The Sony is a excellent sounding player period. Maybe a quality control problem exists or system mismatch with the guys who found the mid glaring and the Krell much better, I have heard the Krell in my system and thought it was good, traditonal Krell great impact, dynamic, full bass etc, but kinda mechanical, kinda Krell. I own Sonic Frontiers electronics, as mentioned in another review the CD1 by Anthem is good but not that good. My friend has one and we compared it to the Sony, the tube output creates a wonderful bloom, the mids are clean and open, highs good, just not as clean and solid as the Sony. The Sony is hard to fault, overall it plays music and has been a very satisfying component in my system, SF tube electonics,Proac Response 3.5's, Discovery and Tara Labs. Other players that have come and gone replaced by the Sony have been a CAL ICON mk2, Meridian 506.20 and the 508.20 At each price point, they were all good but not as true sounding as the Sony. I noticed the Sony is mentioned and compared to more than any other when layer is being reviewed. Stereophile's review of the ARC CD2, Audio magazine review of the Meridian 508.24 and here in this forum to bunch of others, Resolution, SFCD1, BAT, Wadia, Levinson etc. I have'nt heard the Lev, Wad, and the Resolution. I'm sure they are competitive, for the asking prices they should be. I agree with the Stereophile review "finding faults with the Sony takes alot of effort with little return". Also, Hyperion and Jack make sense in their opinions about the Sony. Believe me, none of the others are "much much better" or "blow" the Sony away.

I agree with Hyperion and (the other) Jack. The Sony is an excellent machine. It is far more musical than the Levinson 39 or ther krell. Its one and only weekness is bass tightness, but it mote than makes up for it in other departments. It is the smoothest, sweetest most *realistic* and musical CD player I have heard. The levinsons, krells and Wadias have more slam, but all sound much more mechanical andartificial then the Sony. They excell if you want to *watch the music, but not be involved. The Sony is more involving and life-like of all of them.And yes, it has the same posative attribute to many tubed gear. I'm selling my Levinson #39.

The Krell KAV-300CD is much, much, much better than the XA7ES, as is the Audio Research CD2, Sonic Frontiers CD1, Mark Levinson 39, Wadia 850, Meridian 508.24 and BAT VK-5. Even the Sonic Frontiers Anthem CD-1 ($1,500)is better than the Sony, which is being replaced this Fall by a new 24 bit model. That is why it is currently being closed out for $1,800-2,000. It is completely outclassed by the competition in the $3,000+ pricerange. For $1,800 it is a good deal. But the technology is over 3yrs old, which is ancient in the digital world.

Actually Eric, Tom is not too far off the mark. Of the players that you mentioned, the BAT and Krell are the only units that I have not owned. The Sony is the equal of all the units except the Levinson and the Wadia 860 which is my current player. The Bat VK-5 is an excellent unit on par with the Sony. The Krell on the other hand is by far the worst of the high end players mentioned. Because of its stridency and lack of natural warmth it should not be considered a high end player.
If your budget is limited, the Sony is your obvious choice. If your budget permits try the levinson or Wadia 860.

Having owned the XA7ES for a year now and compared it with the likes of the Mark Levinson 39, I need only say that I have had no urge to upgrade. All the positive remarks already posted need not be repeated but confirmed. As to the few negative reviews, Michael Heine's report as posted below is correct. For all its build quality, its weak link is still its weedy power cord (non-detachable in my case) which would be well served by a power conditioner.

Due to the impending release of DVD, anti-Sony snobbery, and incessant whining about the XA7ES, the used market has a bunch of XA7ES players available for less than $1500. I got mine for a very good price, and am extremely happy. The performance is absolutely stunning for what I payed. It's possible to pick nits for $3000; the player does not match the transparency and bass performance of a Meridian 508.24 or a Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1, but it is certainly up there. The natural, laid back sound and presentation, the smooth, grain free treble and great bass weight and extension are fantastic for the $3000 list price. At $1500 these things are a serious bargain. It is built like a tank, with a 1/8" aluminum plate chassis, a solid copper shielded sub-chassis for the electronics, a 1/4" milled aluminum front panel, a ceramic disc tray and some of the finest controls and mechanical parts of any product I've ever seen, Levinson No. 30.5/31 included. The internal build quality is fantastic, with super high quality parts and fantastic workmanship. It's clear most of the internal assembly was done by hand by someone who really knew what they were doing. I work in a radio astronomy lab where we build $500,000 receivers for radio telescopes, and the build quality inside the XA7ES was just as good or better than our stuff. In fact, if some small high end company was to build a product with this kind of parts and build quality, it would have to cost twice as much. It's scary that this design is already almost 4 years old. Four years ago it might have been the best digital audio component money could buy. Now it's merely damn good, and a super bargain.

Hey guys (and girls),
I seem to have found the solution to the wildly different opinions on the Sony XA 7ES. I myself was not thrilled when I bought it last year (see above review), but I recvently moved house. I no have a dedicated mains line. And there seems to be the problem. This CD player seems to be overly sensitive to the mains supply and "clean" voltage. Some people obviously do not have a problem here and are satisfiedwith the performance as I am now. I am also using a very good mains block from aqn English company called "Audio Counsel".

I have now been listening to the sony for some time now and it is as good as everyone has been saying. The mids on this player are untouchable and the highs are smooth as can be. My only slight problem with this player is in the bass. The bass seems to be a little boomy and loud on my system. I am using an Aragon 8008bb ( dual mono amp. rated at 200watts channel) which by itself provides thundering deep loud clean musical bass !! Added with a sunfire sub. (mark II) it might just be to much since the sony also is no sucker when it comes to showing its bass. I must also say that Im using an old reciever for my pre-amp since im waiting for more 24bit processors to reach the market before I get one which will be used for my pre-amp. It might be that my old reciever is causing this problem. With a little adjustment only in the bass the sound of the music is just outstanding. I cant imagine a cd player that sounds cleaner, smoother, or sweeter than the sony. I think any other player costing more than this 2000$ player is a waist of money. The built quality of this player is probably the best the world has to offer and the sound will put you in a trance.

There have been enough comments about sound quality, so I am not going to get into that. What I can tell you all, is that I purchased a Sony 707ESD in approx. 1989. I had it modified by Jeff Rowland. This player has been used a bazillion hours. I have never had even the sllightest inkling of a problem with it. Those who have extolled the "build Quality" virutes of this machine are right on the mark. It is impecable and will give you countless hours of trouble free enjoyment. I recall auditiioning the Big ML unit, which wouldn't track a couple of my cd's. That has never been a problem with the Sony. In short, built like a Mercedes.

I'll thought I would jump into this fray as it seems too good to resist. I have owned the SONY XA7-ES for six months now and it has been in the repair shop once already -- so much for reliability.
The SONY is missing a phase reversal switch -- an audiophile must in my opinion, but this can be accomplished in the preamplier stage if one is so lucky.

Ergonomically, the SONY is masterly accomplished. They put track selection buttons on the front of the unit, it loads from the front, that hocky puck is easy to use and very positive to position over the CD, the looks are more than good and I like black. The only players whose looks I like better are the Wadia and the Mark Levinson.

Sonically, I thought this machine was a lemmon. Then it went into repair to have its laser replaced and the machine sounds great now. Who knows what conclusion to draw from this. The machine is probably overly sensitive to its electrical power and you can't replace the power chord. I don't think you can get by without a power conditioner for it. For all I know, it didn't like the wall outlet I plugged it into -- I'll post again if I find that to be the case.

The sound is good, not much grain since replacing its laser. Sometimes I have a tough time justifying analog with this rig. But I know that analog can be taken so much farther. Which comes down to the issue that no CD player is the utilimate expression at this time, you just take your pick among the strengths and weaknesses of each player, but they are all probably good. The Meridian has always gotten good reviews but I never could warm to its looks, and the good-looking Wadia seems a bit big, if still elegant. I made my decision with dollar bills in mind, so this review is not necessarily about sonics.

I think waiting for the next revolution to DVD or DSD is the way to an ultimate system. For now, I would rather enjoy and augment my CD collection as much as possible. I don't think I could say this if the XA7ES didn't sound quite good. The latest batch of CDs I have received from BMG music service all sound excellent to me.

Four stars at its price. (Five if I find out that this player really competes with the Meridians and Wadias of this world.)