A sound, well proven scientifically based statement requires an equally proven, well thought out, scientific reply. Thousands of hours of testing has proven the aforementioned practice. It's now famously referred to as the "brown" sound. Ala` Eddie Van Halen.
I currently have a late-90's Yamaha Natural Sound CDC-555 carousel. Would the Onkyo be a HUGE step up is SQ? The $139 isn't a big deal, but I rarely listen to CDs. But if it sounds THAT much better, maybe I will. Then again, maybe my money is better spent getting digital streaming capability. Just thinking out loud here…
Depends on the DAC your using, The Wolfson sounds quite a bit nicer than my SBTouch using my Onkyo 709's DAC, man I wish this thing had digital in
This CD player has the same spec Wolfson chips as the DAC in my TX-8050 receiver - probably even identical - and yes, a very pleasing sound. I do most of my digital listening now by loading files onto a storage drive, and plugging them directly into the 8050. I bet the sound of the 7030 is almost identical too. BTW, a signal fed into the 8050 via digital input from an external transport yields exactly the same sound as file playback (which it should). Except for a few files extracted raw from CDs with pre-emphasis, that is. Those I have to play from the actual CDs on an actual player. It is good to know that someone still makes dedicated CD players. If it falls to $99 I may even buy one, although I would have no immediate use for it.
1. Responsive Remote 2.Quiet Mechanism and Playback 3.Wolfson DAC trumps my Tube DAC, No Longer Needed In The Chain-Removed 4.Handles Pre-Emph CD's nicely 5.Auto Power Shut Off 6.Adjustable Display Dimmer 7.Quality Analog Out's, Sounds Better Than My Budget Oppo BDP 80's (Dedicated for SACD/BR Now) 8.139.00 Shipped 9.Warm Wolfson DAC-She opened up 4 days after I got it, a few hours everynight 10.I Should Buy Another One For Down The Road
About 70 hours on it now....outstanding unit! This is easily the best under $600 CD player I've ever heard...maybe even up to a grand. A bargain that no one should ignore.....grab one!
It arrived today. My shop cdp was failing and had to go. It was a NAD 515BEE that sounded good for it's price range but was not reliable. I considered low end Marantz or another used Apollo or Emotiva but for this price it is great to have a brand new solid player. Thanks for the recommendation.
Well it took a few long, late nights of listening but the next review is in, the Onkyo C 7030 against a 1989 Sansui CD-X711, made in Japan, a multi volt unit. The CD-X711 was a sleeper in it day, those who missed it missed out IMO. I tossed it on a scale, almost 23 pounds. Sports 4 proprietary Sansui 1 bit D/A converters, 2 main transformers, balanced outputs, an oil damped coil spring floating suspension for the transport, even the cover is VERY heavy, and the player has some odd looking "dampening things" looking almost like refrigerator magnets placed in several specific places on the player's chassis and cover as well as on top of some of the electronic components. Pics and info on it: The Sansui's display was shut off as well as it's digital outputs, the Onkyo's display was dimmed to the lowest setting and the headphone output dialed all the way down. As always I played a wide variety of music. On some CD's there was not a dramatic difference as to which player I preferred, but on other CD's some very obvious differences were starting to surface. Seeing I had my AF Gold CD's out I played the Montrose S/T one and Deep Purple Machine Head several times to really get a feel for their presentation. I've really grown to appreciate the Onkyo C7030, it has well over 100 hours on it now. First off, I've already said I really like the Onkyo, it's quiet in operation, it has a good if not just slightly laid back high end, a reasonably presentation of reverb's tail end/soundstage, and good if not just a bit lacking in heft/pace bass. Down to the nitty gritty after many more CD's. The Sansui, it's top end air is really, really nice, The Flamingos I Only Have Eyes For You vocals sounded stunning as well as the echo on them, an order of magnitude better than the Onkyo could pull off, and all without getting tizzy. With my torture test CD Roland Shaw Themes For Secret Agents, the Sansui held up much better on the near ridiculously demanding string sections, the Onkyo broke up a bit and distorted, sounding overloaded with the power of the program material's content. The AF gold CD of Montrose with my "reference" drum track Rock Candy was stunning on the Sansui. I've had drum kits and bass guitars played in this room, the kick drum's bass was quick, deep and very believable, the bass guitar went deep, clean, and with good pace and heft, again besting the Onkyo. Machine Head has a lot of wonderful reverb, and the Sansui had a much more believable tail end in it. The banging on the spring reverb at the very end of Highway Star was presented amazing on the Sansui, while lacking on the Onkyo. The acid test though is mids, IMO if that falls on it's face all else matters little. Vocals came off clean, balanced and life like on the Sansui, the Onkyo seemed to, for a lack of a better word, "pinch" them in a bit. Overall the win solidly goes to the old school Sansui. But, at $1,100 1989 dollars, roughly $2, 100 dollars in 2014, the Onkyo with an original MSRP of $249 and the silly low current street price of $139 was up against some stiff competition. Even with todays advancements, it just couldn't stand toe to toe with the Sansui. Final listening comparison will be against the 1990 18 bit Pioneer Elite PD 91.
I forgot, as an aside, I bought that Sansui as NOS in 1991 deeply discounted for only $229. I found it in the closeout room at American Audio. I remember the salesman questioning the price, and all I said was you guys priced it for closeout, and I'm closing it out, ring me up. He then tried to sell me an extended warranty for around $45, they pushed them heavy in the day. I refused, so he lowered the player even more then added the extended warranty to bring it back up to the $229. Been using this player on and off in several different systems for over 20 years now. Only repair was I had to put a new belt on the drawer mechanism a few years back. It sounds even better through the balanced outputs. A few more pics, the circuit boards float mid chassis on tabs, & you can see one of those "dampeners" stuck on that left circuit board's back shield: Close up, you can see the thick barrier wall between the power supply/tranport side and the other side of the player as well as a few more of those "dampeners":
Oh, I like the guts of that Sansui. Printed circuit boards depress me. Plenty of nice surface mounts in there! Can you tell us what other players you'll be comparing? Rotel. Rega?
Excellent information Guild! Nice pictures too. Always love seeing the guts of electronics. Nice to know that as far back as 1989 there were DAC's that 'brought it out'. Nice to finally have it trickle down to a bargain unit. Good Job Man! the beave
I just moved my old Denon DVD-2900 into my 2-ch rig and stumbled on this thread. For CDs I route coax to my Schiit Gungnir and for SACD & DVD-A I need to use the analog outs. As a transport, anyone think I'd gain much over the Denon for CD playback? The Denon's no slouch in build quality. Bill
In short, no. I thought the DVD-3930 was a fine player. Some report flaky laser issues, but I never experience any in daily operation for over a year on the (near mint) seven year old player I had. Build quality just couldn't be faulted. Terrific.
The price went down bit. $136.76, free shipping and no tax. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004UR487A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1J7WSBJHTGUFA
Geez, just give it away why don't they. You have to go to the third party seller for this price here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004UR487A/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new Amazon sold out again so they went to a third party for fulfillment and that price is $144. How dare you guys sell them out!! the beave oh and one more thingy, GuildX700 shootout review was wonderful. But just keep in mind that Audio is a subjective thing. He found his old Sansui to sound better to him in his system. But MY experience after going through 7 players of all different price points, was the opposite, I found the Onkyo to sound just as good as the NAD 565BEE, a $799 machine. I also found that it sounded virtually the same as the Sherbourn CD-1, which is a $699 player with a totally different DAC in it: the Audio Devices DAC which is known for it's stellar sound quality. So again, if any of you buy the 7030 and find it lacking, just send it back to Amazon for a full refund on their dime. But also ask yourself 'why is this such a popular player, especially when CD's are supposedly going out of style'? so now it's breakfast in the Pacific Northwest then on to the project of refurbishing my Pioneer PL-518 Turntable. Have a great weekend! If it didn't deliver in the sound department, it would have been discontinued years ago. And No, I don't work for Onkyo, just like this deck is all. the beave
I hear you. Then again, I've rated Onkyo's gear for a while now. Their amps in particular are excellent IMO but this sounds like a fine CD player.
I was an Onkyo fan because the Integra 6 cd changer I gave my mom lasted for years and sounded good. http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/integra-debuts-6-disc-cd-changer/#!bmkpcI
