Summary:
one of the best cdplayers by sony ever

Strengths:
warm sound, great quality

Weaknesses:
power button

Summary:
For 350UKP, this is a seriously good player. The transport is rock solid and for a budget Japanese player, it is surprisingly free of digital nasties. Though the Sony is probably best matched with a lush-sounding interconnect in a neutral-sounding system.

It easily bettered the "reference" Marantz cd63se with a smoother yet more dynamic sound. Not dynamic in the 63se sense, i.e. compressed and in-your-face, but graduations between soft and loud are more readily apparent.
Perhaps the Sony ES brand does not have the pretend-audiophile appeal of the Marantz (the Marantz ad... watch by cartier, suit by cerruti and cd-player by marantz; how aspirational); however it is a far superior player, tonally and rhythmically. Headphone users will appreciate the sony's headphone output, which will not cause a headache after 5 minutes of use unlike the cd63se.

Comparison with the rotel 971, again showed the sony to be smoother sounding. The rotel offered more in dynamic bite, uncompressed with excellent timing . However, the bass and treble with the rotel can be rather detached and prominent, lacking the easy-going nature of the sony. In the wrong system it'll be rather lumpy-sounding, whereas in the sony the bass, midrange and treble play together. For budget CD replay, best go for the sweeter sound.

The xa-2es will most likely better the current non-ES and probably most other players at what should be now a discounted price.

If you can forgive the sony label, have a listen and enjoy the music.

Strengths:
Smooth-sounding but with superb resolving power

Similar Products Used:
Marantz cd63se & rotel 971

Summary:
sony 222es cd player, i have own my a grat many ccd players, rotel,dennon, pioneer, and the sony 777es,the sony 222es is a great cd player, bass is very good , not as good as 777es . the mids and highs
are great withthis cd player you must use good cables ,oher equip. accupahse amp/pre amp, lexicon-cp-1+, carvertfm-42 amp, adcom-535-mk-2 amp
3bx-, pioneer-rg-1 range expanders, sony dat,sony cassette dk, speakers>> jbl4311 moniters, paradium moniter-5, cerwin vega-dx-9 , bic venturi-4,
i give the sony 222es a 4.50 for it,s analog like

Summary:
I also did extensive shopping/listening for a sub $1000 CD player and I was suprised to choose the SONY. Suprised since I'm not particularly fond of SONY products. There's very little the SONY adds to or subtracts from the music. I found it too be the most neutral among the Rega, Onkyo 7711, Cal Labs, and others.
I just purchased a Pioneer DVD player and when comparing 96k/24bit Chesky recordings the SONY and Pioneer, the SONY give up very little to the new conversion format. The SONY is a fine player with a really cool transport mechanism and a remote controlled variable out.

My system is composed of:
VTL DeLux 140 Monoblocks
Klyne 6PX Preamp
VPI 19jr/MMT Premier/AT-OC9
KD-KV7000 speakers
Kimber 8TC/PBJ/Cardas Quadlink

Summary:
I have had the chance to compare the SONY XA7ES and the XA2ES soundwise it's almost identical, I did a double blind test and I really cannot discern the difference between the two cd player. The $3,000 SONY XA7ES has more additional gizmo than the basic $600 XA2ES thats the only difference I could give so if you are planning to spend $3,000 for a cd player you owe it to yourself to audition SONY XA2ES. My system is made up of Infinity composition prelude speakers, Cary 300SEI with western electric 300B tubes,Kimber Silver hybrid interconnects and wire.