Customer Reviews

Onkyo DX7555 Audiophile Single Disc CD Player

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

5 years ago the choices in buying a single play CD deck were limited only by the balance in your checkbook. Today the worthy contenders are few and far between (sadly, the same is true of FM tuners). So when I stumbled across this offering from Onkyo I was immediately intrigued. After researching this puppy and examining one at a local "hi-fi" shop I placed an order with amazon...and very glad I did.

The unit is LARGE, attractively laid out and sonically the equal of anything else I've heard including outrageously overpriced Mark Levinson products. Build quality is excellent, the remote highly functional and with the right ancillary components capable of producing EVERYTHING on that little silver disc. A bargain at $500 and highly rrecommended.

Well I have had this unit for a couple of weeks now and I think it is a pretty good deal for the price paid, plus free shipping. I was looking to replace a non-working NAD 541i. I went thru two NAD players. I really liked how they sounded with the capability to play HDCDs. The problem is they both stopped working end of story. This unit seems to be built really well and has a Wolfson WM8740 24 bit/192 khz DAC that is used in other high end units. I looked at the Marantz and Cambridge units but was not able to compare them to the Onkyo. In doing further research on this DAC it has the capability to use the HDCD filter. I quess they were trying to keep the cost down. It would have been nice to have. I have this hooked up to a Rotel RA-972 60 watt integrated amp with B&W 300 bookshelf speakers. It is crisp, clear, quite and getting better all the time. I haven't seen many reviews on this unit. I was hoping to see more. I would have loved to had the chance to do an A/B comparison with the other units mentioned but that wasn't possible. I actually bought this sight unseen. So far so good. I don't think you will be disappointed.

I had a hard time dropping the 460 dollars on this player that would only play CDs. I have a Denon 5910 universal player that sounded amazing but wanted a separate player for only redbook CDs. Again as I said nearly 500 dollars seemed a little steep and I considered some of the Marantz CD players that were available along with a couple of Pioneer Elite players that were about the same price. Finally I decided to take a chance on this one and ordered it.
As has been stated by many this unit does need some break in time. I listened to a few CDs right off the bat and noticed that the sound was muddied and not real clear. So I put a disc in and ran the unit overnight on repeat mode. Music in the morning did sound substantially better, but I was still slightly disappointed. My Denon 5910 is an amazing CD player and I was wondering if I made a mistake. I again ran the unit overnight on repeat mode and the next day the sound difference was amazing. The midrange was no longer muddied, there was great detail in the music. I am a very varied music listener, from Metallica to Garth Brooks to Chicago to Beethoven.
I have several CDs that I use for demoing my audio equipment. One is Pearl Jams Yield. I find that this CD on certain less detailed systems will really sound lousy, the midrange will be too clouded, can't really recognize the different instruments, the clarity is not good. The Onkyo certainly was awesome to listen to on this CD, particularly the last track All Those Yesterdays. Soundstage was amazing and very airy. I even give the Onkyo the thumbs up over the Denon 5910, which cost me nearly 1500 dollars. I listended to some Creed and was amazed by the bass extension and good treble. Classical music sounded terrific, I felt like I was there at the concert hall when it was originally played. The sound was very warm but not real bright.
I did not try fooling too much with the options, I tried changing the filter from sharp to flat and didn't notice that much difference in sound. I did note however that the highs on this unit are not what I expected. This has been noted in other reviews, it just seems that treble lacks just a little bit of brightness that I kind of like having. I am pleased with this purchase, however and recommend it to others. It may take a while to break in, be patient with it and enjoy!

I know that CD players are kind of a forgotten product category these days, what with DVD players that do CD, and the growing popularity of server-based music systems. But if you have a two-channel audio-only system in your home, and want a great-sounding CD player that won't break your bank account, I don't know how you could beat this Onkyo. True, it's front fascia isn't half an inch thick, and it's chassis isn't milled from a solid chunk of billet aluminum, but it is well-made and sounds great. By the way, it actually does have an aluminum front panel...and a full-featured remote control, plus a good sounding, volume-controlled headphone output. But mainly, it just plays CD's real well and is quiet in operation and reliable. What more could you really want?

This player does exactly what it should do.It reproduces the recorded sound on a cd as recorded and without any coloration or background noise.I have this player coupled with an onkyo A-9555 amplifier.This combination is a great basis for a quality system at a good price

Just when I thought I was doomed to playing my CD's on a DVD player or saving up thousands of dollars for a high end CD player, Onkyo goes against the grain and produces this gem.

I've only had it for a few days, but I am in love with this player.

There is a great review of this on Stereophile's website [...]

Before I tell you about the player, I'll let you know what I'm using it with. I have an Onkyo TX-SR706 receiver which is pre-amped out to a Hafler XL-280 power amp for the front speakers. The Onkyo handles the center and the surrounds and rear surrounds (7.1 channels with a Velodyne sub.) The main speakers are Vandersteen 1C's, and all the others are Ed Frias designed do-it-yourselfers that I built from plans on Audioreview.com. I've called myself an audiophile for years, but became a home theater fan a few years ago (I have a Ps3 and a 56" JVC HDTV as well.) This system is an attempt to please both needs, without completely breaking the bank. This CD Player is fitting in quite nicely.

The first thing I noticed was a complete freedom from "digital glare." Music has a sense of ease and accuracy. Stringed instruments actually sound like stringed instruments. That may sound simple, but it's not. Most cd players impart a steely quality to strings. Not this one.

There is an excellent sense of space, especially if you use the "slow" digital filter slope. This mode sacrifices the very highest frequencies, but unless you are a female under the age of 25, you probably can't here them anyway (I'm not being sexist, females can hear higher.) What you gain in this setting is better imaging and unbelievable transient accuracy. Instruments have great "attack" in this mode, without sounding overly aggressive.

Another way to fine tune the sound is to use the polarity setting. This function would be better if you could just press one button on the remote, but at least it is available. Most people probably won't notice a difference if the polarity is reversed, but I find it is easiest to hear the difference on voices. If set correctly the voice will sound more "there" and not disembodied. Having correct polarity means that when the microphone diaphragm moved forward as the voice hit it, the speaker cone moves forward as it reproduces it. Sounds simple enough, but you only have a 50/50 chance on any one recording that the polarity is correct.

I know the clock frequency can be adjusted, but I'm leaving it alone. This player already blows away most when it comes to jitter, and I think I'd drive myself crazy if I thought I could adjust it to make it better. Some things are better left as-is. I don't even use tone controls, so there's no way I'm adjusting clock frequency!

One thing you will likely notice with this player is its total silence. It introduces no noise to the music, period. Even the disc drawer is totally silent and silky smooth.

I'll just finish up with a few impressions from the first few CD's I listened to.

1. Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College. A well recorded pair of CD's. Two guys expertly playing guitars accompanied by Dave's vocals. The guitars sounded fantastic, but what struck me was the hand-claps of the crowd. The hand-claps sound real on this player and you can actually distinguish individuals clapping. I've never experienced that before!

2. Phil Collins- Face Value. Everybody knows this album for "In the Air Tonight", which is great, but there are some audio gems on this CD. "The Roof is Leaking" has great imaging, and the sounds of crickets, which actually sound like crickets. This was done fantastically on the Onkyo

3. Miles Davis- Kind of Blue. WOW! When I worked in hi-fi we used to play this as a demo, so I've heard it a lot, but I never actually sat down and listened to it critically. I bought this when I bought the CD Player. Even though it was recorded in 1959 (!!!), it is unbelievable how live this sounds. There is some background hiss during silent moments, but this is one fantastic recording. It was recorded on tube equipment, and that was conveyed very well by the Onkyo. Every instrument has its own space in the recording, one sax on each side of the stage, with a piano on the left and drums on the right, with Miles on trumpet in the middle. What struck me the most was on track 3 when the drummer was playing with brushes, you can actually make out which brush is in the right hand and which is in the left. My jaw dropped when I heard this.

The only thing bad I can say about this player is that it is going to take up a lot of your time while you re-experience your CD collection. I'm having real trouble trying to keep up with my TV shows, and my DVR is overflowing.

This is the best [...]I've spent in a long, long time. I highly recommend this player.

There is no point in saying much about this CD player other than that it is totally fabulous. The sound is tremendous. I immediately discarded my prior Rotel player, which had given me trouble for years and never sounded nearly this good. This unit blew the Rotel out of the water. The build quality is superb, and the design is stylish and appealing in its simplicity. When you factor in the price, this is probably the best piece of audio equipment I have ever bought. The Stereophile review was right on. This is an unbelievable value. I love it so much, I am replacing my Adcom amp and preamp, and purchasing the companion Onkyo integrated amp, the A-9555. Buy this unit -- you will not regret it.

I found the Onkyo DX7555 an excellent match to my Primaluna Dialogue Two tube integrated amplifier. Smooth presentation with good detail. Display is easy to read at a distance and display brightness can be adjusted if needed. Remote intuitve to operate. Onkyo did a very nice job on the design. And at the current price of $407 for the black model worth every penny.

I was hesitant to order the Onkyo. The dealer said that it would take up to 2 months to get delivery. Plus, I am always distrustful of products that include superlatives in their names and this one describes itself as an "Audiophile CD Player." But with all the great reviews that it has gotten on Amazon I figured that I could always sell it for a $100 less than I paid for it and get out at a reasonable loss.

Well. I ain't sellin' it. If you want one you can order it here new and wait your own 2 months for delivery. (By the way I had mine in only 3 weeks). I don't know if this player sounds better than a $1,000 plus high end rig. But the Onkyo gives me everything that I could ask for at this price. And more, as it comes with a great sounding headphone jack with a solid feeling volume control.

I am now in the process of re-listening to all my CD's because they sound so much better with the Onkyo. Deep, tight bass. Clear midrange with plenty of air space and a great sound stage. Voices have terrfic presence and choral music is awesome. The sound of brasses is especially thrilling with this unit. And the sound of massed violins is as sweet and mellow as brown sugar on a maple cured ham. If you currently own one of those CD players that weighs 80 pounds because of its massive heat sinks, and has 8 vacumm tubes sticking out of the top of it, I don't know if the Onkyo would beat your machine. However, if you are looking for a great sounding mid-price player, I don't see how you could go wrong with the Onkyo.

The DX-7555 is the real deal. Over the last several years I've auditioned a number of high-end CD players and external DACs, many critically acclaimed and costing up to $4000. While some were very good, none really tickled my fancy to the point where I wanted to replace my previous reference, a heavily modified Sony SCD-C222ES SACD/CD player. Then the Onkyo came along, and it was clear that for Redbook CD reproduction, there was no contest - it beat my modified Sony in every way.

The breadth and depth of the soundstage, the density and tonal completeness of instruments, the warmth of the bass, the sweetness of the treble... but what really grabbed me was how beautifully it conveyed an abundance of musical detail in such a natural and unforced fashion. It's a quality I've heard before from the better bitstream DAC chips, and the Wolfson DAC employed is a great one. The midrange is so sweetly articulate, it has a way of bringing out all the little twists and turns in a musical phrase without being the least bit bright or etched like many hyper-detailed players. Whether it be a sultry Ella Fitzgerald number, a soaring oboe solo or a climactic string passage in a Mahler symphony, music is just that much more poetic and engaging through the Onkyo.

It's not perfect - at the very extremes of both dynamics and frequency range (bass, treble), it cannot match the best high-end players for clarity and impact; their massively overbuilt power supplies and analog sections give them the edge. But where most of the music is -the midrange - it is up there with the very best.

I liked the Onkyo so much, I bought the review sample. After some very light modification, it's even better, but I'd be perfectly happy living with it indefinitely in stock form. It's on the warm side of neutral, so use the best, most transparent ancillary components you can - no euphonic detail-robbing interconnects or the like needed. While it should work great in an affordable setup, I have no hesitation whatsoever using it in a high-end system costing several thousand dollars either.

The build quality is as excellent as people have said - better than a lot of $2k "audiophile" players I've seen. The adjustable filter does have a subtle effect, but I don't find it to be a dealbreaker one way or another; I slightly prefer the "slow" setting. I have heard upgrading the power cord makes a worthwhile improvement in sound quality, pity Onkyo chose to make it captive (no IEC socket). Oh, and it makes a superb transport for an external DAC as well.

Give the player plenty of break-in, at least 100 hours of continuous playing time - out of the box, the sound is rather flat and lifeless, but it will open up.