Thread: Some questions to those who play music on Sony SCD-XA5400ES .

Posts: 37
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Post by Michelten January 7, 2011 (21 of 37)
Thank you Disbeliever for your thorough reply - looks like there is good hard evidence supporting H.A.T.S. (still believe the XA5400ES is very obviously over-engineered, for MCH applications particularly if meant to be connected to the DA5400ES).
Nevertheless, I will still be looking for the chance to appreciate this with my own ears.
BTW I just saw a thread (where you also participate) that deep dives on the same subject ... I recommend it to others interested, particularly Dmitry.
http://72.9.159.100/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1155206&page=2

Post by Disbeliever January 7, 2011 (22 of 37)
Michelten said:

Thank you Disbeliever for your thorough reply - looks like there is good hard evidence supporting H.A.T.S. (still believe the XA5400ES is very obviously over-engineered, for MCH applications particularly if meant to be connected to the DA5400ES).
Nevertheless, I will still be looking for the chance to appreciate this with my own ears.
BTW I just saw a thread (where you also participate) that deep dives on the same subject ... I recommend it to others interested, particularly Dmitry.
http://72.9.159.100/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1155206&page=2

Incidently Cyril Martin got it wrong when he said the Sony amps were Class D in fact they are Class AB . I can not agree that the XA5400ES is over engineered , it is a true value for money player excellent for both RBCD & MCH SACD. High End players are over engineered and very poor value.eg. Marantz SA7-S1 absurdly over engineered and no MCH SACD.

Post by Michelten January 7, 2011 (23 of 37)
Disbeliever said:

... I can not agree that the XA5400ES is over engineered , it is a true value for money player excellent for both RBCD & MCH SACD ....

If you get the disc transport, the electronics/soft to support H.A.T.S. and discard everything else, eg fancy D/A's, fancy powr supply, etc (forgive me pls for this oversimplification), you got everything you need to run at your desired fidelity. All I am saying, in other words, is that you just need add H.A.T.S. to the 570/equivalent BD, and you are in business (and that shouldn't cost 10 time the cost of the 570 !). I will of course totally agree that anything above 5400 is a complete and absolute ripoff; in this part of the chain, the fundamental value resides with the D/A's, and you need not a fancy redundant D/A set if you got it elsewhere. (all this is of course blasphemy for the marketing types!)

Post by Disbeliever January 7, 2011 (24 of 37)
Michelten said:

If you get the disc transport, the electronics/soft to support H.A.T.S. and discard everything else, eg fancy D/A's, fancy powr supply, etc (forgive me pls for this oversimplification), you got everything you need to run at your desired fidelity. All I am saying, in in other words, is that you just need add H.A.T.S. to the 570/equivalent BD, and you are in business (and that shouldn't cost 10 time the cost of the 570 !). I will of course totally agree that anything above 5400 is a complete and absolute ripoff; in this part of the chain, the fundamental value resides with the D/A's, and you need not a fancy redundant D/A set if you got them elsewhere (all this is of course blasphemy for the marketing types!)

If you want the best MCH SACD & RB CD the 5400ES is the best choice.

Post by rammiepie January 8, 2011 (25 of 37)
Disbeliever said:

If you want the best MCH SACD & RB CD the 5400ES is the best choice.

If you want the best in RBCD the Meridian 808.3 Signature and the SooLoos which incorporates all the characteristics of the 808 is, IMO, among the very best. Unless you've heard it, I wouldn't even make the assumption that the 5400ES is in ANY way its equal. And as a Brit, you should know that Meridian is at the forefront of digital technology.

This statement piece has brought RBCD playback to a new level which, IMO, equals a lot of higher rez formats because Meridian concentrated on one format only......RBCD ........

Post by Dmitry. January 8, 2011 (26 of 37)
Michelten said:

Thank you Disbeliever for your thorough reply - looks like there is good hard evidence supporting H.A.T.S. (still believe the XA5400ES is very obviously over-engineered, for MCH applications particularly if meant to be connected to the DA5400ES).
Nevertheless, I will still be looking for the chance to appreciate this with my own ears.
BTW I just saw a thread (where you also participate) that deep dives on the same subject ... I recommend it to others interested, particularly Dmitry.
http://72.9.159.100/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1155206&page=2

Thank you for the interesting read. I doubt I will ever utilize the HDMI output. I'm strictly 2-channel, feeding the tube pre-amp via RCAs.

Post by Fugue January 8, 2011 (27 of 37)
I love mine except that it must have the slowest "fast forward" in the world! (And one must turn off HDMI in order to listen via headphones.)

Post by Disbeliever January 9, 2011 (28 of 37)
rammiepie said:

If you want the best in RBCD the Meridian 808.3 Signature and the SooLoos which incorporates all the characteristics of the 808 is, IMO, among the very best. Unless you've heard it, I wouldn't even make the assumption that the 5400ES is in ANY way its equal. And as a Brit, you should know that Meridian is at the forefront of digital technology.

This statement piece has brought RBCD playback to a new level which, IMO, equals a lot of higher rez formats because Meridian concentrated on one format only......RBCD ........

I should have added at a sensible price

Post by Dmitry. January 11, 2011 (29 of 37)
I've been playing with my new SCD-XA5400ES for the last couple of days.
Immediately out of the box - the build quality doesn't seem as massive as one would expect from the new [last?] Sony ES SACD flagship. 5400 is relatively light, with a thin housing. The remote is cheap-looking, and the buttons cannot be lit, which is a drag [I prefer to listen to my music in the dark room]. The cord is 2-pronged, and thinner than even my older Sony ES dvd player power cord.
The playback characteristics are quite favorable. I will expand on that later.

Post by Disbeliever January 11, 2011 (30 of 37)
Dmitry. said:

I've been playing with my new SCD-XA5400ES for the last couple of days.
Immediately out of the box - the build quality doesn't seem as massive as one would expect from the new [last?] Sony ES SACD flagship. 5400 is relatively light, with a thin housing. The remote is cheap-looking, and the buttons cannot be lit, which is a drag [I prefer to listen to my music in the dark room]. The cord is 2-pronged, and thinner than even my older Sony ES dvd player power cord.
The playback characteristics are quite favorable. I will expand on that later.

The power cord supplied with the XA5400ES in the UK is rubbish and you should get a heavy duty one, expensive snake oil audiophile ones are not necessary. You will probably find at least 3/400 hours burn in is required before the XA5400ES sounds its best. The build quality for the price is OK and so far after 2 years of much use completely trouble free. I find the remote to be OK and back light does not interest me I do not like listening in the dark like DSD does.

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