| Sony SCD-C555ES SACD/CD Changer |
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| Friday, 01 November 2002 | |
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Introduction I
doubt Sony could have imagined the impact the invention of the Compact
Disc would have on their company and project partner Philips. For
nearly 20 years, the CD has been the absolute king of prerecorded music
in the marketplace, having decisively beaten the LP and the cassette
tape, then fending off new format threats from DAT, DCC and even Sony’s
own mini-Disc. We have loved and collected the CD for an entire
generation, but the times, they are a-changing.The advent and popular acceptance of MP3 as a music format now allows a music enthusiast to arrange and share (or potentially steal) music in ways not even remotely dreamed of a mere five years ago. This reality, coupled with a never-before-seen creative recession on the part of new artists and their record labels (try stomaching ‘N Sync, O Town, Justin Timberlake, et al as examples) hasn’t helped the historically "recession proof" record business over the past two years. Even before MP3s came on the scene, companies like DTS and Dolby were looking for ways to change the means of listening to music, from stereo to surround sound. All of a sudden, with very threatening formats on the low and high end of the CD, Sony and Philips knew they had to do something significant to replace their bellwether format. What they did was introduce SACD – a high-resolution audio format so robust that it makes CDs look downright wimpy. SACDs can play high-resolution stereo music, as well as high-resolution surround sound music, thanks to Sony’s DSD (direct stream digital) technology. SACD players will play a traditional CD but only "hybrid" multi-layer SACDs will also play on CD players. The immense potential of the new format sounded great, especially to "audiophiles" who loved SACD’s initial bent towards stereo playback. In fact, some of the earliest high-end SACD players only had two channels of output. But SACD has been by no means a second home run for Sony and Philips. One of the main factors is that other record labels and electronics companies wanted a taste of the insanely lucrative royalties that come from the sale of each and every disc and player, no matter which new format would replace the CD. The promising DVD-Audio format is powered by and backwards-compatible with the most commercially successful new format in A/V history, DVD-Video. The result has been a full-force format war that has consumers honestly confused as to which new format constitutes the best investment. Sony Music obviously supports SACD, as does Universal Music Group, which calls SACD a "preferred format," but will not publicly rule out releasing DVD-Audio titles. DVD-Audio is supported by AOL Time Warner and EMI. With less than 1,000 titles available for both formats combined, the format war is far from resolved. Consumers yearn for more value and performance when they spend $16 on a prerecorded music source, yet the sweeping majority have not committed to either new format in any significant numbers. The question is, can you resist hearing music sound many times better than a CD and not buy a new player and music collection? I couldn’t. The Sony SCD-C555ES SACD Changer The Sony SCD-C555ES ($800) is a five-disc carousel player/changer that is positioned right just under the flagship SCD-XA-777ES in their current SACD player lineup. The SCD-C555ES is a sizable 17 x 16.125 x 5.5 inches in size, weighing in at almost 24.5 pounds. The retail price is $800 and the unit will play CDs, stereo SACDs and multi-channel SACDs. The unit also reads CD-R and CD-RW discs. Set-Up Hooking up the 555 is relatively easy. There are six RCA outputs that you can connect to your A/V preamp or receiver. If you are only using SACD as a stereo format you can chose the left and right outputs for your stereo preamp. If you want to connect your SACD player (or most lower end DVD-Audio players) via balanced XLR outputs you are out of luck. Both new formats seem to have almost exclusively unbalanced analog outputs and I have yet to see an A/V preamp with 5.1 analog inputs featuring XLR connectors, since they use up so much valuable real estate on the back of an A/V preamp. More importantly, there are no digital outputs from an SACD player due to fears that consumers will use these for copying the new, higher-resolution music recordings – although a specification exists for an encrypted digital link. For now, this means saying goodbye to high-end D/A converters for audiophiles. In my system, I used three pairs of Better Cables' affordable Silver Serpent wire with great success. They made a wonderfully snug connection and were finished in a well-shielded jacket. The SCD-C555ES is loaded with the features you’d expect from a Sony ES product. The tray, while not built to amazing tolerances, can quickly and easily add and switch CDs and SACDs. Sony’s experience in five-CD changers is obvious and highly appreciated here. Most notably, on the front of the unit is a jog shuttle-style knob that can be used to neatly skip and/or fast-forward through tracks. The knob gives a extra level of dimensionality to the physical use of the unit that is far above average. The panel display on the unit is also stellar. A well-organized chart of tracks is found on the display, along with a status report of the disc (CD, stereo SACD, multi-channel SACD, etc.), while direct access buttons allow you to select the actual disc you want to play. Other direct access buttons allow you to switch SACD playback from stereo to multi-channel (most multi-channel discs also include a high-resolution stereo version). These same buttons auto-light with your default choice of stereo or multi-channel tracks. The SCD-C555ES knowingly shows you the name of the disc and/or the track name fully spelled out. Unlike the majority of early DVD-Audio players, almost every SACD player, including the SCD-C555ES, can run without a video source. In fact, there is no video output from the unit whatsoever. It therefore cannot play video software like a DVD-Video disc or a video CD. Thoughtfully, the SCD-C555ES has a one-quarter-inch headphone jack and volume control for your late-night listening sessions. The remote is a standard plastic Sony CD changer remote, with a few SACD-oriented, dual-function buttons on it. The 10+ button is a nice add-on for direct access of tracks from albums with more than 10 tracks. The multi-channel/stereo button also proved to be useful during my testing. The level adjust button didn’t seem to have any effect on my system whatsoever, although I did find the SCD-C555ES to have a "hot" analog output, meaning it was loud relative to other sources going into my Mark Levinson No. 40 AV preamp. This is a very common problem in recording studios and increasingly common in high-performance A/V systems. Luckily, the No. 40 (as well as most other good receivers and AV preamps) can be easily adjusted, so that no one input is dramatically louder than another. This reduction in level also has no ill effect on the quality of sound. Bass Management on SACD During setup, you must roughly tell the SCD-C555ES what kind of speaker system you have, in order to get the proper output for multi-channel playback. While the SCD-C555ES does not have an amazingly sophisticated bass management system (which would allow you to select a crossover point for the speakers and subwoofer), it does let consumers choose their speaker size (large/small) in a wide variety of configurations. You may also choose whether or not you have a center channel or subwoofer. Two-channel playback may be set up with or without the subwoofer. My initial listening for the first week with the SCD-C555ES was done with the subwoofer, not merely two-channel listening. Once engaged, the sub had a positive effect. All stereo listening in my tests was done with the two channels plus subwoofer setting engaged. |
