On
http://www.ecoustics.com, there is this page of information:
http://search.ecoustics.com/a.php?search=Onkyo+802 . Sovkiller, it is difficult to gauge how well this unit sounds other than auditioning it yourself. Unfortunately, not that many people have had much experience with this specific manufacturer's model as the demand for carousel universal DVD players is a niche unto itself. I have heard it once at a local Hi-Fi dealer's shop, but only briefly. It is feature packed for today's technologies and it provided a reasonably good sonic picture. The bass was solid, midrange was a bit forward and evocative, and the treble was refined without a hint of sibiliance. I know that the SONY CD-3000 will alter the sonic presentation a bit, but I don't think that the mating of this Onkyo DV-CP802 and your particular system should be abhorrent. Again, I have heard nothing of reliability or durability issues. It is quite an investment in a carousel universal DVD player at $500 USD MSRP, but I think it represents a fairly solid value at $320 USD market price. I would consider purchasing one as a replacement for my aging Panasonic RP-82 DVD player which is exhibiting some transport problems as of late.
I think you should go for it. DVD-Audio is an ear and eye opener. Though the titles are small and the catalog shallow, it still represents the very finest in pre-recorded digital audio to date. The sound quality alone merits its demand in a replacement source component in my humble opinion. SACD is a real sonic treat because the catalog is fairly well developed and the analogies to the master analog tape are indeed correct. Pick a Sonoma DSD recorded SACD title and put it in a SACD player and you will swear it sounds like analog tape or vinyl. I do. SACD is more of a must have for me than DVD-Audio simply because the catalog is better developed.
Red Book CD on this Onkyo player is ok, but don't expect superlative performance of a dedicated CD player only. It will get the job done pretty well, but you may be slightly disappointed at the slightly digital and grainy sound. That is where modifications will help enormously and you should begin sending some e-mail messages to specific mod houses or shops before you plunk down your hard earned money into this unit. Ensure that they will do it for you at an affordable price including shipping, handling, and insurance fees.
As for DVD-Video, this is where the player takes it on the chin. It is capable of 450 lines of interlaced resolution instead of the industry standard 480 lines of interlaced resolution per the DVD-Video standard. So, the picture will appear a bit less sharp and the colors will seem to bleed into one another a little more, but it should be fine for a standard NTSC 480i analog TV. There are a lot of technical problems with the de-interlacing chip on rigorous video test pattern discs, but you should be ok with the picture quality at your home or apartment.
So! Audio quality is superb especially with high resolution media. CD playback is pretty good, but not as resolved as a dedicated CD player only. DVD-Video quality is passe, but it will get the job done. Build quality and craftsmanship is solid. Reliability and durability are solid too. The only technical glitch is that it tends to repeat the same songs on multiple discs when you put it in random play mode. Otherwise, it changes discs in less than 10 seconds and it is very quiet in operation. It has a built in feature to turn off the video circuitry for pure audio mode which is nice too. At $330 USD, it is a bit expensive still, but you pay more for increased audio quality and a six - 6 - disc carousel universal dvd player. I think it is worth it.
