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REVIEW: Sony SCD-XB940QS CD Player/Recorder

Model:	SCD-XB940QS
Category:	CD Player/Recorder
Suggested Retail Price:	$1000
Description:	2 channel, single disc SACD/CD player
Manufacturer URL:	Sony
Model Picture:	View

Review by Joel_Waterman on November 28, 2001 at 12:49:05 IP Address: 212.198.0.93

Add Your Review for the SCD-XB940QS

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The following observations were written over a period of about a month. As always, they are my opinions, based on what I heard in my system and in my room. Hopefully this has some relevance for you. It's long, but I hope you enjoy the read.

The hardware
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The player in question is a Sony SCD-XB940 QS. QS stands for Quality Standard, positioned by Sony in between the entry level (Consumer Standard) and ES standard. It's a 2 channel player that is available in Europe and Asia. It does not play CDR's. My player is black - I think it's more 'chic' than the silver colored faceplate. It was introduced last year for around $1000, won a 2000 EISA award and I picked it up in Germany for $250 (see my earlier posts). A discount level I think I have multichannel to thank for :-) The disc tray is rather flimsy. In the beginning it opened/closed slowly, but over time that speeded up a bit with a smoother action. The aluminum (that is 'aluminium' for the Brits on this forum) chassis is reinforced and feels very rigid indeed. Overall impression is one of high build quality (strange that they did not manage to extend this to the disc tray). The manual is clearly written. If you're interested in this player, there is more info on the European Sony websites.

One strange thing I and others have noticed in the specs: Frequency Range 2Hz-100kHhz, whilst Frequency Response is quoted as being 2Hz-50kHz (-3dB). So, that begs the question whether there is some filtering going on? This has been discussed in this forum before and according to Inmate Greame, the Italian magazine Audio Review has published the frequency response graphs of the player and found that the XB940's frequency response equals that of the 777ES in "custom mode", so there is not any filtering at 50 kHz. This was also confirmed by the French magazine Prestige Audio Video in their September 2000 review of the 940.

Usability
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You don't exactly need a degree in 'audiogearology' to find your way around this player. It's a minimalist design, with most of the controls on the remote. Apart from the power on/off button, the player only has 4 buttons (play, stop, pause, open-close) and the Automatic Music Search knob. The latter is extremely handy and should be a fixture on every player in my opinion. It allows for superfast track location by just rotating the knob. The display is clear. The remote is fairly solid and well laid out. I wish it had an open/close button though. Around the back the RCA outs are of a good gold plated quality. Pity that they did not provide a detachable powercord. But apparently you can't have it all at this level. The player reads the TOC's of CD and SACD equally fast. It basically starts immediately after pressing play. The player runs barely warm. I have it on the top on my equipment rack so it's well ventilated, but even after those hundreds of hours of continuous play its only handwarm.

SACD
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I gave the player about 400 hours of burn-in. I listened at all 100 hour intervals. Playing it right out of the box I noticed some clicking noises - comparable to reading the index. These disappeared quickly and the player is now very quiet. As burn-in progressed, the differences were audible but not huge. The player opened up, translating in better soundstaging with more air. At around 300 hours the sound suddenly became more harsh. That later disappeared, but I experienced some continuing brightness with Toru Takemitsu's disc "How Slow The Wind'. Perhaps the recording, the player, perhaps the limitations of my other equipment, or still a burn-in issue or the room. Not sure. It did not disappear after the 400hr mark with this disc. On other discs I did not experience this.

A lot has been written about SACD and its sonic benefits. My reference is my pre-SACD system and when someone asks me to describe the improvements of SACD I would therefore say that until SACD sound arrived in my listening room I had never heard the following sonic artifacts, either 'as is' or at this level of clarity, spatial presentation and detail:

- The natural way notes decay into a clearly audible/visible acoustical space
- No digital listener fatigue
- Lots of air in the soundstage with clear instrument separation. A deeper soundstage too.
- Massed strings and orchestral movements were played with confidence (before SACD this was a system weakness)
- Speakers that 'disappeared', to the level that even looking at them did not identify the source of
the sound (and I am listening in the nearfield)
- The amount of detail that SACD can resolve is astonishing. There is just more of everything.

CD vs SACD
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I have many well recorded CD's and I can imagine people saying that 'redbook' can get close to SACD when 'done right'. But at which price point? CD players or CDP/DAC combo's that can achieve this are rare and very expensive. And I have read many times that even at that level the differences remain. This is a 750 dollar player (current retail price in France). I bought my SACD player for 250 dollars - arguably a huge discount! But the quality attainable at this price point is incredible. On SACD it easily surpassed my Harmon Kardon - MSB Full Nelson - P1000 PS - Monarchy DIP 24/96 Mk II combo. It also showed me how my system can perform with the right digital front end.

CDP/Transport
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Disclaimer: I did not burn-in the CD side as long as the SACD side. I clocked between 75-100 hrs. Out-of-the-box the CD player sounded a little dry. The soundstage was small. The sound was detailed and did not sound bad, but the MSB combo easily surpassed it with more authority and ease. The SACD burn-in positively affected CD sound, because when listening to CD at the 350 hour burn-in mark (for SACD) the soundstage had filled out. This is a respectable CDP I wrote in my notes. I did some comparisons listening to 'Where do you think you're going' from the remastered Dire Straits album 'Communique'. The CD player sounded reasonably good, but still a little dry. My reference combination sounded more natural, had more authority and heft, a larger soundstage and provided less digital sound. The details were again made clear by the fact that I could easily hear the guitar timbre in the intro, whilst this was masked through the somewhat dry sound when played on the Sony 'sans' external DAC. But I was quite amazed at the overall quality of the Sony as a CDP. I guess if you're not an audiophile you could easily live with this player as your one-box solution. As an aside, I think this is definitely a warning shot across the bow for MSB.

After this I used the Sony as a transport into the MSB/DIP. I noted a small improvement over the Harmon Kardon led combo. The combination of the 'dryer' Sony with the DIP/MSB proved to combine the best of both worlds. The DIP definitely provided the 'naturalness' of tone to this combo. I checked the same track running the Sony directly into the MSB and this confirmed the DIP's role as restorer of timbre if your will. I checked this entire process with some other tracks and it confirmed my earlier findings. The DIP improved the sound more, fed with the Harmon Kardon than it did with the Sony. Perhaps a question of better parts and lower jitter. It goes to show that the DIP's role is very system dependent. (Btw: after all this cable switching both the DIP and the MSB had to be reset, because at one point they simply refused to produce any sound. So I disconnected them both for a minute. After that, no worries. Sensitive stuff, digital gear.)

To complete this section I will let the CD side of the Sony burn-in some more, returning to this review after approx. the 75 hr mark. [So, 75 hours later] The extra burn-in did improve the Sony's soundstaging quite a lot. Much wider and deeper than before, with more air and bass. Let's do the 'sibilance test' and the 'double bass test' with two of Pat Barber's tracks on the Companion CD. I did this in my review of the Lavardin amplifier (see reviews) and it worked well. First the opening bass line on track 2: whilst the Sony presents a credible image it remains two dimensional. The HK/MSB/DIP in comparison is able to portray a much more real sounding double bass. The resonance of the strings is more natural and there is a presence, a body, that the Sony just cannot match. Track number 6 'A Touch Of Trash' is a veritable treble and sibilance test. On my system it does not sound great anyway. When played through the Sony I immediately grabbed the remote to turn the volume down. It's just far too metallic. Mind you, my reference system does not do that much better, but it's a little softer.

Lastly I thought it interesting to play Moussorgski's 'Night On Bald Maintain' from the excellent Telarc Hybrid disc. I first played the CD layer on the Sony, than the CD layer on the HK/MSB/DIP and I finished with the SACD layer on the Sony.

Doing this the following analogy came to mind: transport yourself to the concert hall. You're late and they have already started. You stand in the doorway seeing the orchestra play in the distance. You can see them, you can hear them but you're still very detached from the sound. It sounds OK, but it all seems a bit flat and far away. That's the CD layer on the Sony. Now you are entering the hall and you are walking towards the orchestra as they are playing. You're sort of mid way and you get a sense for the power and orchestral imaging. That's the HK/MSB/DIP. Finally you get to your seat on the 8th row and the music surrounds you. You just sit down. You hear the music, not the sound. And you hear this enormous sense of acoustical space. You're immersed. The way the notes decay, the shimmering of the timpani and the bell. Those last dying notes on 'The Great Gate of Kiev'. Incredible. That's SACD.

This concludes my observation of the 940. It's time for plan B.

Allen Wright (vacuumstate.com)
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Which leads me to my second phase, the Allen Wright modifications on the XB940. Allen says that the only better sounding CD player he has ever heard is "a local (Munich) insane special, using a transport optically coupled to a 24/96 DAC feeding a huge & complex (about 50kg) tube output stage." And in his system the modded 940 plays SACD to the level of a van den HUL EMT cartridge on vinyl ! "It now sounds better than the DM12,000 SCD-1!", according to an email conversation I had with him earlier. I will send the player to Allen next week. After I get the modified player back I'll let you know my opinion. I can hardly wait...

Jw

SACD Playlist:
* Pieter Wispelwey, Tchaikovsky/Saint-Saens/Bruch, on Channel Classics
* Toru Takemitsu, How Slow The Wind, on BIS
* SRV, Couldn't Stand The Weather, on Sony/Epic
* Majumdar/Cooder/Hassell, Hollow Bamboo, on Water Lily Acoustics
* Maazel/Cleveland Orchestra, Moussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition, on Telarc
* Tony Overwater, OP, on Turtle Records
* John Mclaughlin/Al di Meola/Pace de Lucia, Friday Night In San Francisco, on SME Records

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Product Weakness:	Given the price hardly any. Disc tray is flimsy.
Product Strengths:	Build quality, price/performance, lots of mods available, Automatic Music Sensor, reads CD/SACD TOC's equally fast

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	VRAA (see inmate systems)
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Rotel RC972
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Harmon Kardon/DIP/MSB
Speakers:	Audiopulse Model 94
Cables/Interconnects:	Hifi-Cables & Company
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	See review
Room Size (LxWxH):	x x
Room Comments/Treatments:	-
Time Period/Length of Audition:	Month
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Axson FPS500
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition):	See inmate systems

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