Jdaniel has the hall experience even more than I it appears and He understands a bit about what is special in the Sony XA presentation or rendering if you will. IMHO I believe the parallel DAC arrays remove the digital (subliminal at times) nature of even the redbook stuff more so than most other gear. The rest of the processing is also interesting and unique...24bitVC filter with 2.something Mhz processing power; add to that 8x oversampling (upsampling equivelent ala Mark Levinson) and a 1 bit downconversion scheme and you get something less digital sounding with few drawbacks...not that it can't be improved or beat..just that it amazes me that Sony has done it so well!!
Why is Sony Digital sound more like vinyl?
I have had Levinson, BAT, ARC, Wadia, Meridian, Denon etc...players..and the top ones, yet when I purchased a Sony scd-XA777Es I was touched in a way none of the others could! The one thing in common with the other gear was Burr Brown DAC's. Also, I have come to believe that RCA (single ended)connections are more musical. Most of my gear has been balanced...when I went all single ended...ah!!!...music like when audio was new!! Lastly, I have found that if CD playback levels on a preamp rise quikly with low volume settings...musicality and low level detail is lost. Perhaps others out there in Audiogon land have pondered my musings...or maybe I've got way to much time on my hands!!
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- 86 posts total
Tqn999- You are wrong. These guys can, and have, heard the difference. Piano is especially good to A/B cd players, because we all know what it is supposed to sound like. I had a rega planet 2000, but I bought a Pioneer elite DVD and a french tubed DAC. Price- wise this combo was about 4 times the cost of the rega. It was obvious to both me and my wife that the rega was better. Trust me, Katherine has never read a review. Now I don't know a hoot about the sony's except what I have read. They are built well and sound great on SACDs- not surprising, considering who invented SACD. I have no doubt they'd be a good transport for a mod. Wonder why units sound different? check out http://www.modwright.com/ for all da bitchin' things you can do to these machines. While we're at it, here's a list of websites I have found to be handy. http://spazioinwind.libero.it/themagicsound/_private/links_home.htm |
Slappy, you were killing me! L.O.L.! MUST BUY BRITTANY! Hell, there is no greater oxymoron than "Brittany live!" As for Bose, "No highs, no lows- must be bose!" If we were truly mind- controlled robots the reviews we'd read would be in Stereo Pay2review or Consumer distorts. One says the best advertiser is the best sounding, the other rates quantity of features per dollar. Sorry Dave, but "I am adrift in a sea of audiophiles" is the most pompous statement I've heard in these forums. In essence, they don't agree, so they are mindless automatons. |
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