The Onkyo DX-7555 CD player doesn't have a carousel for playing 5 discs. It doesn't feature RS-232C control or have a fancy remote control. It doesn't support WMA, SACD or HDCD. It does, however, sport the look and feel of a high-end piece of machinery, built for those who will settle for no less than a truly audiophile-quality CD player.

The DX-7555 shows off its stuff in several ways. First, it weighs a hefty 17.6 pounds and has less than 0.0027% total harmonic distortion (measured at 1kHz). An emphasis is placed on the analog outputs, which are fed from a Wolfson 192 kHz/24-bit digital to analog converter (DAC). The digital outputs are offered in optical or coaxial S/PDIF format and a "super precision" clock ensures that jitter is reduced.

The remote control for the Onkyo CD player has both a Standby button (Off) and a Power On button. This is both unusual and very welcome in a standalone CD player and helps when utilizing an IR-based remote control that controls your AV components with macro commands.

The unit has a headphone level control knob on the front of the unit, so you can adjust the level of the headphone output directly rather than relying on digital control through the remote control. An unusual feature is the Onkyo RI, or Remote Interactive connections which, rather than a standard remote in/out function, rely on proprietary signals that are not designed to work with other manufacturers' products.

Sound quality was excellent, with a flat frequency response that didn't colorize the sound or cause listener fatigue due to distortion in the high frequencies. Everything came through wonderfully, and we could see why some might consider the DX-7555 to be an audiophile CD player. It may be priced well below the normal limits of a "high-end" CD player, but don't let that fool you--the Onkyo has all the resolution and build quality of a true audiophile product.

Pros: Discrete power on/off on remote, solid build quality, coax and TOSlink output
Cons: No RS-232C, proprietary IR in/out

Warranty
1 year