Hi from England - and Greece! I recently bought one of these CD players new for £199! and felt compelled to add my experience so far.
Straight off, the sound quality of the 7555 is simply and NATURALLY superb! I am using the matching (in every way) 9755 amp and have the use of three pairs of speakers, which are capable of doing this Onkyo set up justice.

These are a) A pair of modified Dynaudio Contour 1.3 MKIIs. b) A pair of hybrid speakers I built using 4 NXT panels (2 per channel with a dedicated 10" sub and super tweeter top end bottom) and last but not least c) my old pair of "Parthenons", so called as I have used solid marble slabs for the sides, each recently updated with 2 12" Peerless bass drivers to an Onkyo mid-range horn driver (from 1974!) and super tweeter, capable of probably the most 'real' sound I've heard - regardless of money! Best of all, each pair has cost me only a few hundred dollars to make, as the Dynaudios were picked up very cheaply 2nd hand and also modified by me.

I mention the speakers as, since the late 60s, I have aspired to do justice to all those groups, orchestras, musicians and artists who have given me so much pleasure, but could never afford the "hi-end" kit that sometimes came close to naturally reproducing what my ears expected or had heard live! For many years, the wonderful Onkyo A9070 amp and reasonably priced turntables and cartridges served me well and then came CD.

But since my Philips 104b CD player, the struggle has mostly been finding a front end source I could afford that could reproduce the potential that digitally recorded sound offered. Unfortunately even some outrageously priced "hi-end" kit failed to sound accurate to that recorded sound - let alone natural. Until now!

'Naturally' the Onkyo isn't absolutely perfect (what is?) but it comes so satisfyingly close that I am now simply listening to the music and, only sometimes when rediscovering new insights on familiar recordings, think about or become aware of the quality of the equipment.

Finally, if you still have a CD collection and don't want to spend silly money to hear it satisfactorily, all I can say is, if you're lucky enough to still come across one, grab it! This CD player (and amp) is extraordinary value for money - even at it's "original" price - with excellent, cost effective application of technology and 'sound' engineering. Quite frankly, it also raises serious questions regarding the multi thousand price tags of so many "hi-end" products.

Just can t say enough about this player it ghandily beat my Classe CDP .5 2k machine. I tried it solid listening 3 weeks straight and sold the lasse.

Paid: $409

Summary:

I have been listening to my Onkyo DX-7555 for 9 days. My old Denon DRM-370 carousal HDCD player from 2001 with a Micropacific Burr-Brown DAC finally refused to recognize any CDs. After many hours of online research of reading reviews and checking prices for the best deal, I decided to buy the DX-7555. The Stereophile.com review results, from the lab measurements that rated the DX-7555 as excellent, impressed me the most. I then looked at several other CD players with lab measurements rated as excellent by Stereophile.com and these audiophile CD players cost $1500 to $3000 and more. I believe in science supported by facts. Lab measurements cannot lie. My own perceptions of the DX-7555 seem to reveal a more precise presence of instruments and voices, a wider soundstage, a much tighter drumbeat and generally I am hearing much more from the CDs than I ever have before. My Rotel RB 991 amplifier with 200 wpc into Klipsch Legend KLF-30 floor standing speakers (96 lbs each) still seemed a little harsh at the high frequencies, but less than before. The horns in the Klipsch speakers have always been that way to my ears. For less than the original cost of the Rotel RB 991 I have added both the Onkyo A-9555 and the Onkyo DX-7555 to my home stereo. The Onkyo A-9555 handles the high frequencies nicely and overall seems a better match to the DX-7555. I am very happy with this purchase and so is my wife. The new pair of components make for a much more pleasant music listening experience.

Paid:$409

Summary:
I have been listening to my Onkyo DX-7555 for 9 days. My old Denon DRM-370 carousal HDCD player from 2001 with a Micropacific Burr-Brown DAC finally refused to recognize any CDs. After many hours of online research of reading reviews and checking prices for the best deal, I decided to buy the DX-7555. The Stereophile.com review results, from the lab measurements that rated the DX-7555 as excellent, impressed me the most. I then looked at several other CD players with lab measurements rated as excellent by Stereophile.com and these audiophile CD players cost $1500 to $3000 and more. I believe in science supported by facts. Lab measurements cannot lie. My own perceptions of the DX-7555 seem to reveal a more precise presence of instruments and voices, a wider soundstage, a much tighter drumbeat and generally I am hearing much more from the CDs than I ever have before. My Rotel RB 991 amplifier with 200 wpc into Klipsch Legend KLF-30 floor standing speakers (96 lbs each) still seemed a little harsh at the high frequencies, but less than before. The horns in the Klipsch speakers have always been that way to my ears. For less than the original cost of the Rotel RB 991 I have added both the Onkyo A-9555 and the Onkyo DX-7555 to my home stereo. The Onkyo A-9555 handles the high frequencies nicely and overall seems a better match to the DX-7555. I am very happy with this purchase and so is my wife. The new pair of components make for a much more pleasant music listening experience.

Clean,easy on ear sound. Natural Vocals. Decent frequency extremes. Adjustable filter and clock settings.Price.

At times lack of depth .Muffled in a complex mix. Best suited to Onkyo amps.

I am an onkyo fan since 80'sEven today I crave for the great Bass of thier Old Speakers SC 90..But with time moved on to serious high end. for the past two decades . I am more than happy with with my Wadia CD,Krell and MartinLogans. After reading the Review of Onkyo 7555 in Stereophile,I just got curious and felt pleased to hear something nice about the old favourite brand. Got the 7555 at a very reasonable price .Connected to Krell Amp and well, was surprised to find the sound very soothing ,detailed,with decent soundstage. Good Frequency spectrum and focus.Very listenable for long hours.
Obviously ,no match for Wadia ,but for a fraction of price a very good product from an old friend.Well done Onkyo......

Customer Service

Very Good

Similar Products Used:

First generatio Onkyo CD player, Pioneer,Marantz and Teac CD players..

Transparency, excellent specs, ultra-low jitter, detail, linear response, realistic soundstage with precise imaging, non-fatiguing, authoritative controlled bass.

Sounds un-involving and slightly veiled with the stock power cord. Yiou need to open the hood to replace the stock power cord. Moreover, the power transformer in this unit is not as large as hyped to be. The toroidal on the Cambridge Audio Azur 640C is much larger). Plus the stock power cord (a pair of insulated 18awg wire running in parallel) is probably an RFI magnet, and letting a lot of RF into the player.

This player also seems to be sensitive to the external power conditioning. It seems to sound best when plugged into an conditioner that has isolated banks for digital components. (In my case it is a Furman PST-8D).

I chose this player due to its excellent speficiations and reviews. It has a Wolfson WM8740 24-bit/192 kHz DAC (that is also found in the Cambridge Audio Azur 640C (v2)), an anti-resonant chassis and its low-jitter clock circuit that is said to be accurate to +/- 1.5ppm. The Absolute Sound says "in the two-channel realm, it held its own against the Lexicon RT-20, a $5000 multichannel universal-disc player."

My initial listing impressions of this player, compared to my three year old Marantz CC4300 CD changer, were that it conveyed more details and hall/venue information than the Marantz. The mid bass was more authoritative, faster and less bloated than the Marantz. It also producted more natural timbres with strings, horns and percussion.

But I let this player run for over 30 hours before performing a more serious AB comparison with the Marantz.

The Onkyo's soundstage is wider and deeper, with more precise and believable imaging. The imaging and channel balance are so precise and spot on that I had to reposition my speakers, using very precise measurements to the tune of a mere inch here and an inch there, so that the central image was aligned with the sweetspot. The hall and venue information the Onkyo conveys within the soundstage makes it sound pretty life-like. Overall the Onkyo's presentation is natural, linear and non-fatiguing.

That said, I found the Onkyo's treble and midrange presence somewhat soft and veiled compared to the Marantz. While the Onkyo is less fatiguiging, it was also less involving, and music lost its emotional impact. Buyer's remose started to kick in and I was strongly considering selling my unit.

Then I remembered the improvements I had gained on my Marantz player when I replaced its stock power cord with a DIY shielded cable.

While the stock power cord on the Onkyo is not detachable, the cord can be easily unplugged from the power supply board after opening the chassis cover. (A slight press on the release tab of the female plug is enough). By happy coincidence the two male pins on the power supply board accomodate a power cord with a C7 adapter, without soldering! (Some of the plastic on the C7 connecter would need to be shaved off to prevent forcing).

Replacing the stock cord with an AudioQuest NRG-1.5 made a world of difference, improving the treble, midrange and overall transparency. The music is very detailed, yet analog sounding and involving now. I am now thoroughly pleased!

Repeated AB comparison between the stock power cord and the AQ NRG-1.5 confirmed to me that the stock power cord prevented this player from showing its true capacbility.

Since I have this taken care of, the player just sounds wonderful and definitely a keeper!

Customer Service

Not applicable.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD-F87 universal CD/HDCD/MP3/DVD/DVD-A player. Marantz CC4300 CD changer.