Nothing Like It Again, Ever! Sony CDP-X7 ESD

Sony CDP-X7 ESD, what a mouthful..... Marantz marketing team is much smarter in terms of  product names.

Here we have a 2nd generation of Sony flagship X7 ES series CD players, launched without much fan fare in 1988. I am not sure of the logic behind the number 7 as flagship naming scheme for Japanese hifi manufacturers, but Sony, and my very own former Marantz CD7 is proof in point. All of Sony's flagship disc players leading up to year 2000, or Y2K Sony SCD1 SACD player, had the familiar X7 ES in various guises for nomenclature as name sake.

In 1988 Sony launched the limited edition of CDP-R1 & DAS-R1, a state of the art 2 box transport & DAC combo to an astonished world. Then towards the later part of the year, when the 2 box flagship combo was at the end of it's run, the CDP-X7ESD came about quietly, with a launch pricing of USD2500 per unit. Sony applied all their digital knowledge from the 2 box flagship in a simplified form, single box solution. Then added a twist in the form of a pair of coupling transformer output for the XLR analog signal, just like some traditional MC phono stage output design! Truly inspiring Sony........
 
     

The internal build quality is first rate, this was the time Sony believed in making things last a life time, and giving their best! Just a few years later, with the demise of Akio Morita, founder of Sony, the bean counters ran wild & took control of the company and Sony's fortunes headed south, slowly but surely.

On the technical side, this CDP came with then flagship KSS-190A CD mechanism and BU-1D laser tracking head combo, which are now extremely hard to find, and worth it's weight in gold if you do find one for sale! On the DAC side, a pair of 18 bit Burr Brown PCM53 is used in balance, dual mono configuration, with 8 times oversampling filter giving a claimed 45 bit resolution(honestly, I am not sure how the math works). The balanced XLR output is very special and rare among CD players, and I believe it was never repeated in any other designs, Sony or otherwise. The RCA output was of normal FET circuit design. So to hear this Sony at it's best sound performance, use the XLR output with balanced cables to pre amp is mandated. I know & read many reviews or audiophiles commenting about this player's performance without checking out the XLR output, which would've entirely mis-represent what this Sony is all about, sound wise........

The Sony KSS-190A CD transport, built in the same mold as Philips CD Pro transport.

The KSS-190A, when stripped off it's metal casing reveals that it's even better built than the Philip CD Pro, with thicker tracking alignment rails, encased laser read head, and heavier built CD puck.

The build quality is a reflection of the WWII era Japanese Naval architect philosophy in line with Yamato class battleship standards! Double layer and in some cases triple layers copper chassis with beam & frame design for maximum rigidity was employed, resulting in it's 18kgs of heft. The off centered CD transport is something that later X7 series designs will gradually be moved to centralized position within the chassis. On the left side is 2 potted power supply tranny for analog & digital requirements. Lots of over sized reservoir capacitors post rectifier stage for storage capacity. The capacitors are all dampened for sound tuning. I tried removing and putting on the dampening hard rubber rings again a few times, and the CD player does sound somewhat different with or without them. Those damn things do work, for better or worst!

On the right side of the CD transport is where all the DAC and analog output circuit resides, including those coupling output transformers mentioned earlier for the XLR signal. Talking about the CD transport, how many CD players have acoustically sealed(a rubber band around the chassis opening for the tray dampens the CD tray from vibrations of any kind) die cast metal CD tray sliding in & out? Ahem......

Even the 4 footers at the bottom of the chassis are the real McCoy, made from potted high density ceramic, and each feet does weight a few hundred grams on it's own! None of those nasty empty plastic jobs here. For this model, Sony left nothing to chance, no technical stone un-turned! If there was a better way of doing things, Sony had already applied it here.

While being the technical tour de-force, 30 odd years or so later, I am somewhat surprised about the collectors reception to this CD player, comparing it's present sale value against it peers in the CD player collect able markets. I feel the Sony marketing department is the weakling here, compared to the more international looking Marantz marketing team. Even Philips LHH series CD players fared better in terms of used collectors value. However, for those who are keen to explore Sony's golden era, here is an opportunity at a low entry price of about USD1000 a pop. Worth every penny and I believe it's value proposition can only improve with years, provided if it's still a mint working unit!

The high density ceramic feet! No plastic con jobs here either.

At the time, circa 2018 in my search for a vintage Japanese flagship Denon CD player, this one somehow landed on my lap through a long lost contact. It was in well kept condition, considering it's 29 year constant usage. The top plate & remote looked well worn, but those are minor issues as they can be fixed or restored.Yes, restoration was my game plan the moment I laid eyes on this pretty boy!

The worst part, YES, there is always a worst part! All part & parcel of playing with classics, be it hifi or automotive, always needs some kind of blood, sweat & tears effort, or elbow grease as they say, to make things right. The KSS-190A transport was in it's last legs of service life. Since Sony no longer produces CD players, they have stopped all CD transport production and closed the factory! It would be near impossible to source for a working unit. That was the numero uno hurdle to this restoration project, that I've now decided to under take!

Ah..... no pain, no gain as they say, and my wonderful journey with this Sony CDP-X7 ESD begins!

Stay tuned...........