Sony SACD Player SCD-XA5400ES; YAY or NAY?


Happy New Year All,

Sony SACD Player SCD-XA5400ES; YAY or NAY? (around $1,000. usd used)

6 dacs, 3 left/3 right

sends SACD’s DSD out RCA jacks without conversion to PCM.

Upscales CD’s 8x to SACD #s, then out RCA

spinner traverses over fixed dual laser: one cd, one sacd

2010 model: typically 10-12 years old, I see laser assemblies for sale, indicates

a. people want to keep em going.

b. laser problematic

thanks for advice as always,

Elliott

 

 

elliottbnewcombjr

Substantial piece of hardware with good SACD sound, but CD sound that is inoffensive, but was far bettered by a $750 Bel Canto dac.  You might consider it if you have a lot of SACDs, but otherwise I would pass unless you are willing to add a dac for CDs. Then again, others seem to think the CD sound is adequate, so you might think it's fine.

I've been using one for years and it is bulletproof to say the least.  The sound is excellent on both CD & SACD, particularly if you use the Balanced XLR outputs.

I use mine every day and the only way I've been able to improve the sound is by hooking it up to my Chord Hugo TT II using a best-in-class SPDIF cable for CDs.

I vote "YAY"

I have Luxman D10x in one system 

Luxman D03X in another 

And the Sony 5400es in another one. I bought three extra laser units so it might Outlast me lol.

Great piece of audio.

I noticed that no streaming replaces a CD.

 

 

Absolutely. Sony's last great SACD PLAYER. Love mine.

Also plays DSD disc's.

 

I’ve got one and I can attest that this is a hefty, well-built piece of gear. The DAC in it is circa 2000’s; I replaced a California Audio Labs Delta/Alpha set with it and it was definitely an improvement in detail but not in musicality. But when I got my Schiit Yggdrasil, the difference was astounding. I listened to a few SACD’s for comparison with streamed versions, and put the unit away in my basement as a backup. The Yggdrasil was far, far superior in all respects to the dac in the Sony, even with SACD recordings compared to the 44/16 versions.