excellent build quality, excellent sound considering its price(£500-i paid £380)

sound stage not to good, slightly dull treble

best cd player i could find for less than £1000. Large deep tunefull bass, smooth clear mid, slightly dull treble. Sony wanted to make a cd player that sounded like vinyl. I think they have carefully made a cd player that, when partnered with components costing £500 each achives a good ballance. Most £500 speakers are bright with limited bass as are most amps.
I dont agree with the other guys reviewas you can see its almost contradictory! The internal standard of build is amazing at the price. It has a dual mono layout. The transport is carefully damped with tiny bits of bitumen. The transformer is not a standard toroidial transformer but a flat wired eliptical one. The components used are audiophile grade caps & resistors. Amazing as i said at the price. How can the reviewer fairly comment on the sound if he listened to it through an x-dac?
The 3000es was listened to with meridian 502, 557, & B&W 801 equiptment and also Quad 77pre, 707 power amp & B&W 801. Used with neutral sounding equiptment as above it can sound a little warm, but i found it a real pleasure and would recomend it with the right components such as sony es amp, B&W cdm1 or p4 or even dm 601 speakers.
A point worth mensioning, the sound did improve if left on all the time and did sound better after afew days. I cant see what the other guy is talking about with the mains lead. Sure its captive rather than IEC, but surely thats better as theres less contacts and unless you want to fit rfi filtering leads (which no other brand would at that price or any other price)
I have since sold it and replaced it with a meridian 508 20 bit, which is also great, but the sony is following in the footsteps of the meridian, in my opinion.

Similar Products Used:

denon dcd1290, arcam alfa 8, meridian 508/20 bit, quad 77, sonateer byron, creek,

accuracy
sharpness
built quality

none

This is a piece of cake in any respect. Sound is great,
especially for classic and lyric music.
No compromise built quality. A very nice product.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel, NAD, Marantz, Cyrus

I bought the Sony 2 months ago, to replace my Cambridge Audio Discmagic that started falling apart a few weeks after I bought it (great sound, though!)
Sony isn't well known as a HiFi brand, more like mass-marketing mid-fi. This player, however, has looks to die for, and is very well made as well. As I was going to use it as a transport, I didn't really care about it's DAC, although it has been described as 'Best Buy' by What HiFi and HiFi Choice (for what it's worth...) I have it connected to Musical Fidelity's X-DAC (with optional Power Supply) through a good digital interconnect.

I was initially dissapointed by it's sound, as it was harsh and innaccurate - Phillip Glass' Cundun was particularly bad, not as open and alive as the Discmagic. It turned out to be resonances from the speakers (too close for comfort) and placing the player on 3 spikes bypassing its plastic (!) feet solved most problems. After a couple of weeks the sound had changed considerably, probably it needed to run-in as well.

I couldn't help looking behind the robust exterior, just to get an idea if it's as well executed in the inside - it's average, nothing to write home about. At least it has got a nice, big, toroidal transformer. The Discmagic was more tidy in the inside, with better quality components - too bad it died so young. The Sony has an awful power cord, cheap'n'cheerful, one I wouldn't even use for a table lamp - nothing like the Discmagic's IEC cord. Japanese manufacturers really do cut corners some times. I've seen a similar model in the internet, CDP-X5000 ES, with supposedly better DAC, electronics and IEC powercord, although it's not for sale here in the UK.

Overall, the transport mechanism is brisk and very accurate (four stars) and it looks good too (five stars) If it were better protected from resonances and had a decent power cord, I'd give it 5 stars. As it is, four stars.

Looks, Build quality, did I mention looks?

variable filter is a bit of a gizmo.

After moving house to a much smaller location decided to leave the old set up at parents house and invest in a new set, the 1st 2 components I bought is this Sony and it's sister Amp TAF-A3000ES.

The sound quality is great for a player this price range, and the build quality is generally very high, Central pick up mechanism seems an interesting concept.

Over all, I founbd the sound very warm, maybe a bit too warm at times, this player is more suited for classical than faster paced discs.

And like eveyone else here, I must mention how beautiful it looks...

I'm looking forward to upgrade to the CDP-X5000ES models which is a step up.

Excellent looks, build quality

The sound

As mentioned by others, this player has looks to die for. After seeing it, I guessed it would cost much more than the US$600 asking price.

There is only one way to find whether it is any good, and that is by giving it some time to warm up, and spend a night with a wide range of disks, among them some excellent stuff from Audioquest and Reference Recordings. I partnered the Sony with a Copland CTA401 valve amp and Epos ES14 loudspeakers, and hoped to achieve a much better sound than my good ol' Philips/Magnavox CD650. And guess what: I was in for a surprise. Bass and treble were fine, but the overall soundstage was a bit disappointing. That is: compared to a CD-player from the middle ages. This doesn't mean that the Sony is rubbish, because its price/performance is spot-on, but don't think that US$1,500 looks will yield US$1,500 sound.

Similar Products Used:

Philips/Magnavox CD650

Build Quality 5 stars Looks and execution 5 stars Sounds Wonderfull!!

Wasnt Available in the USA

ok 1st let me state plainly ...This is 1 of the most visually striking Compact Disc Players ever produced, u like the Krell's but don't want to sell your house to buy 1? If this players looks could kill , I'd be DEAD. 2nd)Sony has clout. Their R & D teams pack some wallop.Being the Co-invenor of CD Technology has kept them striving for new innovations to make listening to our cd's more enjoyable. The moment I turned on the power button, I knew I was in for something special. After the player got some burn in time,I was VERY pleased with its sonic virtues. Some of its tour de force features: 4-setting variable-coefficent digital filter~ Laser servo is mounted to chassis( watching the cd load and move in to position is a thing of beauty)~ Champagne Gold (aluminum) Finish with see through acrylic top. Well, I guess now you get the idea that I LOVE this player, I wouldnt think of selling it for anything but the Sony CDP-X5000 , which is a slightly beefed up version of this 1. If you are lucky enough to find 1... B U Y I T !