Sony CDP-XE 370

Author's product rating:   

Sound Quality	Good
Ease of Use	Simple
Look & Design	Excellent
Range of Features	Diverse
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Great build quality, clear and spacious, good punch to the bass
Disadvantages:	Can sound muddled when there is too much going on in the music

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Sony have always had a very solid reputation for producing solid hi fi i.e.rarely spectacular but certainly tick all the boxes you would ask for in hi fi. Thankfully this does very little to harm this reputation, the build quality is excellent and certainly is built to last, it is very sturdy and does not look cheap in the slightest.

However cds are becoming something of a relic due to the fact that digital music stored on the computer does allow for a potentially much better sound quality courtesy of the many impressive external dac's now on the market. Having said that though, for those whose primary need is the convenience of immediately playing their favourite music cd's, then this does a very admirable job.

This cd player offers very good sound quality, vocals and musical instruments are very clear, there is a nice punch to the musical presentation, which is not overdone but certainly allows for the impact of sudden transients to be properly heard. However where this cd player can fall down is when the music is very intricate i.e. where several instruments are playing together, at this point it can be difficult to pinpoint each layer and therefore one seems to blend into the other.

However within this observation there is a a certain amount of unfortunate comparisons being done with external dacs. This is somewhat unfair because I recognise the limitations of having to play something immediately as opposed to reading and writing the information onto a lossless format.

Therefore against cd players in a similar price range, this does perform very well. It is certainly retailing for a very good price and for those who still feel a need to listen to their cd collection with a cd player, then there is really nothing to adversely affect that. I would caution though that for those with the intention of upgrading their hi fi in the future, I don't feel this would withstand an upgrade to other components and would be left somewhat wanting.

In conclusion this is a good cd player which will satisfy many is only recommended for a budget setup

Summary: A good cd player and one to add to a budget system