correct production of voices and instruments

amazingly enough: none

very solidly build, phantastic sound.

But be warned: any flaw in the recording will be mercilessly discovered. For instance I was quite convinced that Paul Simon did a good job in recording Graceland, but when I listened to "Homeless", there was a lot of hissing in the voices,. "s" and "z" where much too sharp - same with Katie Melula´s 9 million bicycles.

I mainly listen to Classical music and Jazz, and this is just the cd-player for me, but probably you should look somewhere else if you want to feed the player with Pop and such.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 1560

Pure cristal clear sound. Good looks, good feel and construction.

No XLR outputs. 220V european model.

Simply breathtaking. This CD player is without a doubt one of the finest in the world, along side with it's big brother the CDP-xa7es. This model is almost identical to the XA7ES, primary diffs are XLR (Balanced) output, Copper shielding and few other (minor) upgrades on the big brother. Still much is identical, main cd pickup transport mechanism, including optical pickup (KSS-273A) and servo board, power board, main audio components board. Now about the sound. This is perhaps one of the easyest mid Hi-End CD players to listen to. Why mid Hi-End? Simply because there are other more expensive more exclusive (and better) CD players out there, as the top of the line WADIA as I've already read somewhere. The bass goes as deep as your speakers can drive them, open, spacious sound, mids are transparent and cristal clear as water. Highs are perhaps just a tiny bit on the bright side, but you can't hold that against it, since it is due to the outstanding Elna Silmic caps in the main audio board. If you've never bought a REAL cd player before and are asking yourself what's the big deal? The difference between listening to a CD and listening to real life music is the difference. When you listen to a CD on the XA5ES, you'll forget you are in your home, and be placed within the music. The vocals will sound as if the singer were in real life in front of you and not behind a microphone. The violins and drums will shake you like in theater, and the vioces will make you cry if you listen to the palliachi (Opera). This is mainly an european CD player, at 220V. Also seen in Australian market and of course Japan (where it is solidly made). It is crazy to give this player anything less than 5 stars for everything. It's impossible to find it new anywhere, but used on ebay is possible. This is a very popular unit on the German market. If you are looking to upgrade your existing CD player, don't think twice about it, go with this one...all the way! I've compared the sound of this unit using my DVP-S7000 DVD player. As we all know, a DVD player isn't a good CD player, but I must give some good credit to the S7000, while not as detailed nor surrounding as the XA5ES is, this is a very good CD player! far from oustanding, but also far from mediocre. Just don't listen to the XA5ES player if you don't plan to buy it, your ears will not let you listen to any other player afterword. Don't be fooled, the XA7ES is the BEST CD player Sony has EVER built, and the XA5ES is number 2 on the list. Other similar models like the XA20ES or XA50ES are INFERIOR models, from the power stage, to the layout, to transport mechanism to audio boards and components. You don't have to believe me, but I am an Electronic Engineer and have the service manuals of all the ES series CD players and have seen them (and listened to most of them), and while all are very good players, all come behind both XA7ES and XA5ES.

Similar Products Used:

XA20ES, XA50ES, XA55ES, XA30ES, XA7ES.

Solid Buildt
Great as a transport

None

I have bought a used xa5, and it is just great. I have used
my dvd player as a transport earlier, but I wanted a stand-
alone cd player. And this is exactly what I wanted! The
sound is detailed, smooth and the player generated a big
"room". Visit my homepage for my setup:

http://run.to/dreamtheater

Similar Products Used:

Xa20es, dvp-7700

sound and build

none

I like this player a lot. Almost as musical as the old Sony 777ES from 1991. This player is more accurate but still very listenable. Very warm recommended.

Can anybody tell me what are the technical difference between this XA5ES and the more expensive XA7ES? I think there has been copper used in the 7ES, but that the rest is the same: same power supply, same analogue boards etc. And there is the XLR-facility in the 7ES.

Anybody heard these 2 players alongside each other via the normal cinch-outputs? Please tell me about it!

Similar Products Used:

SCD-777ES and old Sony 777ES, Rega, Arcam, many more

Superb build quality - even for this quite high price class it is very high quality. Sound is very satisfying as well.

That it is a Sony ?

No doubt it's the build quality that first strikes you as amazing in this player. Its weight is about 14kg - and all the kilos are placed in strategic places in order to enhance the quality of the player. The mechanism in this player is Sony's top-of-the-line (at the time the player was designed) - and is used in the Gryphoon CD1, among others (costs about three times the price of XA5ES).
But I think it is unfair to say that the sound does not justify the price of the player - I was quite sceptical the first time I auditioned the player, but after a short period of listening I must say that the player impressed in this area as well. The lower frequencies is perhaps where its clearest strengths are, but also mid and treble are detailed with good resolution and with a natural and attractive sound.
What can I say - if you can find a good offer on this player on the 2.hand-market - I recomend it highly, even if it's a Sony...
The follower XA50ES is pretty much the same player, but with variable filters - cosmetics that seem unnecessary for a player in this range. Excecpt for the filters the player is VERY MUCH alike the XA5ES.

Similar Products Used:

Denon DCD-1015, Rega Planet, Sony X3000ES - all in a lower price class than the XA5ES.

building quality,gives you value sound/price

a little "week" in original condition

this cd-player is modified with lc-clock XO and an external powersuply.After this the player has been compared with EMC-1 and Conrad Jonhson(who costs a few dollar more).
Listen your self and be amazed.
Mail me and i"ll tell you more.

I have XA5 for about three months. It was the last piece at a reduced price (about $ 500)as it is out of the line. It is the smaller brother of XA7. I like it, but unfortunatelly I am not very happy with its sound quality. Compared to ARCAM Alpha 9 and Ah!Tjoeb it lacks dynamics and musiciality. I upgraded XA5 with LClock and AD825 op amps from Lcaudio (www.lcaudio.com) and now the sound is better, but still not satisfactory for me. I really like the build, facilities and the ability of this player to play deffective CDs which other CD players cannot even read. This is the reason I will look to further upgrade it to improve the sound. Is there anybody who can give me an idea what to do? Actually the player has very good digital part, power supply and mechanics. My oppinion is that output stage is the part which can be far improved. I give the player 5 stars for the build, 3 stars for sound quality - overall 4.

Taut Bass, warm sound. Feature List. Build like a tank.

Slight build quality problem.

I spent a lot of time deliberating over the Sony, however I found it to be an excellent value for money choice. The bass extraction is fantastic, very clear and very taut. The sound is much more neutral than I expected from a Sony. Not too bright, quite warm and involving. It has a decent feature list, for those that do MD or DAT recordings. It is, IMHO, a cheap way into audiophile grade player. It is really good fun going through all my CDs again and hearing bits that I never really heard before, including recording flaws...

The drawbacks I have encountered so far, are that some of the buttons are not mounted centrally in their slots, although this is probably easily solved. You would expect them to be perfect in a product of this nature though. The second thing is more a product improvement really. The XA5ES has a variable RCA output as well as a fixed level output, so it is quite handy for those with older amps to be able to control volume remotely. However; there is no way to tell what the volume is at any point in time. It needs a level meter of some description.

Anyway, this model has been superseded but can still be obtained in Australia for half its original retail price. If you can get hold of one, you will not regret it.

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 508, Pioneer, Arcam 7se.