The ONKYO C-S5VL SACD Player Has Finally Arrived!

【SACD Player ONKYO C-S5VL Detailed Review】
Announcement｜Purchase｜Part 1｜Part 2｜Part 3｜Part 4｜Part 5｜Part 6｜Part 7

I have a feeling I’m going to get complaints from regulars on all sides saying the preamble has gone on far too long again — how is everyone keeping? I’ve come down with a fever again since this morning and am half laid up in bed…

Anyway, on to the main subject. As I mentioned at the outset, the two that made it to the end of the listening audition were the ONKYO C-S5VL and the DENON DCD-CX3 — the two smaller ones from the candidates I had listed. When a head-to-head comes down to a choice between two and you can’t make up your mind, the normal thing is that the Hi-Fi enthusiast picks the bigger and heavier one. I am a music fan who merely poses as a Hi-Fi enthusiast — ahem! — and so from long experience, I pick the lighter and smaller one. As for anyone who wants to shoot back that I am in fact an audio obsessive posing as a music fan — I shall graciously let that slide.

I was unable to audition these two models side by side in the shop, so I was left genuinely undecided as to which was objectively better, but to describe the impression each gave: the DCD-CX3 is very much the DENON philosophy in sound — a DENON sound in the truest sense, with a polished, gleaming lustre sitting over a slightly hard-edged image, and a refined, metropolitan quality to its resonance. The chassis rigidity is exceptionally high, and as a CD player mechanism it is a quite remarkable piece of construction that far exceeds what the price would suggest. As a box alone, it might well send the LINN IKEMI — a 500,000-yen-class machine — running for the hills.

The ONKYO C-S5VL, by contrast, is a full-size component and yet has a slim, clean design that brings European products to mind, and it looks as though it would fit in without the slightest awkwardness at my place, where slim imported gear is the norm. The front panel follows a symmetrical design with a centre-mounted mechanism, and together with the understated logo and blue indicator lights, it has a timeless quality that combines refinement with a gentle approachability. As ONKYO’s global flagship model, sold in highly competitive markets from Japan to Europe and the United States and beyond, I was genuinely impressed that it has a firm grasp of the international Hi-Fi trends of the day — not just in Japan. In terms of sonic character, the C-S5VL has a softer, fresher presence than the DCD-CX3, and gives the impression of music coming alive with energy.

The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is DENON DCD-CX3 at ¥120,000 vs ONKYO C-S5VL at ¥60,000. These two models are roughly twice as far apart in both list price and street price, and in terms of construction there are moments where one does sense the difference in class between a mass-market and a mid-range model. It may therefore be slightly unreasonable to discuss them in the same breath. Their sonic characters are also quite different, and honestly, getting hold of both would probably be the most satisfying outcome… but then again, buying both would only come to a little over ¥100,000 — so perhaps some might suggest I should just go ahead and pioneer both. That, however, comes down to the matter of my budget at present… orz

What ultimately decided the choice in favour of the C-S5VL this time was, to put it plainly, the feeling — even on a limited budget — that this sound at this price is a bargain! And also, I suppose, its fundamental qualities as an SACD player. What I most urgently need right now is not so much Hi-Fi pleasure as the ability to properly experience the pile of SACDs sitting on my shelf. On that front, even from a brief listen in the shop, the C-S5VL’s tonal character gave the impression of a player with little character of its own — a very honest sound. It conveys the information recorded in the SACD format without distortion, as it is — a plain, lightly coloured sound.

When it comes to CD players, I own several with distinctive sonic personalities and have spent a great deal of time playing around with them, but honestly, that sort of colouring feels like it would only get in the way with SACD. Thinking along those lines, the C-S5VL seemed like it would, for the time being, let me hear what the SACD format is actually capable of without adding or subtracting anything unnecessary — and I think that is what made it my first choice this time.

In the first place, SACD players are inherently difficult to make at low price points. The DSD format offers an entirely different order of quantisation bit depth from CD, delivering ultra-wideband, ultra-high-quality playback, and the player must reproduce that fine detail and wide dynamic range without squandering it. This turns out to be surprisingly difficult, and it is unfortunately true that the poor playback capabilities of the low-cost DAPs, mini-systems, and boombox-level devices that flood the market cannot produce a clear and audible advantage over CD.

And even among pure Hi-Fi standalone CD players and universal players, there are plenty of products in the existing under-¥100,000 mass-market class where one really has to wonder whether they are reproducing the advantages of SACD properly at all. As I also wrote about SACD-compatible universal players that are reasonably capable as DVD players — mere SACD playback capability, as with the PIONEER DV-585A, is simply not enough to make SACD mean anything. The quickest solution, and the one that gives users the most peace of mind, is to invest in component costs and end up with an expensive model that actually does SACD justice.

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And yet it is precisely because things have gone on like this that the SACD format has failed to achieve any real widespread adoption even after ten years. It has accumulated a modest but respectable body of releases in classical and jazz, quietly building up over time, but the number of SACD titles still amounts to only a fraction — perhaps one-fiftieth or less — of the CD releases that appear day after day. In my own home, I have somewhere in the region of two or three thousand CDs, whereas my SACD collection stands at around fifty to sixty discs. Even if that grows, a few hundred titles over the coming years would probably be the limit — so when you consider the cost of the playback machine per disc, SACD ends up looking extraordinarily expensive. Thinking about it that way, paying a lot of money for a player dedicated solely to SACD starts to feel a little questionable.

And so — nearly two years ago now — the player that appeared like a saviour for music fans who could not justify spending a fortune just for SACD was the ONKYO C-S5VL. As a Hi-Fi component, it belongs to what is — at least in Japan — the most affordable price bracket. And yet it has completely dispensed with multi-channel support, where costs tend to spread thin, and focused entirely on two-channel stereo playback. If ONKYO is going to cut into the most fiercely competitive price bracket in the global pure Hi-Fi market, I have my own sense of trust that they would not enter that fight unless they had a model that could “win” there.

Even so, until you actually listen for yourself, I would be lying if I said there was no scepticism — as a Hi-Fi enthusiast — along the lines of is an SACD player this cheap really going to be all right? Can it reproduce SACD properly? On top of that, I have several CD-only players at home that I have chosen with my own ear. The worry that the C-S5VL simply could not hold its own against them as a CD player was also nagging at me, just a little.

And then there was the ONKYO C-1VL — their CD-only model that I used to own (which, for various reasons, is no longer with me). Its construction shared the same chassis as the A-1VL digital integrated amplifier and was very solid, and its sound was decidedly high-end in orientation — stoic, almost uncompromising. The vague fear that replacing it with the C-S5VL might reveal too great a gap in quality, and leave me feeling rather sad, was lurking somewhere at the back of my mind. With all these reservations in tow, and yet knowing that as the author of a music blog I simply could not go on without an SACD player — taking a deep breath and leaping off the ledge, as it were — I arranged to have the C-S5VL sent from ONKYO DIRECT. → ※The direct store had various extras thrown in, which was rather nice.

From the next instalment, as usual, it will be a detailed sound quality impression and a full reveal of what is inside the C-S5VL on arrival — something like that. (To be continued)

【SACD Player ONKYO C-S5VL Detailed Review】
Announcement｜Purchase｜Part 1｜Part 2｜Part 3｜Part 4｜Part 5｜Part 6｜Part 7

[PR] SOUNDHOUSE