For any Pirates still spinning CD’s, here’s something to consider. I first got wind of the Sony XA5400ES in the Stereophile October 2013 Recommended Components Edition. A $1500 CD player that rated A+ where other players in this category ranged up to $25K? This supposedly ranked above A rated players like the Resolution Audio Cantata and the Parasound Halo CD1 with SS memory. Okay, this was all assimilated with a huge grain of salt. For me though this is at worst would be a good back up player.

I initiated the Effin’ Transport thread a while back to explore disc and computer based transports. I love my CD’s, but wondered what computers could offer as well while learning about other CD transports.

So I took the plunge a few months ago and pitted my AGD CD7 and Master 7 against the Overdrive SE and the Linux based Parasound Halo CD1, which can be technically considered a memory player.


                                                  (Note how impressively small the Overdrive SE is)

Suffice it to say, they all are amazing sounding music systems. If I was going to do computer based audio, the Overdrive is hard to beat. I was initially under the impression though the OD would drive headphones because of the included adapter, but in reality that’s not true. Steve will tell you himself. The result was a general abnormal thinness with sharp bass roll-off.

In the end I didn’t feel like I was missing out by sending the demos back and keeping my AGD components.



Back to the Sony; a quick search last week and I discovered the ModWright Sony XA5400ES. Feedback on Audiogon and elsewhere was pretty favorable.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue60/modwright.htm

 I read the hype and bought into it, literally. I found a used Sony MW on HF of all places and took the plunge. I installed the recommended Sophia Electric output tubes. I’m still waiting on a NOS Mullard rectifier as well.




Comparing to the AGD chain, I preferred the MW Sony, but couldn't exactly say why I did during the first minute or so. After some listening it became apparent that the MWS was less harsh/more enjoyable (not that I ever thought that AGD was harsh), more detailed, and more dynamic. To sum it up, it was easier for me to be able to get lost in the music on the MWS. It became a little tedious to go through tracks on the AGD after getting used to listening the MWS.

So that my 2 cents. The AGD’s will be stored for now, but not going to be sold. I'm sure it would be improved with a better transport or maybe even an Empirical Audio Synchro-Mesh in between the transport and DAC. Also I don’t want to give the impression that I think the Sony MW is better than the OD and the Parasound because I didn’t directly compare them. The same can be said for the AGD-OD-Parasound comparison, because I didn’t do the due diligence to declare a winner if there was one.


                                      Other components: HE-500, AGD Master 6, PSI Audio A17M's, Primacoustic isolation stands