[nimbus240]

I am looking to buy a good but "reasonably priced"? SACD/CD player up to A$4000 and have the chance to obtain a Sony XA9000ES however when I researched this on the web the only thing I can find is that it was discontinued about 2-3 years ago. No one at Sony can tell me much about it. It did have a very good review by Audiophile mag back in 2003. THis unit is suposedly new and in the original boxing. Does anyone hsave any data or info on this unit, is it any good or was it discontinued because of problems?
 
 
 

[boead]

Look at the Arcam FMJ. The model 23 uses the Ring-DAC’s which many prefer and the model 33 uses 8 Wolfson’s and upsamples.
Also, look at Meridian.

Both are far more musical then the Sony.

[TONEPUB]

Heres my couple of suggestions:

Check out the Meridian G08 (don't think that plays SACD though)
Conrad Johnson UDP-1
The current ModWright Sony player with tubed output stage
Rega Saturn (No SACD)

[rollo]

I am looking to buy a good but "reasonably priced"? SACD/CD player up to A$4000 and have the chance to obtain a Sony XA9000ES however when I researched this on the web the only thing I can find is that it was discontinued about 2-3 years ago. No one at Sony can tell me much about it. It did have a very good review by Audiophile mag back in 2003. This unit is supposedly new and in the original boxing. Does anyone have any data or info on this unit, is it any good or was it discontinued because of problems?
 
 
 

 

   Being discontinued should tell you something. If however you can purchase for half price or less and have it modified with a tube output your in like Flynn.

 rollo

[nimbus240]

Are there any circuits for the valve mods to the XA9000ES as I used to be an electronics engineer so bits of wire and things are no problem to me. Why would you want to mod this particular unit?? is the decoding that good? as indicated by audiophile,

[alotaklipsch]

Why not ALL formats, DVD-A, HDCD, SACD, Redbook.  I would look at Denon 3910, modded by either, APL, Modwright, Exemplar, Allen Wright.  All will give much better sound, and bang for buck.  Buy it pre-owned and they will retain value.  I have owned more than 50 digital sources, from 500-40000, and by far, the best is, and were the modded players.  You may even walk away with A new CD collection for the difference between the 4k, and whatcha pay.

BTW, DVD-A is quite amazing, as well as HDCD, but, the best surprise, will be how great the redbook sounds

[TONEPUB]

I had a ModWright Denon 3910 for a very long time and it was fantastic.
They are about 3500 direct from Dan and they do play everything, which
is nice.  Dan Wright is one of the nicest guys in the business too!

[lifewithmusic]

Tonepub -- What did you replace your Modwright Denon 3910 with, and how is it better than the modded 3901?  Many thanks for your feed back.  I'm considering that exact Modwright unit.

[TONEPUB]

I just became the happy owner of a Meridian 808, which was a pretty
big step up, however it will only play CD and DVD-a...

For the price, you can't beat Dan's player, its very good!
I had mine for about two years, no problems at all.

I have owned a number of ModWright products and have
had excellent results with every one.  My newest reviewer
just purchased a new 9.0SWL signature preamp and he
loves it!

We have their new phono preamp in for review and
so far so good!

You can definitely purchase a ModWright product with
confidence!

Tell Dan I sent you!