyata Python CX pc out of the box on the Sony SCD-XA5400ES.
Although this cord costs me more than the player, it takes it to a entirely new level.
The cable is not at all broken in yet, the soundstage is now beyond and far behind the speakers.
Although the stock powercord gives a lot of detail, with the Python CX the performance improves dramatically, both in the heights, the midrange but especially in the bass-region. Far more details are easily apparent.
The openness and the increased neutrality of the music is astounding.

So I wonder if the modwright should give me the upgrade over the stock-player is in the same league as what the Python CX does over the stock powercord.

Thanks,

Sequence56