Onkyo C-7070

It’s difficult to imagine how you could improve the humble CD player, but Onkyo’s engineering team had plenty of inspiration. For 2011, the C-7070 is an extremely versatile and sophisticated piece of audio equipment. The unit is strengthened with vibration-damping machined-brass legs, a 1.6 mm thick flat-base chassis, an aluminum CD tray with silent mechanism, a full-floating circuit board, and a handsome aluminum front panel. In addition, the electrical system benefits from a precision clock, a pair of Wolfson® 192 kHz/24-bit DACs—one for each channel—and Onkyo’s DIDRC (Dynamic Intermodulation Distortion Reduction Circuitry). These improvements all but eliminate noise from the source, meaning your music will sound clearer than ever. Naturally, the C-7070 plays audio discs or CD-R/CD-RWs and your favorite MP3/WMA compilation CDs. It also connects to your iPod/iPhone via the USB port, and plays music straight off a USB thumb drive. The three-stage dimmer function, gold-plated audio terminals, and headphone amplifier differential circuitry offer further evidence of Onkyo’s attention to detail. All this adds up to a player that, like your CD collection, will be around for a long time to come.