The sony is out dated compaired to the newer highend players from Naim, Wadia, Krell, Classe, Meridian, ARC, Sonic Frontiers, and Proceed. The Sony was a really good cd player in the $3000. price range 3 or 4 years ago but not today. All of the companies I mentioned make a far superior product in the $3000.-$3500. price range. Naim, Krell, and Classe have products in the $2000.-$2500. that are much better than the Sony. In todays market the Sony is a good $1500 cd player. I will even say that it is a excellent player in the $1500. price range. For $500. more in the $2000. either the Naim 3.5 or the Classe .5 will put the Sony to shame. True, the Sony is of exceptional build quality. I suppose people who have the Sony's can used them as excellent transports. With rapidly advancing technology, paying $3000. retail for a Sony that is 5 years old is crazy! The Sony's overbuilt, build quality is questionable in a industriy where technology advances at a rapid pace. Things are outdated much sooner than they wear out. Some of the highend companies such as Krell and Classe have gone as far as using much cheaper transports in there entry level machines. They simply realize that the technology is in serious limbo. They appearently realize that there is a trade off in longevity vs. cutting edge technology. Though I do think it is kind of decieving to put a solid aluminum pannel on a lower quality transport in a attempt to make a product look much more substantial than it is. Some people see that and "think" that it must be of exceptional build quality? I short, all manufactors have to decide on where the most dollars in a budget should be spent. Very few machines are built with out trade offs, the ones that are seem to be priced accordingly. One has to think about what trade offs he or she is willing to live without and decide from there. I personally would trade off some "overbuilt mechanics" for superior technology and sound quality. Think about it? I bet most of your very first cd players are still playing disc! Even the $200. Sony's. I think that Sony wanted to make a statement and prove to the high end world that it could make a true highend product at a competitive price if it wanted to, and it did. We live in a dynamic world and things change and evolve. The Xa7es is a dinosour that needs to evolve. I am sure that Sony could do it again if they want to. I personally think that they are going to make there next "statment" digital product in there own format and not in the red lable standred. 4 stars for a aging machine, 3 stars for a $3000. cd player in todays market.

Hehe well from what i hear, this time its wasnt Sony's fault.They werent allowedto sell the XA50ES in the US because of patents on the digital filters preventing them doing so! Perhaps US consumers should complain more to these companies with a twisted sense of what patent rights are about.We are having to live with the same mess with DVD!
My advice is to buy a cheaper XE900 and then visit http://home5.inet.tele.dk/lcaudio/international/intlcl.htm
for an ultra stabil clock module ($70) that makes it sound as good as the
XA50ES ..hard to believe? well im sure they would love to hear from you:)

Guys and Gals:Had to voice my humble opinion. On a reference quality system consisting of M Levison electronics and Infinity RS 1B in a direct comparison the Sony XA7Es vs the Levinson 39 player-NO CONTEST-The Levinson is w/out a doubt better in everyway!!!!!! I wish it were not true as I own the Sony :-(

Update on the my friend's faulty XA7es saga ... Well, the hifi retailer concerned has run out of XA7es cdp stock to provide/replace a new unit to my friend. Both faulty units (the gold/champagne finish ones) were sent to Sony New Zealand for repairs, and meanwhile my friend gets to use the retailer's shop/demo XA7es (black finish) until his own XA7es is repaired. God knows how long that will take and meanwhile my friend is understanbly quite disheartened; having gone through 2 faulty units; no new XA7es stock and therefore he will not get a fresh replacement; and to have one of the faulty units eventually repaired and returned back to him, which does not impart any confidence to him and his supposedly brand new XA7es. Given his unique predicament, from goodwill point of view, I reckon Sony New Zealand should specially despatch a brand new XA7es from neigbouring Sony Australia, Sony Singapore or even from Sony Japan.My very subjective rating on XA7es remains at 3 star. I sincerely hope you guys out there would not have to go thru' this sort of ordeal like my friend. In all fairness to Sony, this may be a very isolated case but I still have my doubts on how many cases not reported in the net ??? Bye for now ... Darryl

I am in the market for a new cd player and have tried the Krell 250, Krell 300, Classe .3, Classe .5, Theta Miles, Meridian 508.24, California Audio Labs CL-15 and Wadia 830. I am looking to replace my Sony XA-7ES. My system consist of a Levingston #38 pre-amp, Krell KSA-100 amp, and ProAc Response 2.5's. Speaker cable is Audioquest Midnight. Interconnects are Transparent. All of the cd players I tried, with the exception of the Classe .3 and the California Audio Labs CL-15, had much better detail, sense of space between instruments. The Theta Miles seemed a bit lean in the bass region but was as good or better in most other respects. The Krell 300, Krell 250, Classe .5, Meridian 508.24,and Wadia 830 were significantly better in all respects. I would not bother to replace my Sony for either the Classe .3 or the CAL CL-15. The Sony's soundstage was much more layered than either of these two players, though the Classe .3 seemed more detailed than the Sony. The Krell 300 and 250 have a ton more detail, bass, low level resolution, soundstage depth and width. The sense of air was unreal. All of the instruments were reproduced with exceptional clearity. The 300 was a little smoother and had even more controlled bass than the 250. The Classe had a slightly smaller sound stage as the Krells, Meridian, and Wadia. The over all diffrence was a more laid back presentation than the Krell units. The Classe .5 was about the same as the Sony's in transparency, though not as good as the Wadia, Meridian, or the Krell units. The Wadia was smoother sounding than the Krell 250 and about the same as the Krell 300 and the Meridian 508.24. The Meridan was laid back and very transparent. The Meridian, Wadia, Classe .5, Krell 300, and Krell 250 are a obvious step up from the Sony XA7-ES. The Theta Miles is a little bit better, not enough to justify as a real upgrade. The Classe .3 and CAL CL-15 are about the same class of machine as the Sony, though both of these units were better sounding than the XA7-ES with HDCD cd's. All of the newer machines seem to either be on par or better than my XA7-ES. I am considering the Meridian 508.24 for myself. Andrew stated that his 707ES was better than his Classe .5? I find that really hard to believe! I compaired the 707ES to the XA7-ES when I bought my XA7-ES and it was NO contest! To state that a 707ES is as good or better than the current highend cd players is even more insane! I think Andrew is right about one thing, people have diffrent hearing ability. Compaired to todays highend players the Sony gets 5 stars in the $1500 price bracket, 4 stars in the overall market, and 3 stars at it's $3000 price.

You can't go wrong with the Meridian 508.24 Peter. I auditioned it against the Wadia 850, ARC CD2, Levinson No. 39, and the BAT. For me, the Merdian outshined the ARC at the same price point. The Levinson threw a tremendous soundstage and a superbly defined one at that. I just felt it was a little too subdued in the end. The Wadia was excellent in every regard especially the low-end! If anything, it was a tad lean but very articulate. It was probably the big difference in price that led me to buy the Meridian. You could not go wrong with it. I can't imagine a well thought out system that it could not improve.

Sony was compared to the Meridian 508.20 and a ARC CD 1 about a year ago. Had all 3 players for a weekend and quite simply the Sony 707es was better than the other 2 by being the faithful to the source, this is my opinion. To me the 508 sounded a bit too polite on ALL recordings. It had a persistent sonic signature of refinement but was slighty lacking in drive and the timing seemed off. On to the ARC CD1, this player is great in all of but two areas. The bass is a bit slow and loose and the highs had a slight grain to them that no choice of cable seemed to cure. Oh BOB from Cal incase you think my system could be flawed this is what I have 3 pairs of Proacs Tab 50's Sig Tab 50 and the One sc's which probably have one of the most accurate mids and treble regions of any speaker regardless of size or price. Also used at that time were Vandersteen 1 c's and a pair of Vienna Acoustic Mozarts. Preamps include a Line One by SF and Audion Monblock using a 300B tube (the best amp I have heard so far) cables by Audioquest and Kimber, ansd TARA Line conditioninhg by Tice.
Bob the thought that the Sony might have provided a "synergistic match" with the FLAWS in my system is kinda of stupid statement don't you think? My system has the transparency, musicality, bass and soundstaging ability to clearly hear diffences in tubes, cd players, cables etc. To me the Sony 707es is a great player but whatever, people clearly have diffent systems tastes and hearing ability.

I have read thru' with interest on most of the reviews submitted on the XA7ES, since DEC 1996 thru to the 3rd OCT 1998. All you guys and gals (if any) are entitled to your own opinions. They are at best, all very subjective as they are based on their own personal experience of their respective system most times in their own home environment. So, please respect each other's views and refrain from rediculing remarks to the point of verging on being pedantic.
I am an enthusiast myself and enjoy my music and hence fully appreciate hifi components that are musical and portrays all elements of the music in a natural manner. You all will know when an equipment is better than average when yu actually start to enjoy your music collection and spend lesser and lesser time and effort on analysing each technical aspect and tonal presentation of each component.

This brings me to my PERSONAL & SUBJECTIVE view on the XA7ES. I will not delve into the technical nor any specific sonic presentation of the XA7es. By the way, I do not own one but have auditioned it in my system and I have many audiophile friends that owns a XA7es and am very familiar with their overall setup and the interaction of the XA7es in their respective system.

In general, "listening" to the XA7ES in their systems (all different set ups at different price levels) and their acoustic environments, the is a very capable and versatile player, in short musical, not perfect of course but neither it is critically fussy with its partnering components. Once you go higher into the more expensive "exotica" CD players like ARC, SF, Krell, ML, Meridian, Wadia, & etc. it makes more sense to further fine tune your overall system (& your cables) to maximise the tonal balance of these exotics as they are most likely relatively more revealing. But these exotics are not that good to "blow" away the XA7es either ! Be real to yourself as the improvements are not deniable in some cases but also most times are only RELATIVELY marginal improvements and it is back to the "haunting" economy of scales.

An XA7es can be bought at about $NZ 3000.00 BRAND NEW, which equates to about $US 1560.00. That is very good value for money when I compare to the prices some of you have quoted. It is such a good CD player and there are hardly any second hand units here in New Zealand. Additionally, its doesn't blow its predecessors away outright, ie. the X777es and the X779es. The XA7es has a different presentation and some would find it "better" than the X777 or the X779 and so be it. I personally found the area of improvements are the transparency in the HF and mids. In fact, I personally feel the X777's bass is slightly "tighter" and not as warm as the XA7es. Differrence in bass extension are, more or less, equally impressive between them. At the end of the day, the XA7es sounds more "organic" and its dynamics are impressive but unforced.

Those of you interested to know, my own CD player is the humble Meridian 206 Delta Sigma, not at all the latest in CD technology, that permeates in the 508.24. I still find it a very well balanced & musical player and no inclination or urge to buy something "better" with the latest digital/dac technology. And you know what, the XA7es is better than my 206 Delta but not in all areas. Again it is all in the overall presentation of the tonal "shades" and admittedly I do drool over the COOL built quality of the XA7es but it is not $NZ 3000.00 better than my 206 Delta, and the 206 can be termed an antique by today's CD technology but not necessary so in terms of sonic capabilities.
By the way, try listening to a Rega Planet... it really knows how to boogie ! Very musical and relatively cheaper than the XA7es. Note, I am not declaring that the Planet is better than a XA7es in all aspects. I am saying it is a very musical and you'll most probably enjoy it (needs prolong running in when new) and forget about the technical aspects of it !

Be happy what CD player you all have because at end of the day you choose the CD player that was most impressive to you within your budget constraints and be open minded of others opinions. As audiophiles, we are always keen to learn and know more about the music producing mediums and so lets compare notes and avoid the sarcasism.

Finally, a couple of tips to all XA7es owners; this CD player is relatively sensitive to mechanically transmitted vibrations and hence responses positively when sited on a stable and rigid hifi rack. Interestingly, considering its considerable mass weight and impressive built quality, the XA7es responses execeptionally well to the Seismic Sink. Next, look at replacing the mains captive cord with at least the Audioquest Type 4 cable, or preferably a Kimber 4TC cable with an additional earth wire. If possible, attached a ferrite clamp (ala TDK, etc) to the mains cable too. The XA7es does appreciates "clean" mains power (in practical terms, as "clean" as you can afford to provide.) Enjoy your music guys and gals ! Cheers.

This is to update interested parties following my last submission dated 4th Nov.1998, on the SONY XA7ES cdp.
Well, my friend has decided to keep the retailer's demo XA7es (black finish) as it has been performing faultlessly so far. The Sony dealer reported that the two faulty champagne finish XA7es have since been repaired but my friend decided to "play safe" and held on to the dealer's demo XA7es. Don't blame him really. At least he is rating is particular demo XA7es as 4.5 stars for sonics and would not comment on longer term reliability as he is a superstitious falla. "Touch wood" he says !

As mentioned in my previous submissions, I always have high respect for the XA7es sonic prowness and still am. So, I would update my subjective rating on the XA7es to 4 stars rating but this ONLY applies to SONIC performance. Operational/mechanical reliability will remain SUBJECTIVELY at 3 stars, whether some of you would agree with me or not. This is based on my own experience/observation on the "ordeal" my friend had to go through.

Cheers, Darryl.

Having recently bought a new Musical Fidelity A1001 integrated amp,I thought I should upgrade my cd player(I still have a 12 year old Marantz).After much auditioning in all price brackets,I settled on a XA7ES.This player is like a Rolex watch,you can just sit and look at its build quality.But a Rolex watch can't put goose bumps down your spine.To cut a long story short,absolutely top notch sound and mimicks the best of pure analogue.Smooth to the point of being too smooth(?)It put a smile on my face and just kept amazing me.By the way,I got mine brand new for $2600 Australian which is only $1600 US.How much more do you have to spend to be 100% certain you can top this Sony!!