Hello everyone,
This is a review and measurements of the Onkyo C-7030 CD player and transport:
View attachment 472879
Yes, there's one more item than usual on the picture, and it's not included
Onkyo C-7030 - Presentation
This Onkyo has been available under this reference for quite sometime. This is a brand new item that I got.
You can see that it's a CD Player only (I like that), no USB input but a phones out (I love that too).
This CD Player has been discussed in many places, including here on ASR and I read that it was using either a Wolfson WM8718 or an AK4482. But when I measured the Onkyo, I did not find the filter performance reported by any of these two DACs. So there had to be another explanation, meaning I had to open it to check:
View attachment 472880
And yes, not an AK nor a Wolfson here but a more classic BurrBrown (TI) PCM1753 of which filter performances are:
View attachment 472881
And this is exactly what I measured (see later below in the measurements section)
The back of the Onkyo shows the necessary and essential:
View attachment 472884
No, you can't improve the sound replacing power cord, no you can't...
The inside is neat:
View attachment 472885
Closer view at the board:
View attachment 472886
Besides taking 10sec to read the TOC of my test CD, I was pleasantly surprised by a very fast mech, much faster than the ones of the Denon DCD-900NE or the Yamaha CD-S303 to which you might compare this one.
I listened to it via an external headphones amplifier and with my usual Beyer DT-770Pro 32ohms, and this player made me happy.
Onkyo C-7030 - Measurements (RCA Out)
All measurements performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input) for analog outputs, and a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital.
I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “
More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the
Onkyo C-733 review. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
The Onkyo is shy by only 0.132dB of the standard 2Vrms output. The two channels are matched at 0.09dB, which is good. Phase is dead flat.
----
As usual, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the
Test CD (RCA out):
View attachment 472890
The THD+N is dominated by THD at this highest digital level. But the calculated SNR, in the presence of this highest level signal is a very good 97.2dB, very close to the max theoretical 98dB of PCM 16bits.
Let's try the same @-6dB:
View attachment 472891
The THD decreased by 6dB which means this DAC does not like playing too loud.
I think you saw a very silent CD Player totally free of power supply related spuriae:
View attachment 472892
It's good when it's that clean.
----
Next is the bandwidth:
View attachment 472893
We get -0.5dB at 20kHz, and we see some ripple, again in line with the published specs of TI (+-0.04dB).
A wider view will tell us more:
View attachment 472896
We get -50dB attenuation with a stop-band at 24.1kHz, as per the specs. The increase of noise floor beyond 30kHz is due to the noise shaper of the converter.
This is not a high performer per today's standards.
----
Let's have a look at the multitone test that a lot of you like very much:
View attachment 472898
Right channel has a little more noise/distortion, but it clears the audio CD content anyways (roughly -100dB). So that is very good.
----
Let's have a look at the Jitter:
View attachment 472899
Red trace is from the digital output of the Onkyo and the blue one from analog RCA.
We get minimum lateral rays, of no concern. This is a very good trace.
----
Started with the
Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more
here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
The results of the Onkyo show that its interpolator has a good 1dB headroom to process too hot signals, which is good news.
----
Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an
undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
View attachment 472900
We can easily recognized the 3 primary levels, which should be a square, with a good symmetry. We have minimum noise to disturb the signal. The ringing os due to the reconstruction filter (symmetrical impulse response) and the Gibbs phenomenon (limited band to 22.05kHz).
----
Other measurements (not shown):
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -83.9dB
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -78.9dB
- IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -81.1dB
- IMD DIN (250Hz & 8kHz 4:1) : -76.7dB
- IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -78.6dB
- IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 7kHz 1:4) : -77.2dB
- IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -96.9dB
- IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -92.8dB
- Dynamic Range : 97.9dB (without dither @-60dBFS)
- Crosstalk: -121dBr (100hz), -120dBr (1kHz), -98.5dBr (10kHz)
- Pitch Error : 19'997.26Hz (19'997Hz requested) ie 13ppm
- Gapless playback : Yes
The IMD scores are good, even if 20dB lower than best in class.
The Dynamic range and crosstalk are very god. The clock is precise at 13ppm.
----
Last and not least, I like to run a THD vs Frequency sweep at -12dBFS as it shows how the conversion has evolved over time. I am currently using the beta version of REW and I discovered that this sweep gives better and more reliable results than before:
View attachment 472901
You can see that at this -12dBFS, the BurrBrown still suffers from harmonic distortion when compared to the best in class. Right channel suffers a little more (look at the legend).
----
As I did with the
Sony CDP-597, I'm introducing a new "max DAC resolution" measurement. It's performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither. I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. That gives me a local max resolution, which should be higher than 17bits as a proof that the CD Player can actually resolve more than the Audio CD.
Here are the results of the Onkyo compared to others:
I showed the best of the two channels (left) but note that the right one achieves only
16.6bits on this test, again because of its higher distorsion, and that would put it on lower end of that table, actually below my threshold of 17bits. Too bad...
Onkyo C-7030 - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
The Onkyo took a relatively long 10 seconds to read the TOC of my 40 tracks test CD. It operates in total silence.
Here are the results:
| Test type | Technical test | Results |
| Variation of linear cutting velocity | From 1.20m/s to 1.40m/s | Pass |
| Variation of track pitch | From 1.5µm to 1.7µm | Pass |
| Combined variations of track pitch and velocity | From 1.20m/s & 1.5µm to 1.40m/s & 1.7µm | Pass |
| HF detection (asymmetry pitch/flat ratio) | Variation from 2% to 18% | Pass |
| Dropouts resistance | From 0.05mm (0.038ms) to 4mm (3.080ms) | Up to 1.25mm |
| Combined dropouts and smallest pitch | From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm | Up to 1mm |
| Successive dropouts | From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm | Up to 1mm |
The Onkyo was able to read without generating typical digital noise with dropouts up to 1.25mm. I could measure interpolation starting as early as with 0.75mm but I could not hear it. It had no issue with HF detection nor variation of trach pitch and velocity. These results are on the low end for a modern CD Player, but I guess this a payback for the speed of the drive...
Onkyo C-7030 - Measurements (Digital Optical Out)
I know several of you want to know, is it a good transport?
So let's go with the 999.91Hz @0dBFS:
View attachment 472903
It is as I see it from the original WAV that I burnt of the CD, and that the Onkyo is playing here
Same with my usual 3DC measurement:
View attachment 472904
As we want to see it.
The final proof (to me) is when I reuse the intersamples over test at 5512.50Hz, with a phase shift of 67.5°, like I did for the
TASCAM CD-200 review. This signal generates an overshoot of +0.69dB and so if the signal would be modified before being sent, it would show either a reduction of amplitude or we'd see some sort of saturation/increase noise/distorsion. So here we go, the below is a comparison between the WAV File directly processed by the PC, and when played by the Onkyo via the optical out:
View attachment 472905
They are the same, so no digital modification, ie perfect transport.
Conclusion
The Onkyo is nice looking and decent performing CD player, to me. I got to measure what I see from older very good CD Players, and you have a warranty!
As a transport, it shines. Only we would have loved to get more resistance to scratched CDs, but it's still as good or better than many old KSS Laser heads from Sony.
This is a good competitor of the Yamaha CD-S303. They have different but very close performances. If one is cheaper than the other with your preferred reseller, then you know what to do!
I hope you enjoyed this review and have lovely weekend!
Flo
