Sony SCD-XA333ES
SACD Player

Latest ES model is a luxury player at a middle-market price

Sony SCD-XA333ES

You don't have to be a marketing analyst with a subscription to the Financial Times to understand why SACD might win the format war. Clearly the SACD crew has delivered more hardware and (most importantly) in order of 20 times more software than DVD-A, according to the estimates of music venders I've canvassed. All of which makes the arrival of a high-end SACD player with a mid-range price point something worth considering.

Although DVD-A will never go away because it's a fait accompli for future DVD players at all price points, SACD has reached a stage where some very finicky audio gurus are prepared to admitting to 'prefer' it to CD and DVD-A, I'm even sniffing a change in attitude toward multi-channel. Am I telling you to buy a SACD player, then? No. But what I am trying to say is that, as with computers and pension schemes, now's as good a time as any. And the Sony SCD-XA333ES [at under half the price of the 777 reviewed last month] should be on all shopping lists which stretch to a low four figures.

Aside from the ludicrous mouthfull of a name (is Sony's marketing department full of ex-Akai and Aiwa personnel?), this multi-channel player in Sony's 'serious audiophile' ES range represents a level of maturity previously not found, at least not convincingly, in first or second generation players. Or whatever generation this represents.

Amusingly, the multi-channel aspect is still not over-riding in importance; it still seems as if two-channel SACDs still outnumber multi-channel discs. I have 30 or 40 wonderful stereo SACDs, from Keb' Mo to the Bangles to Dylan to a slew of Chad Kassem's blues titles. Conversely, I'm currently using the 333 in a multi-channel system (MartinLogan speakers and sub, Theta Intrepid amp, Lexicon MC-12), and the gains offered by surround are inescapably, inarguably worthwile... provided the material suits it.

But back to the player. It looks like and is build like a CD player bar one small rotary control and an extra smattering of tiny buttons, more of which anon. All you find on the back panel are coaxial and Toslink optical digital outputs for CD playback into an external processor, and two sets of gold plated analogue phone outputs: 5.1 channels' worth for SACD multi-channel and a stereo pair for two-channel.

Between the headphone outlet/headphone volume control (a proper 1/4 in socket!) and the main tray/display, are four buttons for choosing time readouts or text for discs with that data, a button to select the configuring menu, another to choose between multi-channel and 2ch, and a button to select SACD or CD (for hybrid discs).

At first, you will use the last-named control a lot, if only to convice yourself that you made the right decision. But I haven't yet found a disc wherein the CD layer betters the SACD one.

All controls are duplicated on the remote, so you can do it all from the hot seat; what you can't do a thing about is the need to stop the disc playing to change from SACD to CD layer or visa versa. It can't switch layers 'on the fly'.

A clear and informative fluorescent dot matrix display provides track and text info, a grid showing the numbers of the tracks and which are played or programmed, disc format and number of channels. To the right is the rotary control which scrolls through the menus.

Measuring 430x130x380mm (whd) and weighing a chunky 9.5kg, the 333 boasts rugged construction (a far cry from those nasty products made from folded metal barely more substantial than a Marklin tin-toy circa 1925), with a chassis is reinforced for extra rigidity, making it reminscent of the heftier Denon CD/DVD players and certain American heavyweights. As far as pride of ownership is concerned, the 333 delivers it in spades. Those who revel in the feel of controls will love the way the buttons operate on this most luxurious of players. Inside are a fixed pick-up transport mechanism, power supply with twin R-Core transformers and eight multilevel SACD DACs.

SACD requires analogue output of its multi-channel signal, to stymie piracy. Because of the need to address conditions which are outside of the bounds of digital processing, the 333 allows the user to adjust the multi-channel playback to suit the system, just as you find in A/V systems which encourage the user to feed in the size of the speakers, the presence or lack of a centre channel or subwoofer. Conditions which might require this are feeding the 333 into multi-channel processors with six analogue-channel inputs without bass-management, multi-channel pre-amps without processing or other situations where the bass management is missing. Of course, you can feed it straing in, sans adjustments, but this is a minefield which - while causing no damage - will drive pernickety listeners nuts.

Sorry, but to be perfectly frank, I ended up using the 333 with the same settings I use for DVD film playback, after messing around with my sub's crossover points, level and more to distraction. My advice? Set it and forget it or you'll make yourself miserable.

With a vengeance, the 333 showed itself to be not only a magnificent SACD player, but also a conventional CD player of greath worth. So let's get that out of the way first, given that you probably have a CD library which you aren't ready to ditch. With subtle, refined and aiy discs such as the Persuasions Sing The Beatles on Chesky, the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack, and Zounds' superb Best of Poco, the 333 displayed a finess on a par with my sub-$2000 reference, the Musical Fidelity X-RAY.

It sounded big and bold when asked to, dispatching Kodo drummers with ease, but I suppose that Sony's tweakers (the UK division has it hands and ears all over the 333) knew that the CD performance would have to be good. After all, a press of a button means instant comparisons with true surround sound. No way did they want it to fall down for CD, however badly they want SACD to grow.

Moving to SACD - even stereo rather than 5.1 - was revelatory. The latest discs from Telarc, Chesky and Analogue Productions are, by definition, audiophile discs, but close listening to both layers left me in no doubt that SACD playback was airier and more open, and it seemed to offer greater extension at both ends of the frequency range.

In both two and 5.1 channel forms, the sound spreads were more even, seamless and cohesive, creating palbably more convincing recreations of space. Lower registers, as well as offering greater depth, showed better control and - when relevant - more snap, as on the magnificent bass'n'drums opus, Telarc's Monty Alexander Meets Sly & Robbie. As my son put it: 'The first one [SACD] has better beat.' And he's an untained 11-year-old musician.

With only a few rivals out there - SACD players are still a minority pursuit - it's clear that this 1200 pound masterpiece has to face off with Philips' deservedly popular DVD1000. And that contains a very fine DVD video player. But the Sony SCD-XA333ES offers the most convincing argument I've heard yet for SACD in a context which applies more to audiophiles than do either 5000 pound-plus flagship machines, or sub 400 pound units with obvious compromises. If the existing SACD catalogue appeals to you, if you believe that SACD will continue to grow, and if you still want more from a digital source than CD can offer, borrow a 333 for the weekend. And don't expect to give it back.