Great transport mechanism, very slick and fun to use. Good detailed sound.

Slightly toned down sound. Strength of competition. No longer available.

Good player but the arcam does it all better. Anyone who tells you it sounds better than the last of the 7se models with the newer remote and 2 digital outputs is a liar. The arcam is considerably more detailed, has better timing and sounds better right through the sonic range. The sony never offends and is a nice sweet sounding player, but anyone who tells you that the arcam sound is "warmed up" or "coloured" is just used to their slightly blander sounding sony.
Great transport, very slick and well built, but hey the dac is what its all about and the arcams is better, significantly better.

Similar Products Used:

Arcam 7se, Marantz 6000ose, nad 540.

It's Sony so it'll last forever. Great operation, build quality, sound qaulity. Everything great! Come in shiny silver or classy black.

Vunerable CD drawer. No standby mode. Too small damit!

The Sony CDP-XB930 is a midrange priced CD player at £300 RRP, and comes complete with hi tech gadgets and editorial tools. The main unit is built extremely well, the case meets teh normal 430mm width, but only goes about 250mm deep, which can be awkward when mixed with larger amps. The front fascia is a big bulk, and has a lot of buttons. The transport is in the middle with the display on the right. The transport uses a fixed pick up so that the lens does not move - opnly the CD & motor. This drawer is very vunerable and would be costly to replace/repair as the laser and other gubins are inside. The unit has lots and lots of great feeatures, it can do CD Text (although I only have one CD with this - Travis The Invisible Band, and most other Sony releases). The rear panel has coaxial and optical digital outs and the usual RCA sockets. The included remote is well designed and a joy to use, the main unit is also easy to use with solid buttons and a neat jog dial for track changing. The editing feature consist of a fader, various play modes, a fantastic repeat mode (press it and it will mark the start, press it again and it will repeat the time between the presses as it was playing). You can change the line out levelby 0 to -20dB. The display is bright and clear, the program facility is also great - with 24 track memory. The major feature is a fantastic filter selector, you can choose from 4 filters to change the type of sound (not dramaticily though) from smooth to deep and warm to clear and detailed. It comes with a 1 year warranty and has a great manual ( with about 7 languages). When I hooked it up to a Kenwood amp I was very surprised, it was a step up, the Mission 701 speakers sounded fuller now, and more lively. It also appears louder, I used to play with it at half volume set on, but now I listen at only about 10 o'clock. It can dig up detail and produces great strong bass. Treble is also great - the guiatrs on the Travis album are sparkling with authenticity, the cymbals and alsorts of sine wave are all transparent and clear. However the midrange is sort of laid back - with Pablo Honey from Radiohead the vocals are somwhat laid back - this has been critised for the Mission speakers though. I am going to upgrade to some bigger speakers - maybe the 702e's. Anyway, if anyone wants a UK bargain, get yourself down to Richer Sound and bag one of these for only £170. Check some magazines - they are sometimes shown as £150 in this case take the mag down to save extra money:) If anyone needs more info on the CD player or speaker email me.
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Sony are a very reliable brand - I still have and use a Sony Betamax recorder from the 80's.
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Used with:
Kenwood KAF-3030R
Mission 701 speakers
Gale speaker wire and Cambridge Audio phono leads.

Similar Products Used:

None- bar Pioneer midi system (£500) PlayStation 2 & LG micro (£110)

Fine detail, good flexibility with the digital filter switch to match better

Lack of absolute bass resolution

I had a system which matched beautifully, using an Audiolab 8000A, Mission 751F speakers/stands and a Sony CDP-XE530 with the output op-amps replaced with OP285 parts and bipolar output capacitors. Then we moved to a bigger house.

The speakers were too small and I got some Dynaudio Audience 60 floorstanders. Suddenly the CDP-XE530 sounded ill defined and badly detailed, as if the Mission speakers had been over lively making up for the deficiency. So I began a new CD player hunt.

The Arcam Alpha 7SE was sold to me as the best sound for the money, it has the most over emphasised bass I've ever heard and with Dynaudio floorstanders the house shook at low volumes. High treble sounded totally unreal and trumpets (I play) sounded over rich. Separation was very good but the colouration was awful. I took it back and got a Cambridge D500SE.

The Cambridge D500Se sounded phenomenally detailed and easily challenged a £400 Arcam Diva D72 player but was half the money. I took one home in silver with a blue display, the second time I turned it on to show my wife how good it was - it break down. I took it back to the shop.

The salesmen were very helpful at Richer Sounds Swindon & showed me possible matches for my system from NAD, Rotel and Marantz but I wanted a Sony and got a CPD-XB930.

The Sony took a while to warm up and then began to sound good. The digital filter settings actualy make a huge difference on my setup, I think hi-fi magazine reviewers must need their hearing checked out. Perhaps they can't hear high tones anymore.

Filter setting 1 is most transparent and clear, filter 2 is drier and even more detail without the treble bias. Standard filter is dull and filter 3 is too heavy.

Set to filter 1 for classical and 2 for rock this player, with its stabiliser, is actually fantastic value for money.

I would like to say that Arcam, Cambridge and Rotel models all had the detail, separation and quality to work well in another system BUT the Sony filter switch makes a massive difference to the perceived sound of my system. Special mention must be made of the Cambridge D500SE's sound, although it died on me. BUT no other player sounded real on cymbals/snare drum sounds compared to the Sony filter 1/2 setting. I checked this out by Sennheiser monitor headphones attached to my Audiolab to make sure.

Imagine all the people who hear this player turned on for 5 minutes on standard filter and never know how good it sounds.....

Similar Products Used:

Arcam Alpha 7SE, Rotel RCD951, Cambridge D500SE, Marantz CD6000 OSE, Sony CDP-XE530

dynamic, detailed

some bass frequencys, gone
anoying stabilizer thingy

a received this like a week ago,the first impression was detailed, dynamic and with more resolution than my older one. after listening to alot of cds i would notice that some bass frequencys were almoust gone. where i expacted punch i got a mudd! this seems only to be in some certain frequences thou, since many other have more punch.
this may dissapear over time thou.
overall its one of the better cd players out there, moust sony`s are. they developed the cd so...

my system:
psb image 5t, rotel ra-971mk2 and sony cdp-xb930

attack, dynamic,powerful rythmic sense, timing

lean, metallic, a little cold

I love the track selector (really nimble). Most of the other features are peripheral (as far as I am concerned). I auditioned this with rotel 951 and Marantz 6000. The Marantz seemed the least srtiking and so it was between the Sony and the Rotel. I felt the Sony had what it takes in the rythem department. Gets right in there. The best of the three easily. However, even then i felt it was less tonally rich than the Rotel. Alhough some tracks stood out particularly well on the Sony, i now feel that the shortfallings give too much ground to the Rotel which, in short, i feel to be a better balanced operator. If you're a fan of dance, go for the Sony, it hacks out those beats with real violence. But the Rotel piles on the guitars and has less jagged edges. If you buy the Sony, partner it with speakers that are not too bright (I have B&W 601's and a rotel 971 amp). My comparison was with a variety of other kits and I think it is a good basis for generalisation.

Similar Products Used:

rotel 951, Marantz 6000

solid build, excellent transport and quality digital outs for future DAC upgrade, high level of sound for the money, cool high-end disc stabilizer, CD-text option

I bought this player brand new for just $227. I am still very impressed – 930 sounds dynamic, very neutral with unbelievable ambiance in mid-high ranges. Bass reproduction is bold and articulate. My favorite jazz piano sounds a bit perfect, little smoother than the original, but very close to life. Variable digital filters (beside standard one) are too conditional and I am in process to discover their potential. 930 warms up quickly and after an hour of listening you can expect all of the romance. The player is similar to 20ES and all insignificant differences between top of the QS-series and the entry ES-machine make 930 a stunning value for money. My other equipment includes SONY TA-FA3ES amp, SONY SS-X7 speakers, QED Qnect2 interconnects and QED Qudos Silver cables. The quality of Naim CD 3.5 for a third of the price – another fabulous machine, SONY!

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-XA20ES, Arcam 7se, NAD 522/524, Naim CD 3.5

Great, clean sound. Build quality. The LOOKS.

None so far

I have listened this CD player for the first time in one of the HiFi stores in Australia and I was amazed by the full, rich and detail sound. I just had to have it. However, in Australia this model is available only in black. Thanks to Paul Green HiFi store in the UK, I purchased the silver unit. In my opinion this is the best looking player on the market. The looks matches the sound it produces.

It even plays one of my favourite CDs, that has bad scratch on the TOC. Other players take up to 10 times before they startup. This unit has no probs.

I recommend this product for more than average music lover.
For the money, I think that it a great buy.

Very nice sounding with whatever you throw at it. Quality, build,

Mine's stopped working after using it at a party, on top of an amp for about 6 hours. It must have got too hot!!

Very nice CD player, very nice quality, i love it to bits, and am sad that it's broken, will take back and get replacement. Was not lucky enough to get a silver one, but the silver one's look amazing! Very nice indeed. awesome in fact. managed to get it for £200 (GBP) from richer sounds, rather than £300 ! :o) I like the stabilizer, i think it's CLASS!

Similar Products Used:

Cambridge Audio, Mission

Good attack, excellent looks. Well equipped.

Maybe a bit too sharp.

I bought the Sony to replace my 7 year old cheap JVC, without actually comparing them first. Even my portable CD sounded better than the old JVC, now I can't even imagine how I put up with it that long.
I must admit I bought it mainly by looks, but boy was I impressed. I've never found an equal in musical drive, dynamics and attack! Still it maintains its neutrality at all times. It completely renewed my CD-collection, so I just had to take a few days off and listen to them all all over. It has all the features you could wish for, including CD text - but I've never made that one working.
For me, the stabilizer adds a touch of class, but I admit that it is somewhat in the way at parties. The player also develops a lot of heat, so don't just push it into your cupboard.
A clear recommendation, but avoid using bright-sounding speakers, this player is mean!

Similar Products Used:

Marantz CD6000

Good attack, excellent looks. Well equipped.

Maybe a bit too sharp.

I bought the Sony to replace my 7 year old cheap JVC, without actually comparing them first. Even my portable CD sounded better than the old JVC, now I can't even imagine how I put up with it that long.
I must admit I bought it mainly by looks, but boy was I impressed. I've never found an equal in musical drive, dynamics and attack! Still it maintains its neutrality at all times. It completely renewed my CD-collection, so I just had to take a few days off and listen to them all all over. It has all the features you could wish for, including CD text - but I've never made that one working.
For me, the stabilizer adds a touch of class, but I admit that it is somewhat in the way at parties. The player also develops a lot of heat, so don't just push it into your cupboard.
A clear recommendation, but avoid using bright-sounding speakers, this player is mean!

Similar Products Used:

Marantz CD6000