frahengeo

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Have had this player since 1991 and it stills works flawlessly. Its ability to move from track-to-track quickly and precisely is second to none. In it of itself, it is not a useful feature, but speaks to the design/quality/workmanship of these vintage players. Many of the older systems have had problems playing CD-Rs and CD-RWs, but this unit plays thems all despite the "old laser". Not sure about the "useless material usage" comment from the previous reviewer, but all the shielding, thick gauge metal, and ceramic feet (which all adds to the weight, by the way) help isolate the vibration and electric field. It is all meant to keep all interferences, mechanical or electrical, away. Given the quality parts usage, a new unit of this caliber would cost >$4,000 today.

Finally, the sound "tested" neutral by one of those audiophile magazines. It was touted as a neutral player that neither adds or takes away from the orginal recording, which is a highly desirable characteristic. The unit sounds good to me, but I personally, cannot comment on how well it sounds on any CDs. I don't know how the artists intended their recordings sound nor was I at the studio during the recording sessions. I can only trust that its playing back the recordings as precisely as possible.
Hey, if you want extra bass, midrange, or treble, have your processor/receiver take care of that for you.

Gab

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.80 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I may be crucified but here is my humble opinion

The transport :
it sucks, maybe its just old laser or need lens clean up or just poor digital stuff
Sony precision drive 2 cd transport beats it easy, its obvious after 1 second listening.

The Dac :
It sucks, all the review talking about bass ? No idea what is your definition of bass,
but its very poor, but yes the DAC is clean... its very polite and detailed, relaxed
and involving,

but , there is a lot better decoder , ac, and op-amp to replace it, and i mean LOT BETTER, no comparison,

Strengths:
Nice case , high quality parts, Very expensive power supply
i still give 5 stars for being a prised cd player with nearly no laser
kss 272 a available, but still i found one supplier LOL ahah,
Its a huge machine and nice useless material usage , a nice BS hifi gear :)
just for look i give it 5 starrs, if you want better music ? buy the best DAC possible
driven by hard drive with cd's stored with special laser pick up from best available
and use a NICE program with ultra fast clock to get it converted. WATEVER
DONT BUY THIS.

Weaknesses:
Why all this parts ? no idea

Similar Products Used:
too many

pkmaven

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.33 of 5, 6.00 votes

Price Paid:  $600.00

Summary:
The Sony CDP-707ESD was built as a statement piece for U.S. sales. I uses a unique transport designed specifically for it and not sold from the Sony parts catalog to other cd player manufacturers. Its complete copper shielding prevents emf and the build quality is second to none. It is unique among the top of the line ES cd players because it uses dual, matched Burr Brown 18 bit converters. The variable output, motorized volume control is one of the finest made in the world and allows plugging into a power amplifier with no preamp. Peter Brady, the head of ES division for Sony at the time, told me that nothing was held back in the design of this $1800 cd player. The Nextel synthetic rubber pad around the tray is designed to seal the tray when closed so subwoofer produced low frequencies will not cause low resonance to affect the laser reader. As the original owner I have never had any problem of any kind from this very high end component, and because it is matched and integrated into my audio system, I have never had a reason to part with it.

Strengths:
Superb parts and build quality with Sony ergonomics

Weaknesses:
Price

Similar Products Used:
Sony CDP-620ES II

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I was looking for info on my CDP-X77es and didn't think I'd find any! I am about to upgrade into true audiophile territory and new my player was good, but didn't realize I should probably keep it. I teamed this with the Sony GX90es Receiver and Mirage SM2.5's in 1990 and loved the sound. I guess I'll be keeping it, thanks to all the reviewers!!

Strengths:
Great sound!!

Weaknesses:
Heavy beast!

Similar Products Used:
None this good.

Price Paid:  $1100.00

Summary:
My particular model is the X707ES, the last of the "gold" ES players, discontinued in 1995 when the XA7ES was introduced. I wish to discuss a little known fact which goes far to eplain the build quality and sound of this player. These "gold" ES players from the late 80's thru 1995 were essentially units designed and built for the home Japanese market. Their sound was voiced for Japanese preferences, i.e., harmony and tone rather than American high-end preferences, i.e., analytical detail often accompanied by tonal sterility. It's no accident that so much old McIntosh and Marantz tube gear has been exported to Japan. In any case, because of the small volume of sales to the US, Sony simply took their domestic units, changed printing to english, adjusted the AC line voltage, and gave us the "gold" ES players. In direct comparison the the best domestic and English players, these ES players have an unmatched full tonal quality and "naturalness". Just like tube equipment, however, they lack the pin point detail of top end transistor equipment. So if you're an engineer conducting scientific measurements these units are not for you; but, if you're a music lover, who simply wants to experience the full emotional involvement with the music, these units are unsurpassed. In addition, considering their build quality, at their current used prices, they must rank as one of the great buys of the music equipment world. And no, I'm not getting ready to sell my unit! I simply wish to share my opinion with other music lovers on a budget.