Yamaha CD-S3000 CD/SACD Player Preview

[Darkwing_duck]

Even if I had the monies....I'd still buy the oppo. It even looks sexier than this Yamaha.

 

[Ponzio]

Then again, I'm not the target audience...or even in the same zip code as the target audience.

I wouldn't say audience as much as a small pack.

The fact that this product made it to market in 2013 has me seriously questioning whether Yamaha is a viable company going forward. Who would approve the development of a standalone CD player in 2013 - especially one that sells for $7000??!! Who on earth would actually buy this product?

Yeah, this will definitely bankrupt Yamaha.

Many respectable companies, be they automotive, audio, whatever, will build these boutique products as a balm to their internal engineering people and worldwide bragging rights. I doubt profit enters the picture at all. Plus you have the added benefit of trickle down technology to their more affordable consumer products.

 

[Guust69]

This my experince and review of the Yamaha cd-s3000:

For me the perfect SACD player has three qualities. Excellent sound, easy to use and firmly build. Sound a 8, usability 6 and construction 2 out of ten.

The sound is fantastic. It is light, transparent, wide, direct and in balance. When you close your eyes, you’re convinced the piano plays in your room. I give it 8 out of 10. No 9, therefore the difference between SuperAudio and CD should be more distinct. The DAC is nothing special. It’s great with USB connection, but otherwise… it’s just a DAC.

The usability is disappointing. This player needs at least 12 seconds to decide if the disc is SACD, CD or nothing at all. The last one is annoying if you want to use the DAC. For usage 6 out of 10.

The body seems impressive when you realize that it weighs 20kg. Hellas the kilograms do not represent the build quality. This player has major design faults. About 15% of my CD collection cannot be played. It’s not just the old ones also some new CD’s get the qualification: ‘No Disc’.

16 months ago, I bought this player as first owner. One month later I tried David Bowie’s Hunky Dory. The player started to make a noise like an espresso machine in action, a loud stamping sound. And there were more CD’s with strange machine noises.

The CDS3000 is Yamaha’s top audio product so their salesman instantly offered me a surround amplifier for free to buy of Yamaha’s embarrassment. After repairing the issue was not solved so I got a new one and a month later again a new one. The third player had no trouble with David Bowie but refused SACD’s. So back to the store. After three players, two repairs and 15 months Yamaha finally decided to give me my money back. For construction 2 out of 10.

When Yamaha launched the CDS-3000 they announced they are back in the arena of high-end audio and they can compete with the best. After three years after launch date it’s fair to state that this player has great sound capability’s but is ludicrously bad build for 4.000 euro’s and is therefore no match for the competition.

 

[sterling shoote]

If it will not play multi-channel SACDs I'm not interested. When multi-channel SACDs appeared it distinguished SACD; and, as far as I'm concerned, it made the concept very desirable, sounding better than CD big time. Then, just a few years ago, multi-channel analog output was replaced by HDMI output on most SACD players and Universal players, except for OPPO players, which still allow for multi-channel via RCA analog output. I like that, since my pre/pro does not have an HDMI input. Another thing changed too, again except for OPPO, most SACD player manufacturers stopped making multi-channel players for stereo only SACD players. Who would want such a thing. At any rate, for those who do have pre/pros with HDMI input, I'd suggest getting the OPPO UDP-203 to enjoy multi-channel SACD. If you do not have HDMI get the OPPO UDP-205 coming out later this month as I understand it. Either way you can enjoy multi-channel SACD, which as I hear it, can be an awesome recorded music listening experience.