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Excellent Cheap Redbook CD Player: Sony BDP-S2000ES

Hi All,

Knowing that Burro fans tend to luddites and budget conscious, I figured I'd share a tip. I recently found a BDP-S2000ES on Facebook for $40. It looks like these aren't super common, and they don't command much over $100 on Ebay, by contrast to some of the better known earlier ES SACD and CD players. It sounds EXTRAORDINARY. It destroys my CS4398 dac. Less grainy, better tonal balance, much more revealing (but not tonally forward), and great imaging. The biggest surprise is pace/timing/acceleration. This thing sounds incredibly musical!

There are other perks, too. It has a thick cast aluminum top and a really cool sapphire colored glass front that folds down. Way cooler than the BDP-S5000ES that immediately followed. (I think all ES units are nice, but some are fancier than others!) And, at only 10 years old, most should live a good long time.

If I had to guess, I'd say they aren't bringing more only because they are A) rare, and B) first gen blu-ray doesn't seem as sexy as a dedicated audio unit. But don't let that dissuade you! The only real downside is shelf space!

Happy hunting,

Paul
 
I have been looking for a replacement for my aging Sony 508ES that i use in my shop and just can't justify spending thousands for a shop CD player. Have been looking for something decent sounding and affordable. My Friend Doug pointed me to this post so I took your recommendation and bought one of these off eBay for $119 with remote. will take a listen when it arrives. One thing that caught my eye looking at the internal photos of this unit, is that it appears to use a standard Computer type drive unit. which hopefully is replaceable with other units should you need to repair it. I thought that alone was interesting enough to buy it and give it a go!

Zc
 
Glad it's working for you! I'd be curious to know how it compares to the dedicated ES audio players. I had Ebay searches set for months on a couple of them, in addition to the Philips 963 that I wish I hadn't sold. I don't know how the S2000 would compare to other Sonys, but the price is right and it sounds good enough to me!

BTW Zero Cool, as I work on my first tube amp in awhile, I'm pining for the choke input dual chassis El Cheapo 6V6 amp I built so long ago with some rag tag chassis I got from you. I recall passing it off to some guy not terribly far from where I live now (before I lived in CO). But then, I never did get that giant power supply to stop buzzing mechanically, even after various attempts with different transformers and chokes!

Paul
 
I picked one of these up recently and am very impressed also. I usually run it thru a Gungnir MB dac, and it has earned a place in my rack with an OPPO UDP-203 also being used as a CD transport. between the two, I'm covered on CD playback for awhile. I've tried it through the analog outs and it sounds GREAT there as well. Add me to the impressed. It's early blu ray slow, but it's also REAL Sony ES as well as being a very unique and rare piece in the rack space. It really is a nicely analog sounding? player.