Another DVD Player, Big Deal. Actually it is! The new Onkyo DV-S555 is the first of the brand name DVD Players to offer MP-3 playback (although Marantz and Yamaha will have it in their next models). It will play DVD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, VCD and MP-3's, the audio DAC's are 192 kHz / 24 bit and the video DAC's 27 mHz / 10 bit. Picture quality is excellent (almost as good as our reference Marantz DV-18 II) and sound quality is equally impressive.

Multizone is standard although being a Toshiba based unit, the problem with RCE discs remains. I haven't tried the MP-3 playback yet but will remedy that shortly when I take a 555 home as most of my favourite music collections are stored using MP-3 variable bit rate compression. At last I'll be able to retire my trusty cheap (but not too nasty) Amoisonic (which I use just for MP-3 playback) and my Yamaha DVD S510 and replace the two units with a single DVD. A compelling enough reason to splash out around $900 for a new DVD player, especially with Onkyo's generous 5 year warranty (3 years on laser). Available now in black or gold.