DCC Archive Does anyone own the Toshiba 5700 DVD Audio Player?

I have been looking at this player for a while. Reviews seem to be mixed. Could anyone tell me if it's a decent unit?

 

I bought a Toshiba 5700 a couple of weeks ago to use as a transport in my audio system. Burned it in for 48 hrs straight before listening. Didn't like it one bit and took it back. BUT, keep in mind that I was using the coax digital out into an MSB Link II, so I can only say that I didn't like it as a transport. I never gave the players DAC a chance and it could well be that it's decent as a stand-alone unit compared with others in it's price range.

Then again, I would have expected a better sounding transport section from a unit that does DVD-A. Especially with the spiffy gold plated connectors, etc.

The two units it was compared to in my system were a Pioneer 434 and a Panasonic A120 (both are DVD players and both used going through the MSB). The Panasonic is the better transport of the two, but the Pioneer is quite good. Both were head and shoulders above the Toshiba, which is newer and more expensive than either of these units. Also, I've tried the Pioneer and Panasonic as stand-alone players and both sound much better through the MSB, which really isn't surprising. Still, the Toshiba might work well through it's own DAC.

I did try one DVD-A disc and it didn't sound any better (again, through the MSB and it was putting out a 24/96 signal into the DAC).

The usual caveats apply. Every piece of equipment is very system dependent, etc, etc and YMMV. I would have tried one of the new Panasonic units, but they only do TOSLINK digital outs in units in that price range now.

FWIW, the rest of my system consists of a (very) heavily modified Foreplay preamp, VTL ST-85 amp (Svetlana's) and Maggie 1.6 QR's. I upgraded the opamps in the MSB, but otherwise it's stock.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Mike