CD / SACD players and transports — Onkyo Icon C-30

The Icon C-30 is a CD player from Onkyo, the Japanese name that Premium Audio Company, owner of Klipsch, now develops. It was added to the Icon Series of hi-fi components after the A-50 integrated amplifier, P-80 network preamplifier and M-80 power amplifier introduced at CES 2025. It shares their design, with an aluminium front panel and blast finish.

Key specs that matter

The C-30 uses a 24-bit/192 kHz DAC. Signal-to-noise is 103 dB, dynamic range 100 dB and THD 0.004%, with frequency response from 4 Hz to 20 kHz. The master clock has a precision of +/-10 ppm. Outputs are analogue RCA, coaxial digital and optical. It plays CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3 and WMA. The front panel is vibration-resistant blast-finished aluminium. Finishes are black and silver, and a front headphone output has its own volume control. The player measures 435 x 100 x 305 mm and weighs 5.3 kg.

Engineering and use context

The player uses Onkyo's proprietary VLSC, Vector Linear Shaping Circuit, which removes pulse noise from the signal after conversion. A delta-sigma DAC produces high-frequency switching noise along with the audio, and a conventional low-pass filter removes it only partly. VLSC reconstructs the waveform between the sample points using an algorithm that follows the direction of the signal, producing a smoother analogue output with less of this noise. The precise clock keeps timing accurate, which reduces jitter in the conversion. The digital outputs let the C-30 feed an outboard converter or the P-80 preamplifier's own converter. Playback of MP3 and WMA files from CD-R and CD-RW discs extends its use to compilation discs. The Icon Series was designed around high current, high speed and high resolution, and Onkyo positions it on nearly 80 years of audio history. The C-30 completes a full Onkyo system with the P-80 and M-80 or the A-50. The Icon components share a width and a front-panel language, so a C-30 stacks neatly with the amplifiers. The series' A-50 integrated was priced at USD 1,599 and the P-80 and M-80 at USD 1,999 each, placing the C-30 as the entry to an Onkyo system built around physical media.

Pairing

The C-30 connects by RCA to the Icon A-50 integrated amplifier or the P-80 preamplifier, or digitally to the P-80's DAC. Klipsch's Forte speakers were shown with the series.

Alternatives

Onkyo's C-7030 is an earlier CD player from the brand's previous hi-fi range.