I bought my XA7ES half a year ago - used, for about $1200. The former owner found a Krell to be better. Unfortunately, I did not (yet) do much direct a/b comparison with other CD players. So my opinion is based on memory, take it with a grain of salt.
The main cause for my decision was that the Sony seems to be the only CD player with a fairly powerful headphone output. The AKG K240DF I use is fairly inefficient. For example, while even the $500 Marantz CD67SE had a more enjoyable sound with deeper soundstage and better detail, it couldn't deliver much more level than conversation speech. Other players in the Sony's price region (new, of course) don't have a headphone output at all. Nor do they have its nice motor-potentiometer level adjustment. I found this an valuable argument as I thought of feeding active speakers direct from the Sony, without all that preamplifier, power amplifier and cabling pain.

Being more an electronics expert than a high-end gear consumer, I ordered the service manual and schematics for the XA7ES. It shows an enormous complexity, clever in some parts like the fixed output, stupid in others. Why does the music have to run through half a dozen medium-quality op-amps and two discrete stages until it reaches the headphone? I'm on the way for tweaking this circuitry to a level I would call "audiophile". Let's see if I can beat - sonically - those commercial companies selling XA7ES modifications. Magazine reviews and others' experiences sound very promising. If I can improve this machine to the desired level for, say, $200 in electronic components, it would have been a bargain and worth five stars.

But for those of you who do not know on which side to touch the soldering iron - if you have to pay the full $3000 and take the machine as it is, expect a medium sound to price relation equivalent to, say, three stars.

Built Like A Tank, Very Detail

Heavy

Truly Great Product. I never thought that Sony could come out with such a fine product. The sound from this CD Player is very detail and the Bass is excellent. Need a good current AC to get most of the sound. Good line conditioner is very recommended. I compared to my first system CD player, Meridian 508.20 and the difference only slight in the soundstage. Meridian produce more airy sound than Sony but Sony has tighter bass. Both are a very Good system. No wonder Stereoreview gives both Class A. Sony has better and smoother tray compared to Meridian and much more heavier.

Well, I am very satisfy with both players.

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 508.20

Regarding everyone's posts pertaining to soundstage, midrange, extended lows. Meridian vs Krell vs Sony vs etc. All players ultimately use a laser pickup to read Digital information off the disk. Ones and Zero's boys and girls. They all read the disk the same way. Digitally.The sound is created via the Digital to Analog circutry. No modification of sound quality comes from the actual read stage of the disk / laser.
A decent off board D/A converter costing around $300 to $500 with a 20bit resolution, will make even the cheapest optical out equipped CD player sound like a million bucks.
I read all of these reviews and cannot help but wonder if anyone of these reviewers have wives that handle the bank book. I make a pretty good salary and my wife makes double what I do, but I know for a fact that I would never be "allowed" nor could I justify spending $3000+ for a cd player. I am the proud owner of a used Pioneer Elite PD-65 and I bought it to fit in with my other elite gear, but I did not pay $3000 for it and you know what. It sounds wonderfull to my unpretentious ears.

MHO

Chuck

After reading all the reviews I had to get this cd player. I just lovewhen a product comes out and its compared to other products costing 5 times
as much $$ . I couldnt listen to the player at the store because it wasnt
hooked up, so I had to buy this player at 2050$ blindly and rely on the
reviews I read here. the player is very heavy and its built to LAST forever. Im
surprised to see a SONY product with this kind of built and sound quality!
Ive never heard those 10000$ cd players like Krell,and Wadia,etc but im sure
that it cant get much better than this sound that I hear. The Bass is
excelent, I have to lower the bass because its to much for my small room +
Im using an Aragon 8008bb which also provides thunderous bass.Its bass has authority and deep impact which I never heard before from any cd
player. The highs are smooth and clear,and the Mids are great.
I didnt know if it lacked extra treble because Im use to bright sounding
music and this player is more layed back and smoother than those 200$ cd players which I had before.
At this price its defenatly a bargain and a great cd player to last for a
long time. Im not sure if the sound gets even better in time like my Aragon
amplifier did after using it for a while? Great CD player and probably the
best CD PLAYER in the world under 10000$$.

The SONY CDP XA7ES is truly a world class player. I have listened to others costing much more money with little improvement or lesser sound quality in my opinion. I listen to jazz, folk, classical, operas, and some pop. This player is able to resolve the subtle details that I have not heard before on my CDs.
The sound is so palpable, detailed and warm, bass is deep (almost potent depending on recording). Everything described on the Chesky Record Demo disc can be heard during play back. As with many hi-end system, this player requires at least 45 minutes to warm up to get the best sound. Highly recommended. A world class player at a real world price.

Solid and smooth transport. Nice smooth sound.

Dated technology, not as much air or detail as state-of-the art high-end CD players.

System:
Sony XA7ES, Cary CD 306/200, MSB Gold Link III DAC.
Audio Research LS16 vacuum tube preamp.
Conrad-Johnson Premier 11a tube power amp.
Classe CA-300 solid-state power amp.
Thiel CS 1.5 speakers.

I always wanted one of these and finally bought my used Sony XA7ES from a fellow audiophile. It's an impressive unit that is built like a battle ship with it's heavy copper chassis. The ergnomics of the XA7ES is better than my new Cary 306/200 [$5K list]. It just makes more sense and the controls are easier to deal with as is the well thought out remote.

Although the Sony XA7ES sounds incredibly good with slight over all warmth and smoothness, I find that it lacks detail and air compared to some of the most modern units available today. The MSB Gold Link III external DAC helped and the Cary 306/200 CD player is even better. But at about $1000 on the used market I'm convinced that the XA7ES is one of the best buys in high-end audio.

I also tried the Sony XA7ES using its variable outputs driving my power amplifier directly (bypassing the preamp). I was amazed! This player combined with just a power amp would make an awesome and cost effective combo.

In summary, for $1000 on the used market, this is an outstanding CD player and a very good value.

Similar Products Used:

Cary 306/200 CD Player. MSB Gold Link III External DAC. Denon DCD-1650AR, CAL Icon MKII.

I owned a XA7ES for about 3 weeks. It sounded great, but s**t happen. I kept most of my gear on all the time. With the XA7ES, after about 30 minutes of playing, the cd weight gets pretty warm to touch. I assume this is by design until one day, there was something wrong with the microprocessor -- it won't acknowledge a disk in the transport. I returned it for an exchange, but obviously the player was in short supply, and the dealer can't get me one with any certainty. SO I get my money back and decided to pick one up myself on my trip to Japan. In Japan, I have a chance to compare the XA7ES to its sister XA50ES (with selectable variable filter coefficients, and not available in the US). To cut the long story short, I bought the XA50ES because I felt the highs are even better, and it cost less than half the list price. It's a mystery why SONY sells it in the rest of the world, but not in the US (may be it has a lot to do with good reviews of the XA7ES). Look out for the XA70ES with variable filter coefficients, it may be right around the corner............
It may be the end of those megabuck CD separates.

I needed a cd player for my home theathre system, since my dvd players ability to play cds was not good enough. I have a dvd-s7000, so a xa7es was a natural choice. For the price this cd player has no peers.

Why is the XA7ES not sold in England ? I listened to this unit while in Hong Kong and I'd have to disagree that the XA50ES sounds as good ( although definantly not bad )...the XA7ES is as good as it gets and much more reasonbly priced than the gear it betters, I love it !

I currently have the XA7ES in my home for an audition. The dealer got the player brand spankin' new therefore it is still green; boy is it ever. For the first hour when I plugged it in and started playing the highs were screechy and orchestral passages were not coherent (incomprehensible). Over a period of a few hours however, I think that the power supply must have settled down because the player started producing some very good music. For comparison, I also heard the Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1, Mark Levinson No. 39, Proceed All in One, Classe CDP.5, and Krell KPS20. I found that the Sony was very close to the attitude of the Levinson and Krell players (neutral with no colouration, slightly bright but VERY open). The Sonic sounded more "coloured" with a pleasant euphonic colouration that seemed to emphasize the bass. The transport mechanism on the Sony is another story though: tactile feel, robustness, and refinement hint to me that the transport is the best that can be had anywhere. In summary, I found the Sony player to be the virtual equal of the Levinson player and just slightly less revealing than the Krell player (at less than 1/2 the cost). I think that my audition may lead to a permenant addition to my Hi-Fi. For the value and sound quality 5 stars!