Sony XA 5400 SACD Player

[braxus]

I've been watching info on this player for a couple years now. It was recently discontinued by Sony with no replacement. Its been highly rated for its sound output for a $1500 player.

Anyway I had a Mac 7009 CD player and a Sony 670 SACD player. The Mac can't play SACD discs and the Sony I had was a low end unit that left room for improvement. So to consolidate- I tried selling both my units and was successful in doing so. I did lose a bit on the fees though. Anyway I've been watching pricing on the 5400 and it recently has been selling for as low as $806. With the funds from the Mac, I BIN'd the Sony when I was able and paid a little extra to cover the amount I was short from the sale of the Mac. So they shipped my 5400 and I just picked it up today. Came in original box with original packing items. Not bad for a $1500 player. I took some pics and put it into the rack. Plugged it in and tried 1 CD to see how she runs.

The motor noise from the spinning disc is noticeable, but may not be heard from the listening position. I tried a couple songs, but had the volume low due to someone in the other room. Seems like a solid player. Not the build of the Mac I had, but I've read this Sony slays the Mac in all sound quality terms.

Later when I get the chance- I'll crank her up to hear how she sounds. My unit is new and I had to consider getting one before they all sell out being its discontinued. No warranty coverage for it here in Canada though, since it was never sold up here. So I'll have to live with that.

[Rat44]

I have heard a lot of good things about that model.
As you say,how it sounds is what matters.
The higher end Sonys are built pretty good.
Is the motor noise a known issue or a case by case issue ?
Looks nice.

[braxus]

Not really sure about the motor issue. Its subtle- but noticeable. I haven't heard anyone else complain about it.

[R.Daneel]

Hi Braxus!

Sony SCD-XA5400ES is a very good player indeed. I would even give it an edge over the X777ES in sound department. Technically, it seemed very well made and a player of this quality with some other brand name on it would undoubtedly cost a lot more than that. It is probably something I would pick over something else in that price range for it's honest engineering, rather than a bunch of meaningless acronyms. I've never actually heard one but I don't have to, I'm sure it sounds very good. If you were looking to get something good for 1500$ in Europe, you'd face that strange sensation of emptiness and how nothing is really worth shedding out the dough so you made a good choice there.

Cheers mate!
RD

[braxus]

Played some music on it. Doesn't have the nice top end like the Mac I had, but its still smooth which is a good sign. I hate edgy sounding CD players, but I also hate muffled highs too. So far the spacial sound from the player isn't going beyond the speakers yet. Sounds closed in a bit, but I've heard this is a problem with break-in. Its supposed to open up after some 100 hours of use. Bottom end is tight, but not as full as the Mac. Again may be a break in thing. Haven't played any demanding CDs yet to compare dynamics.

There is one thing I just found out about the player which is going to annoy me. This player has no way to program it to select certain songs for recording. You basically have to play it through and hit skip if you don't want a song.

These gripes will be minor Im sure after I get used to the player and get more hours on it. Not sure how I'll deal with the program part though.

[LesX55]

The Sony will get better,i would recommend leaving her powered up at all times!!
It got good reviews in the UK.
Also possibly connect with Isotek/or similar mains cable, i use Isotek Elite for my SCD-1

[LesX55]

Should also mention getting wide bandwidth inter-connects, to do justice to the SACD output,i think the Sony is limited to 50khz frequency response (SACD).

[braxus]

I tried a SACD disc Im familiar with. Definate improvement here. More space around the music. Smoother presentation, yet still sharper sounding then my old Sony 670 was. Definition is better too in most cases.

For cables- I've been recommended Nordost Blue Heaven cables. But I have no plans to buy any at the moment.

[braxus]

Played Eric Clapton's Unplugged CD. Really good definition here, though not as smooth a presentation as SACD discs. Put in the Dark Side of the Moon SACD. Not really impressed with this one. I've heard some say my recordings onto cassette sound really flat coming from this disc and playing it on the 5400ES doesn't seem to help that. Yet I've read the SACD layer is supposed to be very good on this Pink Floyd release. I don't know. Maybe vinyl is better here.

I've noticed switching back and forth between CD and SACD discs, it sounds like a relay is switching every time I change disc types. Is this normal? I've never heard a SACD player need relays for this, as my last Sony didn't.

Also when decoding CDs- what D/A conversion is this player using? Is it one bit, or multi bit like 24 bits?

[Rat44]

You may want to reserve judgement on the sound till you get few hours on it.
My Marantz needed 50 hours before it sounded right.
Does this machine use the same pickup to read SACD and CD's ?
You may be hearing it change lasers.
I may be wrong but that's what it sounds like.

[braxus]

Does this machine use the same pickup to read SACD and CD's ?You may be hearing it change lasers.

To be honest Im not sure. My other Sony SACD player used the same pickup for both, so I would wonder why not here too.

[braxus]

I've uploaded a short video of the player doing a song I have recorded in the past of someone I know. Nothing to really see other then the player in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2YTzy6AkOI

[katana1100]

Are you listening to the 5.1 version of Dsotm, or the 2 channel version? If it is the latter, I don't think it would high rez.
The cd of dsotm I have is a '83 Harvest disc and the sacd 5.1 sounds much better, cleaner.It is easier to hear the little voices and Great Gig really sounds better, with Clare Torry being clearer.
Little Pink Floyd trivia- Toni Tenille (of Captain and Tenille fame) lives in my town and she was once interview on the local radio station, she told how she ended up on "The Wall".

[braxus]

My 5400 only outputs 2 channel through the analog outputs. It won't let me switch to 6 channel at all unless I use the HDMI output. So yes I was listening to the 2 channel SACD layer on the disc.

[braxus]

I decided to do a test on the Dark Side of the Moon releases. I have both the SACD disc and also the Mobile Fidelity Gold CD edition. I played the track others had heard and said was a bit flat. I first tried the MF CD. Put on track 7. Not great dynamics- but a bit of oomph in the low end on the kick drum. Played the SACD of this and the low end was quite a bit less with less dynamics in the kick drum. So is the SACD release not a good version of this recording?