Have had this CD-Player hooked up optically to the Sony STR-50ES receiver for several months now. Having borrowed relatively good speakers (PSB Stratus Mini's) from a buddy of mine, I was able to push this player with a wide variety of music and have yet to be disappointed. The sound is very clear and very precise. With a little speaker arrangement, the soundstage became alive. I just wish more CD's used the cd-text feature. For awesome sound at a reasonable price level, you can't lose. Beware though, you will hear sounds and tones you may never have heard with sub $200 players......SWEET......

I spent a lot of time reviewing CD players. In the past month I have own and returned three lower price units from Sony and Kenwood. I read these reviews and decided to check this unit out. Uncle's Stereo in NYC offered this unit for $370 delivered to Washington. However, they were out of stock but I was able to locate one at Netmarket.Com for 393. This was quite a good price. The local dealer wanted the msrp of $499. I was able to talk the dealer down to $400 after threanting to do a mail order.
I have had it for only one night, but I am very impressed with build and sound quality. It was important for me to have S-link ability because I have recently purchased the MDS-930 minidisc recorder. With the S-link, any CD text data is automatically transfered to the minidisc and CD recording becomes full-proof.

One other neat feature is the ability of the unit to recall disk names (over 200) I tested this feature by removing the disks and placing them in new locations in an attempt to fool the machine. It got the naming correct every time but once. I was impressed.

I paid about $60 dollars more than mail-order but I wanted the security of a 30 day trail and the peace of mind of a full warranty.

PRICE FEATURES

NO COAX OUT, LOOKS GOOD ON THE OUTSIDE, BUT ON THE INSIDE IT LOOKS LIKE REGULAR SONY ELECTRONICS, NOT ES QUALITY

BOUGHT THE PLAYER FROM ONE-CALL FOR 329.99....
TOOK IT OVER THE CDP-CA9ES ONLY BEACUSE IT IS A NEWER PLAYER AND THE S-LINK A1 IS COMPATABLE WITH MY E9000ES PRE-AMP, THE CA9ES IS NOT COMPATABLE..HAD TO SEND IT BACK

Similar Products Used:

CDP-CA9ES

solid construction, classic looks, solid bass, depth in imaging, convenience features.

cumbersome remote entry sequence

I have to give credit to this Sony ES CD changer line. I have listen several changer units in the $300-$500 range over the last several month that I can't keep track. When I fisrt hooked up the CA9ES, it immediately distinguised itself from other players. There was a uniquely clear and open quality to the music with good bass exstension. The NAD is a close runner up, with the Sony edging it only in features. I decided to go with the 80ES due to the cost savings for the bascially same unit as the 9ES. Both have separate power supplies for analog and digital output. The 9ES having separate fixed and variable outs and the "music" clip feature. Both non-essential for a $200 price differential between the units.

The sound is detailed without being bright and the bass strong and tight, but not boomy. Depth of the vocals is wonderful with no leakage to the sides.

This is coming from my own set-up:
Wharedale Sapphires, bi-wired, Acoustic Research 14-4cables.
Yamaha 1020 intergrated amp
Sony CA80ES player
Monster Reference 2 interconnects

There definitely has something to be said about the co-inventor of the CD

Similar Products Used:

Sony CA9ES, Yamaha 775, HK 8350, 8550, NAD 523, Marantz.

I've had this player for about a month now. Picked it up at the local Sony outlet for $300 (the box was damaged). I really like the 5-year ES warranty, especially considering some of the trouble noted with changers by other manufacturers.
I immediately noticed a sound improvement over my old CDP 55. Tighter bass and better fidelity. Tracks all CD's I feed it, including some that gave my old player fits. Nice features too, I really like that I can hit a button on the remote and the player will forever skip the selected track, it seems that every CD has at least one really bad sounding track. The manual claims that it can remember about 200 different CD's. Definitely a winner, especially for the price I paid.

I spent a lot of time listening to other CD players at various price categories before choosing this one. I listen to rock and classical music and demoed the Sony units with a classical CD. My existing CD player was at least 13 yrs. old. I can't believe what I've been missing! The sound has much more warmth (like an LP), the highs are brighter, and the bass is fuller and deeper. I really noticed the difference between this unit and the cheaper Sony's. The CD memo feature is cool. I have a Yamaha CR-2040 Receiver and JBL L-65 speakers (bought 20 years ago).

Had mine for over 4 months now.. Great Player! The only complain is the time it takes to change the cd, it is on the slow side..

Hello. I apologize for posting a question here, but I have been unsuccesful in finding an answer elsewhere. I am putting together a hoem stereo/ht setup. I am deciding between ca80es and 200disc cx90es. Has anyone heard these two models head to head. I have heard conflicting reports--some insisting the cx90es is just as good in performance and sound quality--others disagree. Would anyone suggest a different 200 disc or 5 disc? Any info would help. I will be running them off either a Yamaha 2095,995, or Mrantz 880mkII receiver with Dynaudio Audience 70 in front, along with rears,center, and sub also by dyn. Thanks

Solid build quality, all the usual Sony features:custom file, music calander display, shuffle play across all loaded discs,etc. great specs.

Limited output connections (only optical digital output and one set of gold plated analog outputs), not made in Japan.

I have only had this CD changer for a week now but I have the following conclusions so far.

Build Quality: the fit and finish of this player looks to be of high quality although some apects are different than my 12 year old ES series single disc player. For instance this players feet are plastic with a vibration dampening material on the bottom instead of solid aluminum feet on my older player. It has some heft to it which I like in a component. It has a metal wrap around cover which produces a solid "thud" when you tap it with your knuckle. The front panel controls don't look cheap and they have a solid feel when pressed. (the play button has a small L.E.D. to indicate when it is in play mode). Of course the CD platter is plastic (when is a CD player manufacturer going to build a really solid platter mechanism?!!) but seems to be very smooth in operation. It is a little noisy when changing discs put completely quiet when playing. I cannot hear the disc rotating in the player. My only gripe is that it is built in Malaysia instead of in Japan. Nothing against Malaysia but I don't know how tight the quality control is in the plants there. A local dealer explained that Sony can build more state of the art manufacuring plants there while keeping costs down. Overall, this player seems well designed and built.

Appearance: the solid aluminum front panel looks of ES calibur and has a "clean", well laid out appearance. It has a pretty large display which gives you all the usual track and disc info. although it is hard to see from your listening seat. The numbers are of a dot matrix type which I haven't seen that often but it looks good.

Sound Quality: I know that the ultimate test of a component is with your ears but this player has great specs on paper. S/N Ratio/Dynamic Range/Channel Separation of 117db/100db/110db respectively. This beats the crap out of the Onkyo player I first auditioned which had specs in the low 90,s. Anyway, right out of the box I noticed a clean, well defined (although somewhat thin) sound. Highs are crisp without grain, mids are warm and natural and the bass seems tight and solid. The player produces a satisfying soundstage and imaging is defined as well. With additional playing time the player continues to develop a warmer, very realistic sound (in other words the sound is improving with burn in). I have to keep in mind that I am hearing this good sound quality while using my respectable, but not necessarily audiophile quality, Kenwood integrated amplifier (not only made in but also purchased in Japan) and regular "zip cord" speaker cable while I wait for my NAD 2200PE power amp to come back from the shop!! I will post a another review of the sound quality when I get my NAD amp back and can again hook up my Monster Cable Z3 Reference speaker cables (the Kenwood won't accept the spades or banana plugs on the Z3). This amp speaker combo makes a huge difference in my system. I can't wait!!

Additional Notes: The player is very fast when changing tracks on a single disc or in shuffle mode on a single disc but is considerably slower when shuffling between discs in random mode. Changing from disc to disc in standard play mode is relatively fast though. I give this player an early rating of four stars only because of the lack of additional outputs but this may not be a concern for most listeners.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo DX-C730

Sound, Sound and Sound

missing coax output

I purchased two new pieces of equipment, the 80ES and the Sony 777ES receiver. I first swapped out the CD changer (don't need a manual to do that)and was surprised at how
big, open and effortless the sound was. I was so busy trying different disks that it was more then an hour before I opened the box for the receiver!

The 777 receiver is also great but that is a story for another review section.

Interesting note:
The manual for the 777 receiver recommends the digital coax over the optical connection but Sony's matching CD changer does not have it. Hummmmm.

To take advantage of the 80ES's digital filtering, I use analog cables.

Similar Products Used:

Vintage Sony CDP-C85ES