Sony SCD-XA9000ES SACD Player - Page 9

Reading Tests

The Sony SCD-XA9000ES supports mainly SACD/CD playback. The *.cda files of an ordinary audioCD are recognized flawlessly, regardless of whether the disc is factory pressed or is a CD-R/RW. In addition, CD-Text is also supported.

We noticed no problems when we played 8cm CD-R/-RW (185MB). On the other hand, our 99min test CD-R reported low audio quality while playing the last track, the 25th. In the case of our 90min test CD, the SCD-XA9000ES managed to play the first 17 out of the 20 tracks. On the 18th track, playback froze while the device couldn't seek on the 19th and 20th tracks.

If you have any protected audio discs, you won't have any problems since the device can play them without problems. The discs we tested were "Natalie Impruglia - White Lilies island" protected with Macrovision' Key2Audio system, and "Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come" protected with Cactus Data Shield 200. Both titles were recognized and played flawlessly. After all, those protection schemes are designed to discourage PC users from copying them and as such are not playable on PCs only.

• Compressed Audio (data CD)

Although the specifications for this player don't mention MP3 playback, we decided to test it anyhow. None of the following compressed audio formats can be played with the player.

The Sony SCD-XA9000ES is a high-end device and caters to a small number of people who are willing to pay the relevant amount. It wouldn't be fair to compare it to another cheaper and simpler device and it is certainly several levels above normal SACD players. We played many SACDs and some standard CDs. In the case of 2CH for SACD, the sound quality was amazing while when we inserted a MCH SACD, we were left speechless. If you put a few players side by side, you can generally notice the difference at once. This was our first review of such a High-End SACD device and as such, we found the device to be the best SACD player we have heard. It is simply leagues ahead of ordinary devices.