Dynamic range, clear highs, imaging

can't power off from my Rotel remote.

Thanks to Scott from Indiana for his comparison review (below) for helping me to decide which player to buy.

I wish that I could of bought it while it was still discounted (officially Sony no longer discounts "ES" equipment so it makes big discounts more difficult to find). The other two units I considered were the AH! toebe 99 and the European hot rodded Rotel 971, but this has got a 5 year warranty without tube replacement and mail-order worries. Besides the AH! toebe 99 is basically a cheap player to start with.

This is my 4th CD player and by far the best (the technology really has matured in almost 20 years since my first player). The XA20ES emits a small "beep" to let you know that a new disc is starting to play (good warning if the volume levels were left at too high a level). The unit seems well built and reletively heavy. The stabilizer (1.25 inch diameter x 3/8 inch milled aluminum) is unique and is required before the unit will play (the disc balances on a bit of a point and would "flop around" without it).

The sound is magnificent. For the first time since vinyl I can hear my equipment image. Triangles, cymbals, brushes all sound fantastic. Combined with it's superior dynamic range and imaging abilities means that I can hear a single triangle and where it is in the middle of an orchestra. I used to enjoy Clapton's unplugged just for the music, now I hear the quality of the recording. Average recordings sound very ordinary. On some recordings I can hear singers quietly breathing and the "dead space" between cuts.

With my 40+ year old ears this player definitely is into the point of diminishing returns. The joy of listening to the fidelity of recordings is back! Between the XA20ES and my new Rotel RX-975 receiver they've made my speakers (Fried Q5's - $600, 1"/8" ported 7 years old) sound so good I'm not sure when/if I'll replace them even though that was my plan and I'm a big advocate of spending as much on speakes as possible (without showing the defects of other equipment).

I'll leaving room in the ratings for lower prices (because I'm cheap), but this is probably the "best of class" at this price range already.

Similar Products Used:

none

Great build quailty, strong bass

No power button on remote

I have to agree with Scott (excellent review,move down a couple from this spot, actually after reading his review I was sold) I picked this unit up for $350, What a great cd-player, superior build quality (SONY?), great performer. I will upgrade soon, but will keep the Sony for my 2nd set-up.
I am using Transparent musiclink interconnects into my Nak 1a1z, This set-up really brings my B&W CD-1se's to life.
Analysis Oval Nine speaker cable (highly recommended).

Similar Products Used:

Rotel, Marantz

faboulous overall sound. exceptional build. midrange has lots of detail.

can be a bit thin on the high frequencies. Nothing serious.

Like most of the rest here, I noticed superb bass, and lots of detail on the midrange though a bit thin on the high frequency. I bought this in Brussels for 280 US dollars, exposition model, in excellent state ( I normally shop around for exposition models when it comes to pocketing out more than 300 dollars.) I have been using the marantz drive and converter 95 series. But I must admit the Sony is pretty close to the very expensive Marantz (2000 dollars)One hitch is the time it takes to read the TOC on the CD. But I am awfully happy with the machine also taking into consideration what I paid for it. Good job Sony. You have produced some of the finest CD players ever, and none of those supposedly big names bother me because hearing is believing !!!!

Similar Products Used:

Amp. Sony N 80 ES, Infinity Kappa 8.2 (I do not use a pre=amp)cables van den Hul cs122, fadel arts splitter for biwiring.Straightwire encore interconnects.

Base, good construction

no power button on remote

The XA20 is an excellent unit delivering an entremely good sound for around $400.00. A unique design makes it very impressive to anyone who knows nothing about audio gear. I was one to not even look at anything made by sony until I heard some music being played from an XA20 at a store in Cambridge, MA. I was very impressed with the base response and the fact that I could just plug it right into my Adcom with the use of a preamp (I was looking for a unit like this to cut cost). I use an Adcom 555 plus Forte IIs and I have use for nothing else, this system is sound for a cheap cost.

I BROUGHT THIS CD PLAYER 8.16.99 FOR $350 BARELY USED. THIS PLAYER IS THE BEST BUILT AT NEARLY ANY PRICE, AND IT WILL PROBABLY LAST 10 YEARS WITHOUT SERVICE.
IM USING IT WITH AN ADCOM GDA-700 DAC AND THE SOUND IS AMAZING, ALTHOUGH THE DAC IN THE PLAYER IS VERY GOOD. I WONT GET INTO SUBTLE SOUND QUALITY ISSUES
BECAUSE BOTH SOUND GREAT. FOR THE MONEY YOU CANT GO WRONG WITH THIS, BUT YOU BETTER GET ONE BEFOR SONY DISCONTINUES THEM. A GREAT CD PLAYER FROM THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW CD PLAYERS.

sounds clear and naturell,strong bass,well built,it`s worth the money

sounds a little bit analytic,remote control is cheap

I love this Sony ES Player.The best Player you can get from 400$-500$.

Similar Products Used:

none

Quality build, superb transport, good sounding, "good enough" D/A Converter.

No co-ax digital output.

First of all, my thanks go to the previous comments on the
CDP-XA20ES. They are a good source of references for me
when purchasing the player.

The XA20ES gives sweet high, detailed mid and controlled bass. The bass is tight, although not very deep. It is
well-blended with the mid and the high for a good balanced
tonal expression.

The ARCAM CD72 is a nice sounding player.
Actually, it addes some "weight" into the music, makes the
music somewhat darker and more "polite". In my opinion, it
will sound good for classical music.

Although the ARCAM CD72 is a trully admirable player, I still go for the more opened, lively soundstage of the
XA-20ES.

Similar Products Used:

ARCAM Diva CD72

I have owned the XA20ES for a few months now -- it sits in my studydriving a pair of B&W 302's. Build quality is high, though not
audiophile quality. Mechanism looks rock solid. Sonically it is hard
to fault since most of the deficiencies are from the 302's which are
not too hard to overdrive. The remote volume control is particularly
handy, no need for a preamp. A very good deal at the price: highly
recommended.

Great build quality and transport. Decent DAC but you can get better ones.

* No coaxial digital output (only optical)
* No Sony S-Link hookup
* No power button on remote

I got this player used but in perfect condition. Was immediately impressed by the solid construction. The transport is really quite good, which should make this player ideal in a setup having a quality offboard DAC (digital analog converter). Your only problem in this regard will be the fact that this CD player has only optical digital out (no coaxial) -- most high-end DACs use a coaxial connection because it's more reliable. The U.K. model of this CD player does have the coaxial output (and it has a voltage switch on the back so you can use it in the US).

While the player's DAC is quite good, it's not incredible.
The DAC is good enough that, if you have an entry or mid-fi amplifier, you should consider using the CD player's analog outputs (with good quality component cables, not the cheesy ones included with the player) instead of the digital out. See what sounds better on your system.

Another annoying surprise is that this CD player has no Sony S-link controls, which is annoying if everything else in your system works on S-link. You'd think for their top of the line CD player models, Sony would provide S-link control.

The final annoyance is that the power button is manual-only. You can't turn off the power via a remote control. You can mitigate this problem by plugging your CD player into your amplifier (most mid-fi amps provide a secondary power plug on the back of the amp). That way, you can turn on and off your CD player by turning on and off your amp.

As for positive things, I would reiterate that the transport is superb. Also, the CD player has plenty of features: advanced time and programming controls, A/B repeat loop (for looping over part of a track), auto-play, and so on. The DAC is good, meaning that for most people, the sound quality will be better using the fixed analog outs rather than the digital outs.

This player is a bargain below $400, maybe not at $699. I still haven't found a better transport (even for $699).

Fabulous detail, soundstage depth, and imaging...

slightly rolled off in the lowest registers...

OK Folks let me first start by saying I am an audiophile who has been heavily biased against Sony products pretending to be "high End" just because they have the "ES" label. I've owned several of their mass market mid-fi products wich appeared to suffer from quality problems (reciever volume control failure, not once but twice on the same unit). Since becoming a serious audiophile about 7 years ago I have avoided Sony like the plague! I was recently in the market for a replacement CD player for under $1,000 and everyone kept writing about these Sony ES players as being really good (Stereophile rates the top ES player CDP-XA7ES as class A, and the 20's little brother the CDP_XA1ES as class "D" in recommended components). Based on this and reviews like the "Soundstage" review of the XA20ES, I decided to obtain one for audition largely to prove what a joke this must all be!

Associated Equipment: All listening was conducted on the Acurus DIA-100 direct imput amplifier. Speakers are Vandersteen 2ce's. Power conditioning by Adcom. All interconnects were Kimber "PBJ", and speaker wire is Kimber 8TC (low frequencies) and 4TC (for upper frequencies). The Vandersteens are bi-wired. I obtained well broken-in versions of the Sony CDP-AX20ES, Rotel RCD-971 (HDCD equipped), and the Rega Planet. Also initially auditioned was the Arcam Alpha 7, though I eliminated it form my list at the dealers store and did not try it in my home system.

First the planet... After all of the hype surrounding the Rega, I truely expected it to be the better player of the three. Boy was I in for a disappointment. Although the planet was vastly superior to my former NAD 502 and Rotel 855 players, compared to the newer Rotel RCD-971 and the Sony CDP-XA20es the Planet was in over it's head. What I mean by this is it's soundstage was fairly wide, but there was little depth, and the Planet's highs were untidy on classical and acoustic jazz. It did tend to "smooth over" bad (harsh) recordings to the extent it helped the sound, but on great recordings compared to the other two players it fell short. Reversing the polarity did help somewhat, but all in all it remained too lifeless, and lean in the upper bass and lower mids compared to the other players.

Enter the Rotel 971...the Rotel RCD-971 clearly had a much more three deminsional soundstage than the Planet with better (read more and more extended) bass, and a better sense of air surrounding the instruments. If anything the Rotel has too much of a good thing. (I am an acoustic/electric bassist so if you're assuming I just dont like bass in general, you're wrong). The Rotel offers what at first is a VERY SUDUCTIVE sound. Fairly dynamic, with a rich if not somewhat dark sound. It has good sounstage depth and excellent width. There is a touch a grain in the lower highs, but come on this is only a $700 player. (I am basing my comparison of the Rotel to my friends Theta DAC, which is hardly fair). All in all a relaxed, punchy, non offending sound. On rock and jazz it speaks very well, especially on those recording which are shy in the bass department or have that famous CD "glaze" found on many (all?) of the early CD releases. But feed the Rotel a well recorded bass guitar and things can become overwhelming. Fender Jazz basses loose that great biting "purr" and sound much more like Fender precisions, fat and dull in attack. Bass drum is exciting at first for the visceral impact, (read thud) but suddenly you realize the low frequencies are dominating the mids and its as if "half of the violins went home". I guess the best way to explain it is that the 971 sounds too beefed up in the lows, and looses low level resolution in the process. As instruments fade from loud to very soft they "get swallowed up" before they should into the digital blackness. Cymbals don't sound like they do in the real world, they are just too polite. (I understand why many people would be attracted to this type of sound, but realistic it isn't folks). Using HDCD encoded discs improves things quite a bit, especially on soundstage depth, but ask yourself what percentage of your CD are HDCD's? Even with the HDCD discs, the Rotel is not in the same league with the dare i say it?...SONY!

The XA20ES...At first the CDP-XA20ES sounds a little thin in it's balance after hearing the Rotel, but very quickly there is the awareness the highs are simply more extended and with a level of refinement (read no harshness or grain) that I never dreamed possible in this price range! The soundstage is expansive and defined in depth and width. The acoustics of the recorded space are outlined in an unbelievable fashion. Low level detail is not to be believed! I was hearing detail on recordings I have owned for years for the first time. Suddenly recordings became "coherent" and the image blurring I expect in this price range did not occur. My audiiophile associate who owns much more expensive Theta gear was floored by what we were hearing. "Low level resolution is unbelieable". Nothing slides into the "digital blackness" on this baby. And the dynamic range (soft to loud) was WAY BETTER than the Rega and much better than the Rotel. Please don't miss understand, if I had not played them side by side on identical interconnects and matched very closely on signal I wouldn't have believed it. I was so blown away after a couple of days with the machine I called my audiophile friend over. He is still in shock. This player much more closely mimics products in the $1800-$2500 range than $700! Deep but "fast" (read defined in attack with sense of the musical note like on a real instrument) bass. Not the usualy "muddy but full" sound found in most players at this price point.

A word of caution... This player does very little to hid the flaws of a poor playback system. It is in no way euphonic. If your system leans toward a lean sound, this is probably not the best choice. I think the Rotel's added weight/richness would be a better match. If you like pipe organ recordings that "shake the room's foundation", be aware the XA20Es is SLIGHTLY rolled off in the very lowest registers. (It still plays Victor Wooten's 5 string bass solo on "Flight of the cosmic hippo" by Bela Fleck and the Flectone's very solidly. But compared to the Theta system lacks the lowest register "slam" some folks are addicted to). However if your system is capable of good lower frequecy reproduction, and has the ability to reproduce a 3 dimensional soundstage you will be blown away by this product! At $700 it is a steal, and considering the discounts found on the product with the right system it's a no brainer. Please see the Soundstage! review of the product for a more detailed anaysis. Remeber this player shares most of the components with the CDP-AX7ES which is rated as class "A" and "without equal" in CD payers. As a former Sony detracter, they deserve a "10" for this product at this price point. If only they would put this build quality and performance in their mass market gear, think how cheaply this level of sound could be offered...

Similar Products Used:

Rega Planet; Rotel RCD-971(HDCD)