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Sony ES

I've had a few bits of Sony ES kit, some notable items:


Sony ES System
by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

Sony DVP-S9000ES

My favourite CD player, its OK as a DVD player (Pre HDMI) and still looks OK but it really shines with CD replay. Lovely build, copper chassis, R-Core transformer, super smooth CD tray etc. It sound great, only real downsides it won't play CDRs (if thats a thing) and its flipping huge, check your rack to see if it fits!
I prefer this over the Rega Apollo, Apollo-R, Saturn, Quad 99-2, Toshiba SD-9500e, Philips CD-850 and a Teac VRDS-10SE.

Sony TA-F770ES

Real beast of an amp, pretty much all the features and power you could ever need. Superb build, massive power supply, great MM/MC phonostage too. As above, its pretty big (not quite the size of the Denon PMA-2500NE I had) and due to their age, they may need some internal work now. I've had two in the past 10-years, only issue I had was some crackle on some of the pots which was sorted with some switch cleaner.

Sony TA-F670ES

Much the same as the 770ES above but a little smaller and less powerful. Usually a lot cheaper than the above model too.


Sony DVP S9000ES
by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

Sony TA-F3000ES

Great 'little' amplifier, although bigger than it looks due to the depth, not hugely powerful but with easy to drive speakers, works a dream. Build is good, not quite up there with the 770ES but better than most.


System
by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
 
Some more thoughts..

One of the major pitfalls of buying a vintage CD player is that replacement lasers are often unavailable, so when the laser finally weakens to the point of uselessness, you can end up being left with nothing better than a large heavy ornament on your rack.

The best Sony laser mechs worked on linear motor system, where the whole laser head moves back and forth on a linear motor/magnetic sled. These lasers have lightening fast track selection and they read CDR discs well too, which isn't always the case for older laser mechs. The Philips CDM 0 for example has superb mechanical build quality but tends to struggle with CDR discs. IMHO the best Sony mechs are every bit as good as the best swingarm Philips mechs.

The days of high quality laser mechs are long gone and high end vintage CD players were blessed with laser mechs that are far far better quality than you can get on modern machines. Yes that's right; the shocking truth is that even very expensive modern CD players use cheap nasty plastic laser mechs that are practically 'disposable' standard in their build quality.

On the laser front, keep an eye out for suitable donor machines (various models shared the same laser mechs). I have sourced two donor machines for the laser in the 707. £100 or so each.

Now I must seek out a 555ESD
 
OK, OK Mike enough already, just give me some recommendations!

Alright, here is my quick summary of some of the vintage ES and non ES players that I've owned or worked on:

Sony CDP-555esd - My all-time favourite one-box CD player. Amazing build quality and superb sound quality. TDA1541 DAC. Superb BU-1E laser mech (which is cross compatible with the BU-1C, meaning sensible priced 'donor' players can be picked up).

Sony CDP-557esd - I think this is my favourite of the Burr Brown DAC based Sony player but I haven't been able to hear one alongside an X7esd. Superb (but unobtanium) KSS-190a laser mech. Twin PCM64 DAC chips. Amazing build quality.

Sony CDP-X7esd - Possibly the high high water mark for CD quality! Superb but unobtanium KSS-190a laser mech. Twin PCM58 DAC chips. Excellent powerful sound.

Sony CDP-337esd - Excellent build quality but not quite up to the standard of the above TOTL players. Twin TDA1541 DAC chips. Sound quality is right up there with the best. Superb but unobtanium KSS-190a laser mech.

Sony CDP-338esd - Poor man's X7esd. Similar build quality to 337esd. Twin PCM58 DAC chips. Very good KSS-151a laser mech (now available at around £200). Very good sound quality.

CDP-333esd - Very good solid build quality. BU-1E laser mech. TDA1541 DAC. Needs some upgrades to release all of the magic.

Sony CDP-228esd - Lower spec little brother of the 338.

Sony - 227esd - Very good KSS-151a laser mech and lovely implementation of twin TDA1541A R1 DAC chips. Cheap feeling plastic chassis. Very good sound quality but needs upgrades to make it really shine (in particular the lower spec R1 chips need to be upgraded).

Sony CDP-222esd - Similar to the 227 but with a single TDA1541 DAC chip. Lovely implementation. Very good KSS-151a laser mech. Cheap feeling plastic chassis.

Sony CDP-710 - This is the same player as the 222esd but fitted with a cheaper KSS-150a laser mech (not a linear motor type). For some reason Sony never gave the 710 an ES badge, as because of they they often get overlooked and can be picked up at bargain prices. The laser is cheap and readily available. With upgrades the sound quality can be made to be comparable to the TOTL ES players.

Sony CDP-552esd - Excellent build quality. BU-1 laser mech. Sony CX20152 DAC. Digital output (unusual for a player this old).

Sony CDP-502esd - Little brother of the 552. No digital output.

Sony CDP-552esd II - As 552 but with Burr Brown PCM53 DAC chips.

Sony CDP-303es - Very good solid build quality. BU-1C laser mech. Sony CX20152 DAC.

Sony CDP-103 - Basically the same player as the 303 but in a midi-sized chassis.

CDP-750 - Cheap but very cheerful TDA1541 based player. Sound quality is better than it should be!

CDP-M75 - Midi sized version of CDP750

CDP-950 - Slightly better than CDP750

CDP-910 - Budget relative of the 228esd

I've got to go again....
Mike, I really appreciate the time taken to write these replies, and they’re incredibly useful. The search begins....
 
I've had a few bits of Sony ES kit, some notable items:


Sony ES System
by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

Sony DVP-S9000ES

My favourite CD player, its OK as a DVD player (Pre HDMI) and still looks OK but it really shines with CD replay. Lovely build, copper chassis, R-Core transformer, super smooth CD tray etc. It sound great, only real downsides it won't play CDRs (if thats a thing) and its flipping huge, check your rack to see if it fits!
I prefer this over the Rega Apollo, Apollo-R, Saturn, Quad 99-2, Toshiba SD-9500e, Philips CD-850 and a Teac VRDS-10SE.

Sony TA-F770ES

Real beast of an amp, pretty much all the features and power you could ever need. Superb build, massive power supply, great MM/MC phonostage too. As above, its pretty big (not quite the size of the Denon PMA-2500NE I had) and due to their age, they may need some internal work now. I've had two in the past 10-years, only issue I had was some crackle on some of the pots which was sorted with some switch cleaner.

Sony TA-F670ES

Much the same as the 770ES above but a little smaller and less powerful. Usually a lot cheaper than the above model too.


Sony DVP S9000ES
by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

Sony TA-F3000ES

Great 'little' amplifier, although bigger than it looks due to the depth, not hugely powerful but with easy to drive speakers, works a dream. Build is good, not quite up there with the 770ES but better than most.


System
by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
I’m curious now about the relative build quality you mention. I have a TA-F3000ES and it is all metal (case, knobs, faceplate), and the controls are very solid. So I’m wondering how the 770 is better? I’ve never seen one in person but I’m wondering if you mean fit and finish (e.g. wood cheeks, looks), layout and design, or if you think the actual build quality is much different? I also think the shoebox amp has a very tidy and simple layout inside compared to a lot of other Japanese amps of the era.
 
OK, OK Mike enough already, just give me some recommendations!
Sony CDP-555esd - My all-time favourite one-box CD player. Amazing build quality and superb sound quality. TDA1541 DAC. Superb BU-1E laser mech (which is cross compatible with the BU-1C, meaning sensible priced 'donor' players can be picked up).

Do you mean this one: https://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-cdp-x555es-cd-player

Very bad review... I have owned one myself and thought it was a pretty decent player. But no match for the CDI that it was replaced...
 
I’m curious now about the relative build quality you mention. I have a TA-F3000ES and it is all metal (case, knobs, faceplate), and the controls are very solid. So I’m wondering how the 770 is better? I’ve never seen one in person but I’m wondering if you mean fit and finish (e.g. wood cheeks, looks), layout and design, or if you think the actual build quality is much different? I also think the shoebox amp has a very tidy and simple layout inside compared to a lot of other Japanese amps of the era.

The TA-F3000ES is very good on the build, just compared to the 770ES, its not quite as good. The buttons on the latter are superb, really nice relay clicks, lovely volume knob, really solid panels etc.
Neither of my 770ES I had came with wooden side cheeks, and FWIW I thought the 3000ES 'looked' better, certainly a nice match with the S9000ES. Its just my experience having owned the two.
 
I’ve got a Rega Apollo in our sitting room system which is a very good, organic sounding player. Can be a bit fruity in the midrange and it isn’t the most three dimensional sounding player, but it gets right to the heart and emotion of the music. Would be interested to put it head to head against an old school champion.
 
OK, the baby is asleep (for now), so I'm going to write as much as I can until she wakes up.

First of all, IMHO the 'golden era' for Sony ES players was the mid-late 80's up to the early 90's. That's largely based on build quality observations but also my personal preference is for the older multi-bit DAC chips, which I tend to prefer. After the early 80's the mechanical build quality tailed off a bit, especially that of the laser mechs.

Sony ES CD players from the era that I'm interested in can be roughly divided into three groups:

1) Philips TDA1541 based players
2) Burr Brown DAC chip based players
3) Sony DAC chip based players

The above is also my (approximate) personal order of preference as far as the DAC chips go but the DAC chip is just one facet of what makes a CD player good/bad and I'd much rather have a top of the range player with a Sony DAC than the cheapest player with a TDA1541 DAC. Implementation is at least as important as the DAC chip.

Sony made/make everything from cheap and nasty junk right up to stuff that is just incredible quality that can put even the most exotic kit to shame. The best analogy I can think of is in the car industry were Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG) own Skoda, Seat, VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti. Now try and imagine that ALL of the cars that VAG make were all branded Volkswagen and you get some idea of the variance in the quality of Sony kit! ES stands for Elevated Standard and roughly divides the Sony range into two parts. Imagine VAG only had the VW and Audi brands to cover their full range and you get the idea.

The Sony model numbering system is totally baffling and sometimes I think they just used a random number generator but approximately speaking a higher number within the ES series indicates a superior model and/or a later model. So, for example the 337 is superior to, and came out after, the 333 and the successor to the 337 was the 338. It's is however important to appreciate that newer certainly doesn't always mean better and there are a lot of cases in which the earlier model is superior! The 2xx range is roughly lower in hierarchy than the 3xx range, which is lower than the 5xx range and the 7xx range are top models. However, there are many anomalies and 'gotchas'. For example the 555esd and 557esd are some of the very best ever despite not being in the 7xx range.

Non ES models do not equate! For example, a CDP-597 is worlds away in quality from an ES CDP-557ESD model.

I've got to go now. More later.....

Sorry to be a complete bore but VAG doesn’t stand for Volkswagen Audi Group, it stands for Volkswagen AG, “AG” being the German version of “limited company” (I think).

Great advice otherwise, though. I’m a big Sony ES fan. My stuff isn’t the real high end but I have a 530ES amp and X303ES CD player in my office system, both of which sound absolutely superb with build quality to match.

I have a 228ES CD player (with wood sides :) ) in my main system which I love too.
 
I've had a few bits of Sony ES kit, some notable items:


Sony ES System
by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

Sony DVP-S9000ES

My favourite CD player, its OK as a DVD player (Pre HDMI) and still looks OK but it really shines with CD replay. Lovely build, copper chassis, R-Core transformer, super smooth CD tray etc. It sound great, only real downsides it won't play CDRs (if thats a thing) and its flipping huge, check your rack to see if it fits!
I prefer this over the Rega Apollo, Apollo-R, Saturn, Quad 99-2, Toshiba SD-9500e, Philips CD-850 and a Teac VRDS-10SE.

Sony TA-F770ES

Real beast of an amp, pretty much all the features and power you could ever need. Superb build, massive power supply, great MM/MC phonostage too. As above, its pretty big (not quite the size of the Denon PMA-2500NE I had) and due to their age, they may need some internal work now. I've had two in the past 10-years, only issue I had was some crackle on some of the pots which was sorted with some switch cleaner.

Sony TA-F670ES

Much the same as the 770ES above but a little smaller and less powerful. Usually a lot cheaper than the above model too.


Sony DVP S9000ES
by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

Sony TA-F3000ES

Great 'little' amplifier, although bigger than it looks due to the depth, not hugely powerful but with easy to drive speakers, works a dream. Build is good, not quite up there with the 770ES but better than most.


System
by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Can i ask .How does,or did your 670es sound.Have one here,and when i use it,i think to my self,does it sound as good when first new,or run in,or does it need a service.Mine seems to sound better when it,s been on a hour or so.Volume wise,seems to wake up only when past the 9 o clock on the dial.No crackles ,and a great sound.Not the detail of my Croft,but bags of power,and nice bass.
 
Well, after reading this thread, I found a CDP 555 ESD on eBay. Gone 20 minutes later. Clearly these things are still in demand. Went for £400. Wonder if anybody here picked it up.
 
Well, after reading this thread, I found a CDP 555 ESD on eBay. Gone 20 minutes later. Clearly these things are still in demand. Went for £400. Wonder if anybody here picked it up.
A very fair price for a nice tidy looking example.
 
Well, after reading this thread, I found a CDP 555 ESD on eBay. Gone 20 minutes later. Clearly these things are still in demand. Went for £400. Wonder if anybody here picked it up.

I did the same, but had no idea what it was worth.

Would have been interesting to compare it to my modded Arcam Alpha 5.
 


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