What happened to Sony ES line? Did Sony kill it?

Looks like there are only ES receivers being manufactured at the moment.

http://www.sony.jp/audio/

The line is now sold exclusively by audio-video installers, mostly, receivers, although the SCD-XA5400ES SACD player is still in the line. It appears the music reproduction world as we have known it is coming to an end. Computer audio has changed everything, from the way we acquire, store, and listen to our music. With converging quality and convenience, conductible from a laptop, what's the point of Elevated Standard components from Sony. Soon, we'll all be downloading 24/96 onto our hard drives and sending out from USB to appropriate amplification and speakers. No need for source components, other than to rip our existing vinyl, CD, SACD, and Compact Cassette libraries to the hard drive.

BTW, I'm a big ES fan. My system: Sony TA-E9000ES, TA-N9000ES, TA-P9000ES, TC-K950ES, PS-4750, DVP-S9000ES, ST-SA50ES, (2) PCM-7010's with RM-D7200, TA-N80ES,  RDR-GX7, SBM-1, & TCD-D8.  I had  many others including a TA-E80ES which I'm sorry I sold. I'm looking to buy one used , now. At any rate, folks are getting wise to these awesome components. Keep your eye out on E-Bay listings. Why the elite audio press snubbed these magnificent components is a mystery to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sterling1 

Why the elite audio press snubbed these magnificent components is a mystery to me.

Because they get paid for advertisements from competitors.

the XA5400ES is a great player - both redbook and sacd. listening to it now.

I will gladly post; but, you will need to show me how to do it step by step, from getting the digital picture from my little Sony camera, to the computer, to here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ 

Because they get paid for advertisements from competitors.

 

Here in Oz, you wont see many reviews of Sony stereo components, and I think IPodPJ makes a good point re 'paid editorial'. I also think that there is an attitude among many older editors that Sony really dropped the ball on 2-channel audio - no question that they have some very talented engineers, but the majority of their efforts seem to go into their AV line at the expense of stereo kit. What Hi-Fi are about the only major magazine I can think of to regularly review Sony kit, but they arent dedicated to covering gear that hooks up to a mere 2 speakers.  End of the day, headphone sales might be up but I'm not sure that is reflected in a larger market dedicated to mature males with a pipe and a pair of slippers  ;)

Not really a huge surprise. Onkyo killed off their high-end Integra Research line entirely, and other than that SC-09TX monster, there hasn't been much of note from Pioneer Elite since the 59TXi. Denon's still fighting the good fight though, and in my opinion their best products have always been better than Sony ES anyway.

The Japanese have some awesome engineers, and I hope that companies like TEAC can continue to support offshoots such as Esoteric. The TEAC name meant something once-upon-a-time, but the local 'franchise' here in Oz just rebadges the cheapest and nastiest electronics goods they can find and slaps them in a Target/Woolies for the dribbler brigade - sad. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by estreeter 

The Japanese have some awesome engineers, and I hope that companies like TEAC can continue to support offshoots such as Esoteric. The TEAC name meant something once-upon-a-time, but the local 'franchise' here in Oz just rebadges the cheapest and nastiest electronics goods they can find and slaps them in a Target/Woolies for the dribbler brigade - sad. 

Indeed. The products from Accuphase, Luxman, Reimyo, Zanden, etc. are easily among the world's best. Esoteric is probably the most well known outside of Japan, but there are more than a few in that league. The area where I haven't seen Japan really compete with the best from North America and Europe is loudspeakers. Other than TAD, I really can't think of a world class speaker from Japan.