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REVIEW: Sony SCD-XA5400ES SACD Player (Modded)

63.162.18.146


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Model: SCD-XA5400ES
Category: SACD Player (Modded)
Suggested Retail Price: $1500
Description: Super Audio CD Player VSE Terra Firma Lite and analog upgrade with balanced option
Manufacturer URL: Sony

Review by Mali on February 22, 2010 at 16:36:35
IP Address: 63.162.18.146
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for the SCD-XA5400ES


I answered Allen Wright’s request for a 5400 for which he would design a Terra Firma clock and analog section free of charge in exchange for its use for a few months while he got the work done. My player became the prototype for the VSE upgrades on a 5400. This took an unanticipated length of time, and when it was nearing completion, I asked for the balanced upgrade, so Allen was able to use my player for the development of the balanced option as well. Then there was a problem with oscillators that was finally overcome with a new 3 volt module (or something like that.) I am as about as far from a techie as you can get, so look elsewhere for the technical explanations of what the total upgrade entails. ( I would hope that Allen would feel free to post with a few lines just what was done to the player, since the technical aspects are way over my head, and there's no point in my attempting to write about something I don't understand.)

Anyway, I’ve had the player for about two weeks now. This review will not please many people due to the lack of technical explanations and my not having a stock 5400 with which to compare the upgraded player with. I may not have total recall of the sound of the stock player, but I do recall how I reacted to it. I found it to be an excellent player, SACD and redbook CD both. I never had a problem with an overly bright sound from redbook, but found it alive, dynamic, and, well yes, bright, in the best sense of the word as opposed to dull and uninvolving. I’ve owned other near state-of-the-art players from Levinson and Marantz. The Sony bested them in every way. However, having read of the Vacuum State Electronics upgrades on other Sony players, I was interested in trying it with my player. Am I glad I did.

The sound quality has taken a quantum leap over the excellent sound of the stock player in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible. The sound is now very reminiscent of Lp, and has a smoothness and subtlety more often associated with a good record player. I know I did not react to the stock player in that way. (I still use my AR turntable from time to time.) I am extremely happy with the improvement in red book CD sound, and have been digging out long unplayed discs and playing them as if they were new.

I am not very good at writing about sound quality. I find it difficult to describe the sound of music with words, and anyway all the standard terms have long since become clichés, and I don’t consider myself an audiophile, just a music lover. However, some SACDs I have been playing include the Gergiev conducted complete Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet from LSO Live. The sound quality is spectacular as is the performance. I have an Esoteric disc of Beethoven overtures conducted by Colin Davis. Fantastic. The Beethoven symphonies with the Minnesota Orchestra on Bis. Wow. All these SACDs sounded pretty nice on my interim player, an inexpensive Sony SACD, but it’s an entirely new ballgame with the VSE modded 5400. The Dire Straights “Brothers-in- Arms,” 20th anniversary SACD, one of my very few rock discs, sounds just incredible. Piano and choral music, both of which I listen to extensively, have taken on a new immediate presence, no sharpness on the high notes, just a smoothness and detail that has go be heard to be believed.
As gorgeous as the SACD sound is with the player, I have to say that the improvement in redbook playback is astonishing. Any trace of digital glare, digititis, or whatever you want to call it is gone, but then I’ve referred to that already, in regard to the near analog sound comparable to Lp playback. Redbook takes on a near SACD quality. I know I did not react to the stock player in that way.

(I have to stop writing from time to time to listen to Beethoven’s 7th on BIS which is playing as I write.) The sound of this player demands your attention and takes your breath away. The goose bump and chill factor is back in spades, something I’ve rarely encountered since I began listening primarily to CDs 25 years ago. Comparing SACD playback with the redbook layer on hybrid discs, there is a definite difference between the two, the SACD is definitely preferable, but I could live happily with the redbook alone. It is just excellent. I normally read when listening to music. With the upgraded 5400 I now find myself just listening, no reading. The upgraded player makes it impossible to do anything other than give the music your undivided attention. I also find myself cranking up the volume to levels I never did before, due to the smoothness, spaciousness, and detail of the player. I know I did not react to the stock player in the same way.

Just a note on the balanced playback: Allen says the outputs of the two, balanced and RCA, are identical signals and should sound just the same. Well, maybe it is my amp, which is a Cullen upgraded PS Audio GCC-100, but I definitely prefer the sound of the balanced outs. The output of the player is higher via balanced and that may also have something to do with it, but it seems to be a slightly fuller, richer sound via the balanced, although it’s a close call. The ics are essentially identical, Jena Labs products.

Over the years, I have found that I react to musical reproduction is unconscious ways. If I am not listening as often, or am not looking forward to time in front of the stereo, there is probably something not quite right, often unspecified or unidentifiable, with the sound. I unconsciously decide to listen less often. With the 5400 and my current setup, I now find myself listening to music much more often, at higher volume levels, with no other distractions such as reading or computer browsing, and am getting out those old discs that have taken on a new, astonishing sound quality. I have had trouble just listening to so-called audiophile demonstration discs to prepare for this review. I am listening to just what I feel like, and it’s generally been the music I love most, no matter the vintage of the recording, redbook or SACD. If they can, everyone should take advantage of what VSE has to offer in regard to this player.


Product Weakness: none
Product Strengths: VSE takes a good SACD player and makes it a great one


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: PS-Audio GCC-100, upgraded by Cullen Circuits
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): none
Sources (CDP/Turntable): AR Research t.t.
Speakers: Roman Audio Centurian
Cables/Interconnects: Jena Labs Fugue (XLR), Jena Labs Java (RCA), MAC and VeraStarr power cords
Music Used (Genre/Selections): mostly classical. orchestral, piano, choral
Room Size (LxWxH): 20' x 15' x 8'
Room Comments/Treatments: none
Time Period/Length of Audition: 18 days, prior to mod, four months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): PS Audio Power Plant Premier
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition): Similar products used: Mark Levinson CD - 39, Marantz SA-7




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Topic - REVIEW: Sony SCD-XA5400ES SACD Player (Modded) - Mali 16:36:35 02/22/10 ( 53)