Thread: Sony SCD-CE595

Posts: 9

Post by crazyhayashi December 10, 2004 (1 of 9)
I'm thinking about getting this player because I wanted to get a Pioneer 563a but they replaced it with a crappier new model, but I don't want to loose DVD-Audio playback. There's also the Samsung upconverting universal player, but it's too expensive, considering I'm only 15. Should I get the Sony, cave in and get the new Pioneer player(or find backstock of the old one) or get the Samsung? I probably won't get any more money until spring and at latest, summer, unless I get lucky and my grandmother sends me more. And I can't get that much money straight-up, I can only have someone buy me it for Christmas, and I can only ask for so much(I believe the most ever spent was 200+/-,but that is changing).

Post by soundboy December 10, 2004 (2 of 9)
I have been using a Sony SCD-CE595 in my headphone system for the past 4 months and it has performed beautifully. The SACD playback quality is excellent and I would think you will have to spend much more before you will encounter a better player.

Post by recordhunter December 10, 2004 (3 of 9)
I have the Sony CE595 and love it. It's my introduction to SACD, and I'm able to perceive enough of a difference between SACD and regular CD to know that I like SACD more than either CD or LP.

I always liked the *idea* of CD: it's convenient, playing doesn't degrade it, no ticks & pops (esp. important for me in classical), but the sound of most CDs leaves me feeling uninvolved with the music.

SACD combines the things I like about LP and CD. It makes music feel like so much more of a live thing. After six weeks, I feel SACD is my favorite way of listening to music. The only limitation is in selection. Because of the DVD-A/SACD split, there are no SACDs from Warner/Reprise (Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Fleetwood Mac, Warren Zevon).

Post by jtbell December 11, 2004 (4 of 9)
I've had the SCD-CD595 since mid August. The tray on my 15-year-old Sony CD player had become balky, and I saw some SACD's that I wanted to buy at about the same time, so this player was a logical choice for a replacement. So far I've been very pleased with it. There are three small things that I don't like about it:

(1) It makes some rather loud clunking noises when changing from one disc to another. I don't know if this is common with carousel-type changers; this is my first one.

(2) Programming a sequence of tracks is awkward compared to my old player. You have to press one button repeatedly to step forward through the sequence of tracks, then press another button for each track that you want to program. The two buttons are kind of far apart, so my thumb gets a real workout.

(3) Finally, you can't turn the power on/off with the remote. You have to get up and walk over to the player. But my old player was like that, too, so I haven't lost anything there.

Post by recordhunter December 11, 2004 (5 of 9)
jtbell said:

I've had the SCD-CD595 since mid August. There are three small things that I don't like about it:

(3) Finally, you can't turn the power on/off with the remote. You have to get up and walk over to the player.

I leave my amp and SACD player on all the time.

Post by seth December 11, 2004 (6 of 9)
crazyhayashi said:

I'm thinking about getting this player because I wanted to get a Pioneer 563a but they replaced it with a crappier new model, but I don't want to loose DVD-Audio playback. There's also the Samsung upconverting universal player, but it's too expensive, considering I'm only 15. Should I get the Sony, cave in and get the new Pioneer player(or find backstock of the old one) or get the Samsung? I probably won't get any more money until spring and at latest, summer, unless I get lucky and my grandmother sends me more. And I can't get that much money straight-up, I can only have someone buy me it for Christmas, and I can only ask for so much(I believe the most ever spent was 200+/-,but that is changing).

I've been using this player in my college 2 channel setup since September. Overall, excellent bang for your buck.

Pros:

Excellent SACD and CD playback. Anybody can hear the difference of SACD in a side-by-side comparison. In comparisons to similarly priced CD players (single disc $150-$250 units) I can hear no difference.

Cons:

Junky remote.

The unit is slow. Including the time it takes to change and then read a disc, it takes about 15 seconds before you can play a new disc.

Fast-forward is iffy with SACDs. Not only is it slow, but it doesn't really play the music faster, but just jumps a few seconds, making it hard to seek to a point in a track.

The turn nob for changing tracks on the unit is just stupid.

No dedicated analog out.

-------------

I wish Sony had made this a single unit player, and used the saved money to make a few improvements. Oh well.

Post by recordhunter December 11, 2004 (7 of 9)
seth said:

I wish Sony had made this a single unit player, and used the saved money to make a few improvements. Oh well.

Before I bought the unit, I would have agreed with you. I'd never owned a carousel CD player before. Surprisingly, I enjoy this aspect of it much more than I would have anticipated. I find I like to play three discs at a time (my attention span doesn't go as far as five discs). Also, it's nice to be able to not get up and change discs while listening to Mahler or an opera. I would never have known this if there had been a Sony single-disc SACD-only player available. Finally, I think it is so cool the way the dial lights up and tells me what disc I'm listening to.

Post by crazyhayashi December 12, 2004 (8 of 9)
The clunking noise is present on most changers, I know because I have an older model Sony CD changer that does it. I think I will go with the CE595. I don't really care for DVD-Audio that much, it would just be nice to have it there, to have the option to use it. I put priority on SACD over DVD-A and CD. It's closer to the original recordings, and DSD is more natural sounding than PCM. Up until today I had 3 DVD-A (Linkin Park,Metallica,Simple Plan) and no SACD except for my guardian's 3 Doors Down SACD that I lead him into buying so I could make use of it when I got a player. I just purchased (early Christmas present, actually):

The Police: Every Breath You Take
Incubus: A Crow Left of the Murder
Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon
Peter Gabriel: Up

They're all great. Thanks guys.

Post by CCarncross January 15, 2005 (9 of 9)
crazyhayashi said:

I'm thinking about getting this player because I wanted to get a Pioneer 563a but they replaced it with a crappier new model, but I don't want to loose DVD-Audio playback. There's also the Samsung upconverting universal player, but it's too expensive, considering I'm only 15. Should I get the Sony, cave in and get the new Pioneer player(or find backstock of the old one) or get the Samsung? I probably won't get any more money until spring and at latest, summer, unless I get lucky and my grandmother sends me more. And I can't get that much money straight-up, I can only have someone buy me it for Christmas, and I can only ask for so much(I believe the most ever spent was 200+/-,but that is changing).

I bought a 563A at a CC in NE Ohio 12-29-2004. Call around if thats what you really want, I also wanted the 563 over getting a 578 due to the better handling of SACD(the whole DSD--PCM issue)

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