What is the best (musicality) cd player sony made?

T

titan57nl

Active Member
I have built my audio set around some vintage gear...sony TA-5650, sony ST-A7B tuner, rogers LS3/5A.

I thought it would be a nice idea to complement the set with a sony cd player.
I have had some models over the years...cdp-x77, x777, etc. and i was wondering what your opinions are on sony cd players in a musical sense. (i am not looking for ultimate detail retrieval)....are the modern models such as cdp-xa50, or sacd the ones to go for, or can the oldies still keep up?

My taste is mainly jazz and fusion music.
 
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This will seem unusual [note - if you can find them]:

Sony DVP-S7700 for a transport :yes:
Sony DAS-702ES for a DAC :D
or
Sony DAS-703ES for a DAC :scratch2:
 
Oh the oldies can keep up. The old ES stuff can make many modern CDP's blush. I would recommend anything with the 2 x PCM56p or TDA 154x dacs. Some of the KSS transports are still sought after by DIY types.

If you can get your hands on the M Series, most of those had a wonderful analog sound.

Is there any models you are considering or have access to? Feel free to drop me a PM regarding any you may be thinking about. Also, the vintage Philips/Magnavox players are still quite a joy to listen to.
 
I had a Sony once, I cannot remember the model, but it had a gold hockey puck type weight that you had to set on the discs. Sounded good, and maybe better once I modded it. Tried to replace it with a Parasound player. The Para arrived from the dealer with dings in the faceplate corners. Then I just went ahead and eval'd it in the system. It had some sort of weird sound artifacts in it, like strange unmusical sounds unrelated to the music on the disc mixed in to the sound. A distortion of undefined characteristics, but audible and annoying. I think it was really bad with XRCD type discs. Well it went back to the dealer and refund. Must have been beat more than the dings on the outside.
 
I had a CDP-X77ES and it was my favorite for CD playback it just seemed to be really effortless and detailed. If you want a TOTL Sony multibit, you could try the CDP-X7ESD or CDP-707ESD. Just be warned parts are non existant.
 
My Sony CDP-650ESDII will be staying in my system for as long as she continues to perform - what a sweet sounding smooth piece of work she is!!! I've tried several other CDP's as well as a few well built DVD players since getting the Sony last year, but none of them sound as good.
 
Wazz said:
I had a Sony once, I cannot remember the model, but it had a gold hockey puck type weight that you had to set on the discs. Sounded good, and maybe better once I modded it.
Click to expand...

The Sony CDP's with the "puck" are fixed laser models, where the CD is moved in and out instead of the laser. I have three such models, A CDP-X5000, CDP-XA7ES, and CDP-XA20ES. The first two are amazing and more desirable but the XA20ES is no slouch either. I also have the more conventional CDP-X707ES and CDP-X777ES, both also great players. Finally I have two CDP-507ESD's, each of which contains a pair of the highly regarded and previously mentioned Phillips TDA1541 DAC's. While they don't show up very often in the usual places, when they do they are more affordable than the more esoteric models I've mentioned and they sound great.
 
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Most Sony's are oversamplers so they sound a touch bright. I have a CDP-XA7ES, CDP-302, and a cheapo CDP-970.
 
I'm waiting for somebody to say the original Playstation 1. :-)
I've read a bit about the pros and cons and I wish I hadn't sold mine at a garage sale.
 
I used to enjoy listening to my Sony DVP-S7000......not so much anymore since Dr. Ipod came to stay.....
 
I had a first generation Hitachi that I bought in Germany in 1984. The thing was a front loader and built like a battleship as compared to the regular consumer decks now. Was list price around 1k in 83 or so. But had one DAC, no oversampling, etc and skipped alot. Not probably as good as a Sony portable nowadays for sound and tracking, but the construction level of the thing was marvelous.
 
poppachubby said:
Oh the oldies can keep up. The old ES stuff can make many modern CDP's blush. I would recommend anything with the 2 x PCM56p or TDA 154x dacs. Some of the KSS transports are still sought after by DIY types.

If you can get your hands on the M Series, most of those had a wonderful analog sound.

Is there any models you are considering or have access to? Feel free to drop me a PM regarding any you may be thinking about. Also, the vintage Philips/Magnavox players are still quite a joy to listen to.
Click to expand...
Talk about a 10 year bump!!
Just ordered a Sony CDP 507 ESD Player, coming next week!
Has anybody have play time with this deck?
Beave
 
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