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Sony ES

TA-F3000ES:
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;)
 
hands up I have been oblivious to ES until now, clearly I suffered from the hype the industry peddled in not thinking Sony was a match for Naim, Rega etc even Rotel held more esteem.

shame on me this has been a pleasant education, to be fair at a much lesser extent the same applied with Rotel SE models the amps at least have different sound.
 
this thread is dangerous!

my overdraft just took a hit to get a CDP 337ESD

for the baby player it weighs a fair bit lol

that drawer and mechanism is sublime has to be said to quote an old phrase the don't make em like that anymore!

be interesting see how this compares to CD3 and tweaked Rotel 955
 
Thanks Mike for the detailed info. I have been thinking about buying a CD player lately with these Sony models at the top of my list broadly speaking but I have found the model-numbering to be bewildering and it's also difficult to find out which ones are built on unobtanium.

Now to keep my eye out and my budget budgeted.
 
Thank you. I will move that shelf up a notch.

You'll be pleased to hear your fine fettling has worked a treat, stunning build and sound quality from Sony in those ES days. You may notice the baby Q Acoustics, well at least one of them, and despite far from ideal positioning they make some rather nice noises. There's still room for one further component in the cabinet...
 
That looks absolutely stunning. I can imagine good synergy with the Q acoustics sound. Are the speakers coping ok with that much power or are they feeling "choked" at all ?
 
That looks absolutely stunning. I can imagine good synergy with the Q acoustics sound. Are the speakers coping ok with that much power or are they feeling "choked" at all ?

Whilst it is clear the baby Q Acoustics will have limitations given their size and of course their relative budget nature they are working surprisingly well. In fact they provide for a highly entertaining sound and do surprising detail Subject of course to the expected limitations. I wouldn't though seek to push them too hard. The quarter mark on the volume control is more than sufficient, and for their intended use ie music during dinner we don't have the sound turned up that much.
 
Incidentally, the pictures do not do justice to the quality of the workmanship which has gone into the cabinets.

I am inclined to commission Simon to build us another cabinet, albeit one that has nothing to do with music.
 
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,

A many of the CD players you list have SA equivalents. Do you have any experience of them, and are they any/as good?
 


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