Well you people were simply too persuasive so I went out and actually bought a Sony XA20ES. although I've only had this player in my possesion for an hour now I find it to be a mixed bag. All of my instrumental CD's seem to explode with new color and detail. However this detail seems to come at a price. Many of my favorite pop vocalists seem to be drowning in a sea of instrumentation. Their voices are forced to fight for my attention as they compete with their accompanying instruments. However what vocals I do hear are extremely lifelike and palpable, as if I'm listening to a private concert in my room. Overall though its quite a change from my Philips CDC 748 and may require some time to get use to an. This CD player is an excellent value at $359.00, its selling price at the Lake Elsinore/CA. Sony Store. Note that the very same store also has XA7ES CD player at the relatively low price of $1299.99

Build Quality, Transport, Sound Quality, Variable Outs

Its a Sony

The XA20ES was something of a revelation. As my XA7ES was on the fritz I wanted a stop gap CD player with variable outs that was repectable enough to be relegated to secondary duties when I got my XA7ES back.

If there are sonic differences between the two: the XA20ES and the XA7ES I could not detect them.

Both of these units throw a wide dimensional soundstage have good dynamic punch exteneded well defined highs and a solid tuneful bass -all without any digital nasties

Quite frankly the english players: Rotel and Arcam sounded as if they were on a valium to me. Might be the perfect match for some systems but I did not care for this overly polite dark sound -though the Arcam was less dark than the Rotel.

The Denon DCD1650AR has a nice lively sound but feels a tad rushed and overblown at the extremes imo-although you can also translate this as an ultra dynamic presentation with plenty of heft at the extremes. I have to say I did like the Denon player.

The Sony 20ES like my 7ES seemed to be the most neutral; it has the ability to unravel sonic textures within a recording while still sounding musical. Several high end players I have heard deliniate sound so distinctly they sound slightly antiseptic and clinical. Other high end players have this dark polite sound that is pleasant but uninvolving. Players I have heard from Meridian and Resolution Audio impart this type of sonic signiture, however I will say they sound a tad more coherent and focused than either Sony.

All things considered the Sony XA20ES is a steal under $700.00 As with my XA7ES it is one of the few players I have heard that lets well recorded CD's really come alive.

Associated equipment:
Mucic Fidelity A3
Krell KSA 250
Revel F30
Cardas interconnects and speaker cables.

Similar Products Used:

Sony XA7ES, Rotel 991, Denon DCD1650AR, ARCAM Alpha 8,

Superb build quality, impressive sound, looks, facilities.

none

This CD player is fantastic. It is beautifully realised and superbly built. It's quite heavy but it's well worth it.
Sound is impressive and well refined, a real allrounder.Its transport is superior. Stabiliser too. It has a coaxial and optical output as well as 2 analogue outs: fixed and variable. The only bad thing is thath you cannot turn off display when there is no cd or is not playing.

Wonderful transport, Superb Sound, Great build quality, very reasonable price.

I would have liked to have a co-ax digital output on the back panel, not just a toslink. (very minor issue)

I recently bought several new hi-fi pieces after selling many of my older units. The above Marantz served me very well along with the MSB III it was plugged into, great sound.

After selling those I saw the Sony and thought it would make a great transport at the low price of $700,(local dealers price). I found one for $399 brand new through Sound City, so I bought it.

This unit has very impressive operation, it is a "Superb Transport", and has wonderful sound. In fact the sound is so good I'm not going to buy an outboard DAC unit at this time. In particular, I found the image of a jazz combo, and midrange detail better than my old 2 units combined.

I highly recommend this unit, especially for the price!

System:
Magneplanar 1.6QR
Mcintosh MA6450 amp
AlphaCore cables

Thanks to all who wrote reviews, to aid with my decision.
Happy Listening
Bennett

Similar Products Used:

Marantz CD 67 SE for about 2 years.

WOW!!!!! I cant say enough about this player......INCREDIBLE CLARITY AND TONAL EXPRESSION!!! This is the real deal folks and at a list of $750.00 it is an absolute steal!! I know it sounds like a lot of money to a lot of you out there but the sound you get is only as good as your input signal. I really dont think that you can find this players equal without spending MUCH more of your hard earned cash....listening IS believeing!!!!!!!!!! (FIVE STARS)

The Sony 20ES isa great player. It provides unforced detail, excellent tonalbalance, and airy soundstaging. The best feature is it's deep, defined bass.

I just bought this unit this morning. What I can say is it is an excelent machine. If you are looking a CD player around 500-700, I think it is very hard to find another unit that can beat this one. It is built like a tank. RUN to the store, Don't WALK. Another fine CD ES player from Sony. Hieu

I have had my Sony CDP XA20 ES for three months. I added a Parasound D/AC 1100 to the setup using a Monster Toslink. I have the standard out from the SONY going to one of the standard inputs on my Parsound PLD 2000 and the output from the Parsound DAC is connected to the "DIRECT" input line of the preamp. This facilitates A/B comparison between the Parasound DAC and the onboard SONY DAC. There is a difference, but it is not a dramatic one. The PARASOUND does produce better and lower bass. and the overall sound is "airy". This difference in sound is the same whether I am using HDCD encoded CDs or not. The SONY's DAC is a push-pull design, so is the PARASOUND but it has two chips. The SONY literature describes some funky eight chip thing, but I am not really sure what it is. It may be why the sound is similar.All in all it is a great CD player. The transport design is great!

I live for 2 weeks with this player. I owned an cheap machine for 10 years, and right now I upgraded it with this player. Well, this machine has excellent dynamics, VERY clear sound, "HUGE" bass. Its not so musical but if u like sound to be clear, this is for you. I bought it at $400 in Greece. I have an old Kenwood KA-5010R amplifier which is more important because I haven't a hi -end amp, just a usual one. I have heard though expensive systems. The next thing to do is to combine it with a good amplifier.

I went and bought home both the cdpXA20ES and the XA7ES for a home audition this weekend and found that the XA20ES was a little harsh in the mid range and highs. There was detail but most of the highs just seemed to blend together. You really could not tell the diffrence between stringed instruments. One thing the XA20ES has is bass. The XA20es seemed to be a really well built unit, too bad it was not as refined as some other cd players in the same price range. Unfortunately the XA7ES did not work! The left channel kept going out? I am bring back both players tomrrow. Hopefully they will have a working unit.