Sony CDP-XE500
Sony's least expensive single-play CD player of the early 2000s, and the rare budget machine that a reviewer bought twenty of.
Overview
The CDP-XE500 was the step-up half of a two-model pair. Both were Sony's cheapest single-play CD players at the turn of the millennium, and the other one was the barebones CDP-XE400. The difference was twenty dollars and three features. For $180 against the XE400's $160, the XE500 added a Sony Remote Commander infrared remote, a Toslink optical digital output, and a digital volume control operated from the remote that affects both the line outputs and the headphone jack. The XE400 chassis still contained the infrared receiver, so the cheaper player could be driven by the remotes bundled with many Sony receivers. But the remote, the optical jack, and the digital volume were the XE500's reason to exist.
That optical output is what makes the XE500 interesting to collectors now. AudioExpress (August 2001, p.56) recommended a high-quality Toslink interconnect such as the Kimber OPT1 to go with it. Sony's own advertising framed the pair as the least expensive single-play machines in the line, at a moment when most manufacturers were pushing CD changers instead. That is why a no-frills single-disc player became scarce.
The internals are modest but specific. Sony used what it called a Hybrid Pulse D/A Converter, chip number CXD8567AM. It is a combination 8x oversampling digital filter and bitstream-type D/A converter with analog voltage outputs. Analog filtering and output buffering run through a JRC NJM4558 op amp per channel. The headphone amplifier is a Mitsubishi M5218AL, which will sink ±50 mA of load current, enough to make it a usable headphone stage rather than an afterthought. Manufacturer's specs, as reprinted in AudioExpress (August 2001, p.55): frequency response 2 Hz - 20 kHz ±0.5 dB, total harmonic distortion 0.0045%, signal-to-noise ratio 100 dB, dynamic range 98 dB, channel separation 95 dB, line output 2 V into a 50 kΩ load, recommended load impedance above 10 kΩ, and headphone output 10 mW into 32 Ω. Power consumption is 10 W. The chassis measures 430 x 95 x 295 mm and weighs 3.0 kg. Both players were built in China.
The build surprised the reviewer. The chassis and cover are all metal, the front-panel controls have a solid operational feel, and the mechanism is sturdy with a tray that operates smoothly. The isolation feet are mounted with their screw holes off-center to help diffuse vibration modes. AudioExpress (August 2001, p.55) noted that the players exhibit none of the chintzy look and feel so prevalent in inexpensive consumer electronics, and that Chinese manufacturing quality had improved considerably by then.
Feature-wise the XE500 covers the expected ground. Play modes include program play with up to 24 tracks in any order, plus shuffle play, which randomly selects the program order. Repeat can loop an entire disc, a track, a selected program, or begin another shuffle. The edit/time fade button builds a program to fit any standard cassette tape length, and the player can be programmed to fade out at a specific time on the disc. Peak search locates the highest recorded level on a CD so a cassette deck's level can be set there. On disc insertion the display shows total tracks and total playing time. If playback doesn't start, that information disappears after a few seconds and the display reads "0" tracks, with the time button restoring it for about three seconds. The time button also toggles between elapsed time, remaining track time, and total remaining time. Music scan plays the first ten seconds of each track, extendable to 20 or 30 seconds by toggling the button, and pressing play starts the track from the beginning.
Track selection is the one quirk worth knowing. Neither player has a keypad on the front panel. Individual tracks are chosen with a rotary control in the upper right corner that Sony calls the AMS, or Automatic Music Sensor. Direct keypad entry lives on the remote supplied with the XE500, or on the remotes supplied with Sony receivers. Both players have standard double-arrow search buttons, and search can be conducted silently by pressing pause and monitoring the time and track display. Universal remotes are a caveat. Sony's track-selection scheme doesn't allow direct entry of tracks above ten, so all Sony remotes carry a "greater than ten" button, and a universal remote without one may not be compatible.
AudioExpress (August 2001, p.56) reported that the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam had bought around twenty of these players over two years for faculty studios and the music library. It had also installed a dozen CDP-XE400s in library listening carrels where students give equipment a real workout, and the players held up extremely well. The reviewer's dealer reported local radio stations using them with similarly positive reliability reports. At the time the players typically sold for about $30 below the manufacturer's suggested retail price through mail order or a local dealer. The reviewer's verdict was blunt: as good as any player he'd heard under $200, and his first choice among under-$200 CD players. He even sketched a sub-$1000 system around one, the XE500 mated to a Sony STR-DE445 receiver and a pair of Boston Acoustics CR-9 loudspeakers. He noted the receiver's Toslink and coaxial digital inputs allowed a fully digital link, with a Sony universal remote to run the CD player.
The XE500 is a budget-price player with a metal chassis, a real optical output, and a headphone amp that can drive actual headphones. It is not a high-end machine. The op-amp-based analog stage is exactly what the reviewer expected at the price. As a transport feeding an outboard DAC, or as a cheap, sturdy second player in a workshop or office system, it does the job.
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