Sony SCD-XB790 SACD Player - Page 5

Reading Tests

The Sony SCD-XB790 supports SACD/CD playback. The *.cda files on any audioCD are recognized flawlessly, regardless of whether the disc is factory pressed or a CD-R/RW while CD-Text is also supported.

In addition, no problems were noticed when we played 8cm CD-R/-RW (185MB) or 99min CD-R discs. In the case of our 90min test CD, the SCD-XB790 managed to play 18 out of 20 tracks. On the last two tracks, there was some freezing during playback.

For anyone that has purchased any protected audio discs from their music store, the Sony SCD-XB790 will not let you down. We tested "Natalie Impruglia - White Lilies island" disc, protected with Macrovision's Key2Audio protection system, and "Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come", protected with Cactus Data Shield 200. Both titles were recognized and played flawlessly. In truth, these protection schemes are designed to discourage PC users from copying them and as such present problems with drives designed for PCs only.

• Compressed Audio (data CD)

Although the specifications for this player don't mention MP3 playback, we decided to test it anyway. None of the following compressed audio formats could be played with the player.

The Sony SCD-XB790 supports Super AudioCDs, which is its main feature and the reason for its existence. You don't need to be an expert to notice the difference during playback between a normal CD and a SACD. We played several SACDs, some of which could be played on both SACD and CD devices with both multichannel and 2CH support. Simply by listening with the bare ear, we were able to confirm the tremendous difference in sound reproduction. With SACD, the sound is more detailed with excellent bass and volume. Sony SCD-XB790 has done a very good job in this department.