clear sounding detailed player, solidly built, heavy chassis

not many...sounded a bit thin in my system (solid state)

The Sony C333ES SACD player is a brilliant machine, but unfortunately a tad bit too brilliant (in sound) in redbook mode. Compared to a Rotel RCD-991 the Sony's soundstage was slightly smaller, but much more precise (very pleasant difference), with details emerging more clearly than the RCD-991. The drawback is that the sound of the Sony was too thin and lean compared to the Rotel. The clarity of piano and other instruments was fantastic with the Sony, however with the right interconnects (Kimber Select KS1020) the Rotel was almost its equal in clarity, and beyond in tonal wieght and color. There was no comparison in micro and macro-dynamic resolution either, there the Rotel was a hands down winner. The low-low end was much much deeper with the Rotel, but annoyingly there is a lack of resolution in the midbass of the Rotel that is clearly present in the Sony. Even though there was more heft to the RCD-991's bottom end, I preferred the leaner more resolved Sony.

The Sony has many strengths, does some things better than the Rotel RCD-991 and is a beautiful machine. It is an great bargain, and I could live with it as a conventional CD player, but the point of this review is that I was much happier and more satisfied listening to a dedicated player for conventional CD's. The Sony thrust the sound out with better detail, resolving the tiniest of details, but at the cost of sounding thin and MONOTONE. The Sony had much less musical finesse than the Rotel. With the Rotel subtle transients and dynamics had more shading, instruments sounded fuller, and there was a musical quality to the sound rather than an analytical quality.

Arguably, one could spend $400-700 to improve the sound of the Sony to perhaps beyond the Rotel by going with one of the many after-market mod packages (i.e. mods with blackgates, vishay's, superclock, detachable p/c, etc.), but guess what? Surprisingly, the Rotel RCD-991 already has a power supply with multiple blackgates, a detachable p/c, and select vishays, etc., so it wouldn't be too probable that a modded Sony would be better than the stock RCD-991. So, it looks like in my case the Sony will be called upon for listening to a few trivial SACD's (if I decide to keep it), and the Rotel for the majority of listening on conventional CD in my system.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GCD-700, Rotel RCD-991, Parasound CDP-1000

Excellent sound, Sacd,

None yet

My old Denon changer went to heaven, so I went looking. First picked up an Onkyo, had some problems with skipping, also poor sound compared to Denon. Saw your reviews of this unit, ran down to Good Guys. They had one floor sample. For 299 I even got a seven year warranty thrown in. Brought the Sony home. All I can say is, Wow! This changer stomps the Onkyo(expected) in sound quality. I also find an amazing difference from the Denon. I'm hearing much more detail, very clear mid and high range. Full, clean bass. And thats just cd.
The SACD I was unprepared for. Picked up a KEB MO sacd and what a difference that makes! I have been startled several times with the realism, even from the next room.

Summary: WOW! If you can still find one, do so! And thanks for your reviews to guide me in the right direction!
I'm using: Older Denon amp with Dynaudio speakers

Similar Products Used:

Denon DCM 350, Onkyo 380, Other Denon

awesome in every way

?

this is a steal!!!! Go and get one.The sound is detailed but smooooooth and the build quality is top notch.

Similar Products Used:

various

awesome in every way

?

this is a steal!!!! Go and get one.The sound is detailed but smooooooth and the build quality is top notch.

Similar Products Used:

various

Build quality, great redbook cd sound, SACD, digital filters

noisy when switching discs

I second all the glowing reviews below. This is a tremendous sounding unit and a steal at $399. The redbook CD sound is smooth and warm. The digital filters are very handy and smoothing out older CD's with digital glare. The SACD sound is all it's cracked up to be--effortless, airy, musical, more detailed with a wider soundstage than redbook CD. This unit is built like a tank. Truly a classic.

Great player in its own right but much more musical after being modified

Display sometimes flickers, can be a little testy with multi-channel sacd discs

I jumped on the SACD bandwagon far too soon buying into this format last February. The software in Canada is still lacking in terms of availability and its still very pricy. With the current poor exchange rate its still too high to buy the more extensive selection from on-line sources in the US.

Out of the box it does require a break in period which I found to be at least 100 hours in both formats. It offers very nice detail on redbook and the sacd is very easy to listen to.

If you can live with negating the warranty you must consider having this unit modified. After the mods you will find it a much more musical player. I've got about 75 hours on the unit after having Richard Kern of Audiomod.com install his level 1 mods and a Superclock and I still grin when I plop in a disc. Yes the SACD is even better now but the redbook is proportionately much better in my system. I find I'm playing more redbooks than SACD discs (probably because I only have 7 SACD discs...). There is much more information coming through and the attack, timing and decay are a significant step up from the stock form.

If you were fortunate to get one of these at the "close-out" prices you got a great stock player. If you invest a few more bucks you'll have an even much better unit, believe it or not. I've got a gang of money tied up in this source given I bought in very early and the current exchange rate cost me 63 cents on the dollar for the recent mods but I'm enjoying every second its playing. If you bought one for $300-$400 and you don't have to worry about the exchange rate then its a no brainer!!!

The way it has been constructed, the clear sound.

None so far

I own this player now for about two months and it sounds amazing, I have been listening to some DMP SACD-cd's and it gives the feeling that you are actually "there".
The bass, the high tones, it all sounds so precise.

Also of course with my non-sacd cd's it has a very stable sound-image, very detailed and very smooth and still very dynamic.

Similar Products Used:

Denon DCD 1800 (old but good)

Excellent Sound, Worth more then Price SACD can't be beat. The is a top of the line machine. This CD player is so awsome it make me cry with delight. This machine is rated A in the stereophile Recommended Components October 2001 enough said.

None

This Machine cant be beat for the price. If there is one avalible buy it. This CD and SACD player is awsome, the music comes to you like never before its hard to explain you must hear this machine.

Similar Products Used:

Sony SCD-1 and Sony SCD 777ES Marantz SA-1

AWESOME CD PLAYER - NOT JUST AS A TRANSPORT - BUT AS AN ACTUAL CD PLAYER
INCREDIBLE FOR A CHANGER, AND BUILT LIKE TANK FOR A "SONY"

NO "HDCD" - SONY JUST WILL NEVER SUPPORT ANYTHING THEY DIDN'T HAVE THEIR FINGERS IN TO DEVELOP.

ALRIGHT I DIDN'T BUY ALL THIS BURN IN PERIOD STUFF. IT'S DIGITAL IT SHOULD SOUND THE SAME THE MINUTE OUT OF THE BOX OR TEN YEARS FROM NOW.

WELL IT SOUNDED GREAT OUT OF THE BOX, REGULAR CD'S AND SACD'S. HOWEVER THE DEPTH, & WARMTH IT JUST KEEP'S GETTING BETTER. I GUESS TILL THE POWER SUPPLY AND ALL INTERNALS ADJUST. HEY WHO SAID REGULAR CD'S SOUNDED HARSH? KIDDING, BUT NOT REALLY. LIKE ONE OF THE OTHER REVIEWERS SAID SACD IS JUST A BONUS WITH THIS PLAYER. I TO MOSTLY JAZZ, & CLASSICAL, I WAS USING MY DVD-5000 AS MY TRANSPORT UNTIL THIS. WAS HAVING A HARD TIME FINDING A CD PLAYER THAT SOUNDED BETTER THAN MY 5000. ALL I CAN SAY IF YOU CAN FIND ONE GRAB IT. I GOT MINE NEW IN THE BOX AT TWEETER FOR $308.00 DURING THEIR CUSTOMER APPRIECIATION DAY SALE. THINK THE SMILE I HAD RUNNING OUT THE STORE, HASN'T WORN OFF YET.

I MISSED THE STEREOPHILE WRITE UP ON THIS, WISH SONY WASN'T SO "AREA 51" ABOUT THEIR SPEC'S. 100 DB OR MORE S/N RATIO, ETC.

ONE OF THE BEST DEALS IF YOU CAN STILL FIND ONE? IT'S THE HOLIDAY SEASON TREAT YOURSELF, RELAX W/ FRIENDS & LOVED ONES & ENJOY THE MUSIC.


ASSOC. EQUIP.
DENON AVR-4800
DENON POA-5200
DENON DVD-5000
6-BOSTON ACCOUSTICS VR-20
1-BOSTON ACCOUSTIC VR-10
B&W ASW500
& 2-OLD B&W V-201 ON J 50 STANDS USED FOR 2 CH. MUSIC
(WILL BUY SOME NAUTILUS 805'S IF THE 201'S EVER DIE)

Similar Products Used:

CD PLAYERS NAD 541 ,DENON DCD-1650AR ,DENON DVD-5000, DENON DCM-5000

detailed sound, looks, build, digital coax and optical outs

discs take too long to play after being loaded during regular play and in "shuffle mode"

I bought this unit on the suggestion of Dan Wright of Modwright. A few months ago I talked to Dan about upgrading the digital output of my Adcom GCD-600. He declined to do so because the unit is nine years old. He then suggested I purchase either a Pioneer DVD (can't remember the model number) or the Sony SCD C333ES to upgrade. I chose the Sony because I'm use to a multi disc player. I ended up going to the local store where I auditioned and purchased the store's demo. After I purchased, I sent the unit to Dan Wright to upgrade the digital output and to add an IEC plug.
What I like about the Sony is that it's a beautiful machine. It's a very rich and clean looking machine. The sound is very detailed and rich. It can be a little bright on some things. I tried the digital filters, but noticed no difference in sound. I guess it doesn't alter the digital output. I really like that the C333 has both digital coax and optical outputs. The coax will go to my pre-amp and the optical will feed my minidisc recorder.
What I don't like about the Sony are two things that are personal. The first thing is that it takes too long to play a disc after it's been loaded. It has to go through the table of contents ("TOC") before it can play a disc. My minidisc does the same thing, but it has text to read and and it checks to see if there have been any changes made such as the elemination or addition of music or text. I timed it against my Adcom and the Sony took about 7-8 seconds to load-read-play where as the Adcom took about 3-5 seconds. I noticed this one day when I was working around the house and I had the changer loaded up and on "shuffle". It seemed like it took forever for the next disc/song to paly after the changer shuffled. It takes long because it goes through the "TOC" thing everytime a new disc is loaded. The second thing I dislike about the Sony, and this is why I origianlly bought the Adcom, is the tray does not fully extend during "play exchange". The Adcom's tray fully extends so you can load four discs at one time. You have to rotate or "disc skip" the Sony's tray twice so you can load two discs at a time. Again, this is a personal gripe.
Overall, the Sony SCD C333ES is a very nice machine. It is a great addition to my system. I only wish I could've gotten the great deal the last few reviewers got.

My system:

Sony SCD C333ES with Modwright upgrade
Proceed AVP
EAD Powermaster 1000
PSB Goldi
PSB Bronze
PSB C6i
PSB 3i Subs (2)
PSB Subonic 5
Toshiba 3109 DVD
TMC White (digital), Yellow (pre to amp), Gold Label and Bi-wire Speaker
Better Cables Silver Serpent S
Monster Subwoofer 300
Apature digital optical
PS Audio 300
PS Audio Lab Cable (PM 1000)
HArmonic Tech PRO AC11 (SONY C333)

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GCD-600