Sony CDP-CX555ES CD Players

Sony CDP-CX555ES CD Players 

DESCRIPTION

This Sony 300-disc CD changer lets you conveniently store all your favorite CDs in one place. Enjoy the highest-quality sound, thanks to Sony's Full Feed Forward digital filter and adjustable variable coefficient digital filter. Don't be intimidated by its high-tech exterior - this CD changer is easy to use. Type in disc titles with a keyboard and they will appear on the two-way LCD remote included in this package. For expandability, you can even connect a second 300/200/50 changer to this unit.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 10  
[Apr 18, 2005]
chaoot
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good mechanical endurance

Weakness:

Latest models do not come with the extended remote control

I just purchased my second Sony CDP to hook it up to my earlier model. So I can say that the system is reliable. In it's use, the system is fenomenal. No more CD changing etc. I think that MP3 will soon take over but for me it is the 500+ CD's I still love in their sound quality. I've "upgraded" both players with other electronics and modified the mechanical build. All in All excellent value for money

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Nov 18, 1999]
David
Casual Listener

Strength:

What a great, fun convenient product! I can't attest to its sound quality, as it is being driven through a Sony mini-system's MD input. We'll see how it performs once I get more expensive gear (this was the first element of a larger system -- I bought it now because I can enjoy it without buying anything else, like new speakers or a receiver).
The ES five year warranty is great, too, as carousel players tend to have troubles (all those mechanical vs. electrical parts).

Weakness:

Though the "groups" feature is great (whereby you can place a CD into one of 8 named groups), it'd be nice if the groups could overlap -- so that the same CD could be in multiple groups. For instance, I'd like to have a "Jazz" group and a "Favorites" group.
Access time could be a little faster, but as I understand it, this model is fast compared to its competitors.
The remote is cool, but it is a little unwieldy (I don't like "mouse"-esque buttons -- they never work well).

Great product! No problems! I've got a "Favorites" group of 30 or so CD's on shuffle, and its like your own radio station!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Oct 23, 1999]
Fugitwlv
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

What a sweet machine! Jog dials for both discs and tracks. Remote is two way, w/window...scroll up or down to title that you've input w/ibm compat. key- board, then activate (w/or w/o back- lite!). Remote also has door w/hidden keypad and other goodies. White fluor- escent screen on unit shows either disc title that you've input or, when activated, time/disc info. Title stays put in window while disc playing, if you want, unlike w/70ES. Auto-door swings left to close, nice feature, unlike the 70ES which was manual flip down, where baby can easily step on it. Here, seems tighter fit, less dust? Also, has disc eject feature that slightly raises in place the addressed disc. Foot markings re: disc number on carousel has greater deliniation, too, easier to see. So far, too overwhelmed to try out the multitudinous features as favorite hit list that can old 32 of your favorite tracks, or the 8 groups, et al. Sounds like it will be fun. Good luck!

Weakness:

Can only input 13 digits into disc title feature, also will not allow you to input track info. So far, only Sony discs will activate the auto title feature. Album which holds CD booklets should be larger to accommodate all 300 possible titles, not just 100 (packet includes three ablums of 100 ea, a pain in the future).

Great buy. Retails in downtown Chgo for $699, purchased it in subs for $399!

Similar Products Used:

CDP-CX70ES

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 24, 2000]
Michael
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Sound quality

Weakness:

13 character title limit, cd booklets

I've been waiting for the audio quality of carousels to improve and from what I've heard so far, it finally has. It's a please to rid my living room of 300 cds and have instant access to them. So far, I've entered about 100 of the CD titles by hand - brain-numbing work - but I should have a borrows PC keyboard here tonight and finish up. (Mac keyboards don't work).

I guess my biggest beef is the amount of time it takes to enter all the title information in. The technology already exists to automate this: CDDB on the web can download all the title and track info - now all they need to do add an internet connection to the unit.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 19, 1999]
David Wesley
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

solid construction, quieter mechanism than a CDP-CX300

Weakness:

remote does not live up to its potential. Unable to use optical for daisy chaining.

Love the ability to keep 300 CD's online at one time. Doubt I will ever daisy-chain.

Personally, I was not satisfied with the folders Sony provided to hold the liner notes. Bought Pro photo album and poly filler pages with 5" by 5" pockets (4 to a page)as a substitute.

Got my Access database loaded with track listings provided by www.cddb.com.

The remote is nice in that I can read the CD title text in the palm of my hand. But Sony should have included current group and play mode (continue, shuffle, all-disks, etc) on the hand-held screen.

Try Sound City for a good price. This model was not on their web-site but a phone call determined that I could get it for $470 delivered! This made upgrading from the all-plastic CDP-CX300 a no-brainer. Their service was quick and without any slip-ups.

Similar Products Used:

CDP-CX300. A number of 5 CD carousels.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 22, 1999]
Bill
Audiophile

Strength:

Number of CD's, great remote, nice filing system for CD booklets, excellent sound.

Weakness:

A little long to switch between CD's.

Took quite a while to setup the 250 CD's I had in the machine. Great to page through all the CD covers in the included albums and pick and choose what I want to hear. No more record changing or opening of jewel cases again. I regained 2 whole shelves in my stereo cabinet where the CD's were kept in their jewel cases.
Remote is great. Nice two way communication to let you know what's loaded. None of my CD's had auto text so I still have to input the names.
Sound is exceptional, but I also installed a Monster Cable HT-2000 line conditioner at the same time. This has made the space between songs "DEAD QUIET" something I have never been able to achieve no matter how much grounding I did. My equipment includes Harmon Kardon AVR-85 driving Infinity Compositions Overture 3's, Nikko Alpha 2 Amp @ 240 watts driving Bose 901's using AVR-85 as pre-amp and Infinity Delta Center Channel speaker.

Similar Products Used:

JVC Carousel - Pioneer Single Play

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 26, 2001]
Tom Hitzler
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Convenience. Features.

Weakness:

Limited text size for CD titles.

Although this is not an audiophile quality sound, it is good sound (and can be improved with quality interconnects). But, the convenience of this product is irresistible. I have used the product for about 1 year. I recently had a problem and had to bring the unit in for repair. I really miss it. Once you have had a CD Jukebox, you will never go back to single play CD players.

Similar Products Used:

None

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jan 09, 2001]
craig
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Convenience, great remote, very good sound

Weakness:

Not enough space to enter text

Good Guys was nice enough to loan this unit to me for my kid's school function, and I liked it so much I bought it rather than returning it. I don't normally like Sony players of any kind; I find them very noisy when playing and changing discs. Not this unit, though. Sound is very close to that of my Denon single disc player, and the best part is I listen to more music because it's so convenient having all those CDs ready to play. Love the remote, too. And you can't beat a 5-year warranty on a CD changer - it's unheard of! On top of that, Good Guys gave me the changer for an Open-Box price (even though they had to open the box to loan it to me) of $329!

System:
Denon 3200 Receiver (HT)
B&K Pro-5 preamp (music)
Sonance 260 X 3 Amps
B&W CDM1 mains, biwired
B&W Rock Solid surrounds
M&K VX-7 sub
Sony CDP-CX555ES changer
Denon DCD-320 player
Pioneer DV606D DVD
Denon DRR-733 cassette

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite PDF-101

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 26, 2000]
Duke Dykstra
Audiophile

Strength:

Nice to have carousel holding that much music.

Weakness:

Poor support of cd text on unit. Sony Tech support said they don't support cd text used on personal computers.

This unit allows use of a keyboard to enter titles, but greatly limits number of song titles you can type in. Instead of forcing the keyboard upon the customer and then having such great limitations on titling the songs, I relied upon their 'cd text' for song titles. I purchased the Sony because cd text is supposed to be their forte.

Relying on cd text for the song titles is truly the only way to go with a carousel holding 300 cds's. It truly is nice knowing who is playing these songs, and the artist. I usually have to enter both on the 'song' side of the cd text.

Using cd text supporting cd burners, I found very few cd's burned are readable by this unit. I often use 2x in hopes that the cd text info gets recognized. I have better luck with my car player reading cd text, as well as my plextor and Sony cd burners on my computers. It is frustrating to see so many other devices read the cd text from a cd that wouldn't display on this Sony carousel player.

Please have Sony increase support their own standard of cd text so that we can have our own playlists on our personal cds.

Fidelity and presence are fine for such an inexpensive unit. The carousel seems a little slow loading contiguous cds. I am hoping someday for a true audiophile unit that has supports cd text capability.

Similar Products Used:

Previous Sony 200 cd carousel model.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Apr 15, 2000]
Stan
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

good sound quality, two ways remote controller, ps/2 keyboard entry for easy titling

Weakness:

13-character title for each disc, disc changing process takes a long time, optical digital out only, no aluminum faceplate

The sound quality is pretty good, and much better than it's similar model CDP-CX350, I think that current pulse D/A converter really means something. The sound it produces is cleaner, and more live than that of CDP-CX350. The sound of different instruments in a band can be revealed quite clearly. I am happy with this machine, and with its two way remote, I can just sit there and enjoy the music.

The only thing I complain is that build of this cd player is that the face plate is plastic, not aluminum, which is uncommon for an ES-series model.

Similar Products Used:

cdp-cx350

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
Showing 1-10 of 10  

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