Vintage of the month: Sony CDP-X5000

Recently we acquired a vintage Sony CDP-X5000 from the late 1990s.  Using it as a transport feeding DACs, it is very good, as good as the TEAC VRDS 50.  Better than any DVD-based transport.  It is a fixed-pickup mechanism, much like the famed Sony CDP-XA7ES.  Built quality is first rate and it can be had for very little money these days, if you can find one.  However, please note that the laser pick-up assembly and parts are very hard to find.  So make sure it works before buying.

From thevintageknob.org

"...This notwithstanding, the CDP-X5000 quickly became respected CD drives : 100% non-magnetic aluminium chassis, a Fixed Pickup Mechanism, an AES/EBU output, careful layout of the 4-layer glass epoxy boards, one R-Core transformer,Frame & Beam chassis.

Despite an elaborate Current Pulse digital-to-analogue section, the CDP-X5000 is an integrated CD player with, mainly, a drive vocation : the AES/EBU digital output isn't present for peanuts and that is probably why the X5000 doesn't have a VC filter section like the CDP-X3000 has.

Several dedicated audiophile accessories were made available as well for the X5000 : a brass puck, a Corian puck and an opaque Corian lid. None of these were distributed (or even mentioned) outside Japan - Sony's sky high silliness as usual.
The CDP-X5000 received rave reviews everywhere and excellent sales in Japan but the series nevertheless got shelved rather rapidly. Unlike what is commonly believed, the # 3000and # 5000 separates are NOT part of the ESseries.

The french and german Sony attempted to unload their stocks more easily, late in time, by adding an ES logo next to the model scripting, and on the cartons, and in the manuals. This however remained unseen elsewhere, including Japan, and was just plain bad marketing miscalculation.

The 5000s sold very well in Japan and didn't need an added ES logo to do so - adding it on EU models didn't boost sales either as ES, by then, already didn't mean much anymore."