A CD player inheriting the design philosophy of the CDP-X7ESD, the Sony 338 ESD features a high-end presentation with a beautiful black aluminum front panel and elegant lacquered wooden side panels.

In the digital sync IC, the timing of the digital signal generated by the signal processing LSI is matched to the precision of the master clock located just before the D/A converter. This clock, which determines the timing accuracy of the signal, is directly connected to the D/A converter. By aligning the timing to the precise, jitter-free master clock, the digital signal is recalibrated and sent to the D/A converter. Because the jitter has no effect on the D/A converter or other components, this allows for highly accurate phase and faithful D/A conversion. Digital sync ICs are used to reduce jitter during digital signal transmission.

The digital filter is equipped with the CXD 1244, a 45-bit 8fs noise-shaping digital filter.

This filter performs 8x oversampling, upsampling the signal from 44.1 kHz to 352.8 kHz (8 times the sampling rate) to increase the distance between the audio signal and unwanted high-frequency components. This allows for the use of a lower-order, smoother low-pass filter in the analog stage after D/A conversion, significantly improving group delay characteristics.

Thanks to its high-order 45-bit processing capability, the CXD 1244 achieves in-band ripple of ±0.00001 dB and an echo level of -124 dB or lower.

The conversion quality is outstanding, and the list of features goes on for this CD player with remarkable musical performance—an essential from the Japanese brand SONY for CD listening without moderation.