Is it CD or SACD?

[butch4695]

Slight off-topic....

How does the Onkyo C-S5VL sound with regular CD? It's currently at about the same price as the highly-rated Onkyo DX-7555 CD player.

I think it sounds very good now . Right out of the box it seemed to sound somewhat harsh with alot of recordings , but I let it run continuous for 2 days and the sound really mellowed . I never knew whether to believe that new solid state equipment needed break-in time but I am a believer now , I love it .

 

[titanstats]

Looked like a good deal to me for something that plays everything.

Anybody else have one of these, and how do you like it?

Yup, had mine a while now and love it -- it will play anything, even crapped out DVDs and CDs that won't play on anything else I've tried them in. It's actually the only disc player that I have now -- took the CD players out a couple of weeks back.

 

[Retro Stereo]

Yup, had mine a while now and love it -- it will play anything, even crapped out DVDs and CDs that won't play on anything else I've tried them in. It's actually the only disc player that I have now -- took the CD players out a couple of weeks back.

Great, that's what I was hoping for. My new one showed up in the mail yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to mess with it just yet. I sure am looking forward to it though. Thanks for the feedback on this player.



Retro

 

[DallasF1]

off topic, but I use my PS3 and it brings up both options on screen. I really like the way I can use it for all kinds of media.

 

[Retro Stereo]

Here's the ad and some reviews from the site I bought my Cambridge DVD-89 from:

"Best Buy" - What Home Cinema Magazine

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"Best DVD Player Design" - Mobile Media

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HDMI/DVI Outputs Plus DivX Playback
Don't compromise video quality just because you don't want to spend an arm and a leg on a quality DVD player. The Cambridge Audio DVD89 offers HDMI and DVI connections with a gorgeous 720p output that delivers unsurpassed picture to big screen TVs up to 50-inches. And it's incredibly affordable!

"Excellent All-Round Performance"
The DVD89 won "Best Buy" honors in the July 2006 issue of Britain's What Home Cinema magazine, and also won the "Best in Test" award for home theater gear.

"The DVD Deck's connectivity is exemplary, and its pictures eke as much detail as possible from a DVD," raves the write-up. "Motion is fluid, and the Cambridge player copes admirably with the burnt-out whites and over saturated colors of the Miami coastline during the opening credits of our test disc of Transporter 2.

The August 2006 issue of New Zealand's Audio Enz magazine praises the DVD89. "Excellent all-round performance and extreme versatility, in a stylish package at a great price makes the DVD89 a winner."

"Astonishing Value for Money"
The great reviews of the DVD89 just keep on coming.

"Just like a mass-produced Subaru WRX that can knock off an expensive European sports car in terms of real-world performance, the Cambridge Audio DVD89 is quite capable of holding its own among more exalted and expensive company," reports the May 2006 issue of England's Tone magazine, which honors the DVD89 with its 'Gold Award' for product excellence.

"It is a player loaded with great features and Cambridge Audio should have trouble meeting demand with this," continues Tone. "At the price, it is astonishing value for money."

"This DVD player screams quality and is the perfect player if you want a single box that is as adept with music as it is with movies," proclaims the September 2006 issue of What Video & High-Definition TV magazine.

Plays 'Em All, Including DivX
Giving the DVD89 a big edge over most competitively priced DVD players is its exceptionally high quality signal processing. The DVD89 uses a full six 12-bit DACs for the highest resolution performance from a huge range of source material.

As you might expect, the Cambridge plays DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, SACD, DVD+R/RW, CD, MP3, and Kodak Picture CD formats. But it can also play full-screen, full-motion DivX movies on your TV and is fully compatible with DivX 3.11, 4, 5, DivX Pro, and XVID formats.

Added to all that, the DVD89 also offers superb decoding of Dolby Digital soundtracks via its six-channel analog outputs.

The progressive scan HDMI and DVI PAL/NTSC output delivers a smooth and flicker-free, film-like image from film-based DVDs on compatible televisions. An acoustically-damped steel chassis is complemented by a solid aluminum front panel. Front-panel controls for all primary features are provided together with a front-panel information display. A full function remote control comes as standard.

Outputs, Outputs, Outputs
The Cambridge boasts a full complement of audio and outputs. On the video side, it has PAL/NTSC progressive scan HDMI and DVI outputs, component video with 50 Hz / 60 Hz interlaced output, Scart (RGB, composite, two-channel audio), S-video, and composite video. Audio outputs include 5.1-channel audio, stereo downmix, digital coaxial, and digital optical.

The DVD87's multi-channel DVD-Audio capability enables a radically improved listening experience over what's typically offered by conventional DVD players. Meridian Lossless Packing delivers 24-bit / 96 kHz multi channel DVD-Audio and 24-bit / 192 kHz stereo DVD-Audio. This high-resolution capability means that the DVD87 can take full advantage of the outstanding sound quality offered by the DVD-Audio format.

"I'm struggling to find reasons for people not to own the DVD89," concludes Tone magazine."




Retro

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Yes there is such a thing as Stereo SACD. For many audiophiles don't use surround systems. And the SACD Stereo is usually not a fold down of the surround program as a rule.

 

[Skymind]

Onkyo C-S5VL: fantastic for SACDs, good for regular CDs.

Slight off-topic....

How does the Onkyo C-S5VL sound with regular CD? It's currently at about the same price as the highly-rated Onkyo DX-7555 CD player.

I've had the Onkyo C-S5VL for a few weeks now. Initially I also was not totally happy with regular CD playback. Though I can hear textures and details I've never heard before, it still sounds a bit harsh. It has a dark concentrated sound. In comparison, my old Yamaha CDX-710 doesn't sound nearly as intricate, and is even a bit muddy, but is warm and almost soothing to listen to. The Onkyo has 5 PCM filters for regular CD play. Filter 4 (apodizing minumum phase filter) takes away the glare in the upper registers but sounds a bit muted to me somehow. My favorite is filter 5 (apodizing linear phase filter). You can also invert the phase which makes a subtle improvement too. After becoming accustomed to it, I appreciate the Onkyo's strengths, and am impressed by the detail and definition, but it's still not the perfect listening experience for regular CDs IMHO.

I just bought my first SACD a few days ago. It totally blows away the regular CD performance! It has the warmth of the Yamaha but still retains all the detail, definition, clarity, and more! The imaging is stupendous! Instruments seem to hover in midair, entirely liberated from the speakers even though it's still just the 2-channel layer. I wish all my CDs were SACDs now. It sounds infinitely better playing SACDs.

Evidently it takes a lot more expensive hardware to make CDs sound good than it does for SACDs. Long live the SACD!