Sony SCD XA5400ES SACD/CD Player

Will it still play hybrid SACDs too or only single layer discs?

 

It will play all SACDs just fine, single layer or hybrid, but it will only play standard CDs about 10% of the time on start up.

 

Bill, I wrote that article in the middle of my frustration with Sony Corporation.

 

Let me get this straight....so Sony won’t repair it but if you decide to take it to another repair shop you could get it fixed, right?...or no matter what there are no spare parts available?

 

The ability to secure certain parts for their flagship player and all of their other CD and SACD players is "almost" nonexistent, laser assemblies, and other critical parts, ruby bearings, many things are just no longer available at all. Even Classe's flagship player used Sony optics and they were sourcing their parts from China and found that their repairs were not holding up so they were no longer able to repair their players either, just terribly frustrating. There are a few top notch repair people that will tackle looking at my player, but I would have to expect to receive bad news from them as well or a bill over $1,000.00, so I'm just stuck with a player that cannot be reasonably repaired, as Sony does abandon their customers. I just purchased a Sony Blu ray player, but I only paid about $150.00 for it, anymore than that would be very risky. IMO people should buy Sony with the expectation of simply throwing it away when it fails. If you look at all the complaints about Sony's service facility in Laredo Texas, their only electronics repair facility, you will be blow away, it's a circus.

 

The SCD-1 is 20 years old next year, and has been out of production for many years. How long is a company expected to try to source parts that are no longer being manufactured?

 

Yep

 

That’s a good point, but I guess Litejazz53’s point was Sony’s lack of support and/or parts for those products that are 7 years old which in this case it's the 5400’s case.

 

I've heard of no mechanical issues with the 5400 platform. It's not like this player was first released yesterday, it's been on the market now going on for ten years. There is also a fairly healthy mod scene for it, even today. Yes, Sony made a decision sometime in the 2000s to stop supporting older hardware. But the XA-5400 line has been really reliable in comparison to Sony's first batch of premium SACD players. I have literally thousands and thousands of hours on my first unit without a hitch.

 

Black Elk's point goes right to what I mentioned in a previous post. The SCD-1 was introduced in 1999, however, I bought mine when it was into production for several years, but that Sony "cut off" time starts the day a product hits the market. Many people probably bought the 5400 when Sony was not even servicing it any longer. Most people just do not think about having a product fixed and how available is service and parts on a product, especially one costing thousands of dollars. Mine saw little use, it was not a case of me wearing it out, it just plain failed with very, very low hours. People that come to Sony's rescue with statements like, how long do you expect to receive service on a product, and I think we just need to restructure that question to say, if YOU paid $5,000.00 for Sony's Flagship SACD player, how long would you expect to be able to get that product repaired? Would seven years be completely satisfactory with you? or would you expect a bit more out of Sony? My SCD-1 has been on the junk list since 2006, and at that time, I had not owned it but for a short period of time. My point here is just to let people know they can expect everything the hen lays BUT the egg when it comes to Sony and their repair facility in Laredo Texas, I'm just a voice in the wilderness, take heed.

 

Yep. Linn did the same for some of theirs (the first Linn Mimik in my case, though they supported the mk II model at the time back in 2007).

Quad, I think, are the exception to most in that they'll still service their older product range, going back to the Quad II amps, etc.

 

I believe Linn tried to support their CD players for 10 years, and had to discontinue a model, buy up all the available spares they could, to achieve this.

Some suppliers are notoriously unreliable, and some rather important items are discontinued without warning.

One of the reasons Linn stopped making the Klimax CD12, was to buy up all the stock of the laser assembly for spares. They could have kept building and selling, the demand was there: but so is the moral obligation to existing customers.

A number of manufacturers try and support their products long after the legal obligation is gone. Yes, Quad are excellent at this.

 

I think at the price Linn had a moral obligation. Yet they fail to support other models including Linn Axis after it ceased production. I know this relies on some foresight in keeping spares. Rega keep 2 spare transports for every Isis CD player they have made. If you pay a premium price you are entitled to expect a premium service. BTW if you have a product under 7 years old that is unserviceable you are probably entitled to compensation and possibly a full refund under current UK legislation.

 

Surely manufacturers have a moral obligation regardless of price?

I'm not sure when Linn discontinued support for the Axis. It had been discontinued, but was still supported whilst I was in retail.

15 years later, my brother's Axis board failed, and you are correct, Linn didn't service them, but they did supply a circuit diagram, and I got the board fixed. It still performs perfectly.

With current UK regulations, the Valhalla, internal Hercules and Axis power supplies do not comply. Interestingly, Linn, or any other manufacturer of complete turntables, cannot legally fit an Axis, Valhalla / Hercules style power supply inside, or even use aftermarket plinths without metal reinforcement in the joints, but third party manufacturers can legally supply them.

I have no idea if Rega still suport the 1997 Rega Planet CD player.

I work in manufacturing now, and I've experienced, how a single discontinued 'o' ring, can massively affect performance. Ten years later, the alternative is still not as good as the original part.

 

Cesar,

Glad to hear you have the 5400 back in your system! The best part it's the one you originally owned. Enjoy !

 

That's a failure mode that I never encountered with this player back when I was modifying these. It was always the SACD playing capability which I saw fail. So I got pretty good at repairing these back when spare parts were still available.

FWIW: I have a dead SCD-1 too. And I have no idea what to do with it. But I can't just throw it away. In my case, the laser didn't die, it was the spindle bearing that failed. The thing is that I actually had the foresight to buy a spare laser, and to acquire some motors and gears to address the sled failure modes. But I was cash strapped at the time, and didn't buy that spare spindle assembly when these were available because they were expensive. Had I known that the supply would suddenly dry up overnight the way that it did though, I certainly would have purchased a spare spindle assembly anyways.

As a result, I have a brand new laser sitting in a box waiting for my SCD-1, but I'm unwilling to sell it because I'm still hoping that I can manage to find a way to fix the spindle bearing.

 

I learned my lesson about Sony products after purchasing the first Discman cd player. None since other than a $20 clock radio.

 

Never been a Sony fan but my Sony computer ran flawlessly until I retired it not beacuse it failed but because it was too slow.
BDPS550 Bluray has also been run perfectly since new (2007?)
Having said that I’d be mighty pissed if I’d had an SCD1 die prematurely with no possibility of repair

 

We are absolutely thinking alike! I too keep thinking, possibly one day I will be able to find out what is wrong with my player and it will be repaired, it is a stunning player to look at!

 

You guys are completely off topic here.
litejazz53 I feel for you I truly do! Losing such a magnificent and expensive player has got to hurt! And the lack of service adds so much insult on top of the injury! But enough is enough. Time to move on man! You've posted this story a COUNTLESS number of times on the internet. Just typing in the word "Sony" into google and there you are at countless different forums recounting your tale...

Sorry to be such a buzzkill but I thought it was fair.

Anyhow just the other day I scored a completely new and unopened Sony SCD-XA5400es for $950 shipped! Boy am I happy with this bugger. It really has made the promise of digital come true (ya know the "Perfect sound forever" marketing ********) No doubt there are other great players out there but this one definitely has that special sauce.

My girlfriend was so upset when she saw I bought yet another black box. Then she heard it! lol it's that good. It'll make a happy wife out of an angry wife! Hah hah

 

She will be more upset when it fails and no possibility of repair. You are in effect in the same position as an SCD 1 owner though in for less money and a less desirable machine. Of course it may go on for years if you luck out.

 

If it is indeed NOS, then I wouldn't be too concerned yet. Not all models of Sony players are unreliable, just way too many of their best-sounding models have been. And the 5400 does not have the bad rep for reliability that so many other players have.

And I would not say that it is less desirable than is the SCD-1. All of the reports that I have read have claimed that these sound better than do the stock SCD-1s.

FWIW: I have an SCD-C333ES which, while despite the fact that was their BOTL SACD player in 2002, it has outlasted both my SCD-1 and several DVP-S9000ES players that I have had. So the 54oo might still have a lot of years on it. But if I were an 5400 owner, I'd be sourcing a replacement laser yesterday, just in case...

 

But you cannot compare an old tube/valve amp design from the 50s/60s to a modern product based on integrated circuits. You can still source the discrete components needed to repair a simple amp design. In many other product sectors time has not been kind, technologies come and go, parts and assemblies go out of production (remember, many products are not comprised entirely of parts made in-house!). The more complex and integrated a product is, the less likely you will see long term product support (just think about PCs, and how rapidly they change).

 

Totally get that BE, and sales figures for consumer electronics outstrip niche hifi from fifty years ago, so the handful of people needing a pair of Quad amps or speakers serviced aren't in the same league as the numbers needing fixes or advice or other support for their ageing gear.

 

That is a killer deal for a new old stock XA-5400. It takes a lot to make me jealous but you've earned my envy. You can charm her with its silky DSD seduction.