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Nice juke box!
Pros
Good sound, 200-disc storage, good programmability.
Cons
Slow robotics, questionable reliability
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
It's a good value. The ES series really does sound better. 200 discs is a lot of music. It's not without flaws, but it's a pretty good jukebox.
I bought the Sony CDP-CX70ES jukebox for several reasons:
1) On-line availability of 200 discs (the most available when I purchased it)
2) The Sony name, reputation
3) The noticeably better sound of the ES series.
My experience has been that:
1) The darn thing is like a roach motel.. they (CD's) check in, but they don't check out again! Be sure to name your discs as you enter them, and/or keep a separate record.. otherwise, you may not hear them again for weeks! Soo... point one is fait d'acompli, for better or for worse.
2) I am now somewhat less favorably impressed by Sony than when I bought this changer. Why? I'm on my second one. The first one, purchased through Crutchfield, died exactly one year from date of purchase. It suddenly couldn't tell filled slots from empty ones, and the changer was spending all its time trying to load disks from empty slots, then going on to the next slot. The robotics on this unit are rather noisy and they are slow. So this was a big problem. But the good folks at Crutchfield, even though the warranty was technically expired by 24 hours, traded the entire unit for a new one, no questions asked. Love those people!!
The replacement unit was fine for more than a year, until recently it too is experiencing problems.. skips during the first several seconds of every disk. Perhaps it's just a piece of fuzz on the lens.
But I no longer have the same trust in Sony products that I used to have.
3) The ES series, marketed by Sony as their premium line, does indeed sound noticeably better than their other offerings. I had actually bought a non-ES Sony before, and returned it because the sound was just too shrill to enjoy. This one sounds better. However, even the ES with its 1-bit Burr-Brown A/D converter leaves something to be desired. You always know you're listening to a CD. I'm thinking of checking into other premium lines for my next machine.. surely there's something with more balanced, less shrill sound out there??
That said, I think this unit is a pretty good value for the money, given its capacity, straightforward (for a japanese manufacturer!) programming, and the sound compared to lesser units. As I said, I'll explore alternative offerings when I purchase my next unit, but I don't regret having bought the Sony 70-ES.
1) On-line availability of 200 discs (the most available when I purchased it)
2) The Sony name, reputation
3) The noticeably better sound of the ES series.
My experience has been that:
1) The darn thing is like a roach motel.. they (CD's) check in, but they don't check out again! Be sure to name your discs as you enter them, and/or keep a separate record.. otherwise, you may not hear them again for weeks! Soo... point one is fait d'acompli, for better or for worse.
2) I am now somewhat less favorably impressed by Sony than when I bought this changer. Why? I'm on my second one. The first one, purchased through Crutchfield, died exactly one year from date of purchase. It suddenly couldn't tell filled slots from empty ones, and the changer was spending all its time trying to load disks from empty slots, then going on to the next slot. The robotics on this unit are rather noisy and they are slow. So this was a big problem. But the good folks at Crutchfield, even though the warranty was technically expired by 24 hours, traded the entire unit for a new one, no questions asked. Love those people!!
The replacement unit was fine for more than a year, until recently it too is experiencing problems.. skips during the first several seconds of every disk. Perhaps it's just a piece of fuzz on the lens.
But I no longer have the same trust in Sony products that I used to have.
3) The ES series, marketed by Sony as their premium line, does indeed sound noticeably better than their other offerings. I had actually bought a non-ES Sony before, and returned it because the sound was just too shrill to enjoy. This one sounds better. However, even the ES with its 1-bit Burr-Brown A/D converter leaves something to be desired. You always know you're listening to a CD. I'm thinking of checking into other premium lines for my next machine.. surely there's something with more balanced, less shrill sound out there??
That said, I think this unit is a pretty good value for the money, given its capacity, straightforward (for a japanese manufacturer!) programming, and the sound compared to lesser units. As I said, I'll explore alternative offerings when I purchase my next unit, but I don't regret having bought the Sony 70-ES.
