Sometimes, it’s the simple things that make all the difference. The synergy between 2 components, or that piece of budget hi-fi that ors everything right. Here, however, it’s a CD tray – the tray belonging to Yamaha’s CD-S3000, in itself a marvel of engineering. Press the button and the whisper-quiet tray glides smoothly from its precision-cut slot, sliding open to accept the disc. Press it again and, after a moment, a soft clunk and a relay click signify the beginning of what will be a wonderful musical journey. Sit back, dear reader… and listen.
Sitting on the rack, you’d be forgiven for thinking the CD-S3000 was an ordinary CD player. But it’s more than that – it’s a work of art. A product designed to demonstrate the panicle of audio technology, from a company who arguably does it best. Yamaha have been in the business for over 125 years – and, in that time, they’ve produced some of the finest musical instruments and hi-fidelity audio equipment. Their pianos are world-renowned. Their speakers are used in studios worldwide. And their products can be found in the homes of many, many audiophiles who spend years searching for the perfect sound.
Attention to detail is key here. The CD-S3000 is a monster – weighing in at over 19KG, it ways more than many integrated amps. And it’s an object of beauty, clad with aluminium and wood panels, both to enhance its looks and reduce vibrations. But yamaha hasn’t stopped there…
Inside, the CD-S3000 is a marvel of technical engineering. Separate power supplies, with independent transformers power the digital and analogue circuitry. These toroidal transformers, 14.9VA and 25VA for the analogue and digital circuitry respectively, are copper-encased for shielding.
The analogue and digital sections are positioned either side of the central CD loader mechanism to realise ideal weight balance, and the power supply block capacitors are mounted directly on each board to minimise signal paths. As with the A-S3000, clever routing of cables and low-resistance screw-type connections further reduce signal paths to guarantee the best sound quality.
For the CD drive, Yamaha didn’t opt for the usual cheap plastic off-the-shelf model – instead choosing to build a custom drive with an aluminium tray and precision laser assembly. That tray features a meshed wire drive to guarantee smooth, luxurious operation to match the rest of the player. They didn’t stop there – each drive is supported by heavy anchors to reduce the effects of vibrations when reading the disc, and each drive is meticulously levelled at the factory to give the laser the best chance of picking up every minute detail.
The DAC employs the ES9018 from ESS Technologies, and features a single-stage transmission output stage, which significantly reduces signal loss, and NFB (negative feedback) when compared with a conventional, multi-stage output. The CD-S3000 is designed to give best results when using in a fully balanced configuration with the companion A-S3000 amplifier. The ES9018 is a high-precision, 32-bit DAC chip with an internal master clock, jitter eliminator and a fully balanced signal processing circuit. It features an 8-channel D/A converter, with 4 D/A channels per side operating in dual-differential mode to guarantee every minute detail is captured.
Digital inputs, 1X optical and 1X coaxial, allow you to connect other sources such as a streamer or blu-ray player and benefit from the CD-S3000’s DAC. An asynchronous USB input accepts samplings rates up to 24-bit, 192KHZ. It uses a custom IC with an internal master clock, enabling it to perform low-jitter transmission of audio signals. Using Yamaha’s Steinberg driver, available as a free download from their website, the CD-S3000 supports the ASIO 2.3 protocol. This is the standard protocol for professional use digital audio, and allows greater throughput and lower latency than the standard USB audio driver.
Yamaha’s ‘Pure Direct’ mode allows you to switch off the display and the digital outputs when playing back analogue audio. This improves sound quality by reducing interference – with Yamaha claiming it to offer a warmer, more natural sound. And finally – the chassis has been copper plated to ensure low impedance, and the player sits on Yamaha’s custom adjustable feet. Identical to those found on the companion A-S3000, these feature removable magnetic feet exposing spikes that can be used with suitable furniture. They can also be used to level the player if necessary.
Packaging
Packaging is similar to that of the A-S3000 – wrapped in its foam-like cloth material, the CD-S3000 is supplied sandwiched between 4 rectangular polystyrene blocks. The remote, batteries, power cable and a basic interconnect cable sit in slots atop the player, with some documentation held in a cardboard holder at the side.
First impressions
Right off the bat, I was surprised to see an interconnect cable included, even one as basic as this. It’s unlikely that you’d such such a cable with a system at this price – and given that, I would’ve preferred a USB A-B cable instead.
At over 19KG, the CD-S3000 is considerably heavier than many CD players on the market. And it’s solid, too – thanks to its 7MM thick front and 6MM thick top aluminium panels and solid wood sides. The top panel features precision-cut vents designed to match those on the A-S3000. The usual thump test reveals that the CD-S3000 is all but insusceptible to vibration – the top yielding a dull thunk with no discernible resonance.
The front panel is clean and simple. A rocker switch for power is accompanied by controls for pure direct, source, and a layer selector for SACDs. The 6MM aluminium disc tray lines up perfectly with the open/close button – both situated directly beneath the display, its glass panel precision cut and fastened behind the front panel leaving no discernible gap. To the right, controls are limited to play, pause, stop, next and previous.
All buttons are cut from aluminium. Controls are solid, with a nice tactile click – and there’s no gap between the front panel and the control when the controls are pressed.
Spin the player around, and there’s a lot more going on. A central 2-pin IEC power connector provides power to the unit. It’s worth noting that if your rack has a leg at the rear, you’ll need to ensure there’s enough clearance to clear the cable’s strain relief – a connection positioned to either the extreme left or right would’ve been preferred.
XLR, RCA, optical and coaxial output jacks are provided, as well as the inputs for optical, coaxial and USB. All connectors are high quality, with no flexing or unpleasant sounds with pushing on tight connectors.
Finally, remote jacks allow the unit to be controlled by other components, and a system connector allows for diagnostics and servicing if required.
The remote
The remote supplied with the CD-S3000 is similar to that supplied with the A-S3000 – with the exception of a number of controls relating to the CD player itself. While the A-S3000’s remote offers basic playback controls, the CD-S3000’s offers the ability to program the player and perform other functions. The remote also offers volume and input controls for the A-S3000, so you can use 1 remote for both.
The remote is a solid, chunky a faire with a thick aluminium facia similar to that found on the player itself. The control layout is logical, and controls are easy to locate when you’re lost in the music – there’s no reaching for the manual to figure out which button does what.
Interestingly, while I encountered issues using the A-S3000’s remote, I did not encounter any with that supplied with the CD-S3000. The remote worked flawlessly and was a joy to use. It’s got great range, and works well even when aimed vaguely at the player – and even the battery cover, which keeps the 2 supplied AAA batteries in place, is high quality.
Operation
Flick the CD-S3000’s rocker switch, and you’ll be greeted by relay clicks. The CD-S3000 will remember which source it was previously switched to – right out of the box, it starts up in CD mode. If there’s a CD in the player, playback will begin automatically.
The CD-S3000 employs a hard power switch, like that found on the companion A-S3000. Leaving the front power switch in the on position, the player can be brought in and out of standby mode by the remote – switching off at the front panel cuts all power to the unit. In standby, the player consumes only 0.3W – and, by default, the player automatically enters standby mode after a period of inactivity.
Upon first use, and all uses thereafter, I noticed the CD-S3000 is distinctly slow to respond to most commands. The player takes a significant amount of time from power on until the tray can be opened – and disc loading is slow, too. Skipping tracks, changing sources, or toggling pure direct mode are all as responsive as one could hope for.
Upon pressing the eject button, the tray glides smoothly from its slot, emitting a silent whisper as it goes. 4 rubber strips with indents are adhered to the tray to keep the CD in place, allowing you to line it up in the centre of the tray. The player supports both 12Cm and 8CM CDs, and the rubber helps to prevent your CDs becoming scratched – a nice touch.
A further press of the eject button will close the tray and scan the CDs table of contents. pressing the play button when the tray is extended will cause the tray to close and playback will start without any further intervention – the same result can be achieved with a gentle push of the tray.
On a couple of occasions, I would insert a CD into the CD-S3000 only for it not to be read – I had to open and close the tray again so the player would recognise I had inserted a disc. I’m not sure what causes this issue – it’s not one I’ve been able to reproduce reliably.
The player supports sequence programming, as well as shuffle and repeat etc. The remote is required to use these functions. I rarely if ever use these modes, so this wasn’t a problem for me – and i only used the basic playback functions on the A-S3000’s remote to control the CD player since i had that remote to hand. The CD-S3000 also supports gapless playback – necessary so as not to ruin the flow of some albums. Many players with advanced digital processing contain small amounts of buffer memory, and thus don’t support this function. But it’s supported here, and a welcome addition at that.
Sources are selected by repeated pressing of the front panel source button. Available sources include CD, optical, coaxial and uSB. When operating in CD mode, an output muting relay mutes the output of the CD-S3000 until a disc is playing. This helps to prevent operational noise being heard through your amplifier, such as when the player is reading the discs table of contents (TOC).
When playing back a digital source, the player displays the sampling rate of the signal being fed to the unit. Sampling rates of up to 24-bit, 192KHZ are supported. To guarantee maximum compatibility with all digital sources, the ES9018 employs PLL to generate clock signals synchronised with that of the digital audio signal. There are are 7 PLL bandwidth settings, allowing you to alter the accuracy of the internal clock in the DAC to allow for greater tolerance in fluctuations in the clock of the digital source. All digital sources used worked flawlessly, including USB connected to a MacBook pro.
Playback of single layer, dual layer, and hybrid SACD discs is supported. The CD-S3000 can also play back MP3 and WMA discs, with a maximum of 648 combined files and folders (limited to 299 folders). Only CBR files up to 320KBPS for MP3 and 192KBPS for WMA can be played – variable bitrate files are not supported. Playback of MP3/WMA files is in alpha-numeric order. The unit does not support copy-protected WMA files, and also does not support CD text.
Sound
The CD-S3000 shares many of the characteristics of the A-s3000. The smooth, natural sound with a touch of warmth, and astounding detail retrieval are all traits carried over from the companion amp. What the CD-S3000 has that the A-S3000 lacks ,however, is the ability to disappear – an ability to get completely out of the way and let the music do the talking.
The CD-S3000 offers up a wide, expansive sound stage, and dynamic grunt is there in spades. Spin The Killer’s ‘Battle Born’ album, and the player resolves small details such as the shaker in ‘Heart Of A Girl’, and the creak of the hi-hat pedal during the intro of ‘From Here On OUt’ with ease.
It’s not particularly forgiving with poor recordings – spin Evanescence’s ‘Hello’ from the 2004 Fallen remaster, and the harsh highs take precedence. This is no fault of the CD-S3000 – it’s one of those tracks that, unfortunately, fell fowl of the digital age. Other CD players are, however, better able to dull the harshness, rendering the performance more enjoyable.
Spin Lover Of The Light from Mumford and Sons ‘Babel’, and not only does the CD-S3000 accurately portray the recording space, but it’s also able to capture the rattling of the snare drum that occurs naturally upon each kick of the bass drum. This is something that, as a drummer myself, I appreciate.
‘Simple Man’ from Shinedown’s debut Leave A Whisper displays a warm, almost analogue sound. The CD-S3000 accurately portrays the closed-in, heavily soundproofed room acoustics – and there’s a huge amount of space between the guitars and central vocals. While some CD players tend to bring aspects of a performance forward in the mix, the CD-S3000 remains faithful to the original recording throughout, allowing the vocals to appear further in front of you.
The CD-S3000’s sound was consistent across both CD and digital sources, though I did find the optical source sounded somewhat thin and veiled when playing content streamed via a Stream Magic 6. Greenday’s ‘Are We The Waiting’ sounded more constrained than I’m used too, the drums seemingly unable to reverb and resonate as they do on the original CD. When playing the same track via USB, the sound was more in line with that of the CD.
Summary
Yamaha’s CD-S3000 is a work of art, both inside and out. It’s built like a tank, with an illustrious design and a luxurious feel when operating.
There are a few operational quirks – the time taken to read CDs, and the occasions when the player fails to recognise a disc has been inserted.
However – most importantly – it sounds stunning. Its transparent, natural nature means it’ll get the best from any music you throw at it. If you’re looking for a player that puts the musicians in the room, the CD-S3000 is the player for you.
But it’s not just a CD player. It’s the last CD player – if you can live with its operational abnormalities, this is the last CD player you’ll ever need. It’s also a high end DAC for your other digital sources – and it’ll get the best from those, too. Highly recommended.
Player appears to have design faults and quality control problems i see no reason to buy into the S3000 player it can and does exhibit the useability of a failing 20 year old unit
This is my review and experience for 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.
Thanks for sharing your feedback, and sorry to hear of your issues. Did you replace your player following the refund?
Yes, I have ordered a McIntosh MCD550. I compared it with a Marantz SA10 in a compare session of 4 hours in my hifi shop and the Mcitossh is clearly better
Interesting. I’m a big fan of the Marantz equipment but have yet to hear an MCD550.
Update on Vicg’s SACD skipping issue.
Okay folks, here is my update. I took it in for warranty work. I have used it for 16 months and my warranty expires in 24 months. The issue was the laser. It was miss aligned and I am waiting for a replacement unit. total down time is two weeks estimated. Anyhow it worked well for 13 months and after the issue began. Honestly I have more than a 1000 hours on it, but I expect a whole lot more. My 14 years Sony SACD is back in the fray until the Yamaha comes back. Man what a different. I feel like I’m back to black and white TV after having a 4K flat panel. GEEEZ.
Glad you found a solution, here’s hoping it works when it comes back!
Ashley, I have just received my SACD player after a week at the shop and have thoroughly tested it. Wow it sounds better than new. The tech said that the laser had to be replaced. It was failing from the start. I thought it was good when I first bought but it is better now. I am very happy to buy both the amp and player. What a perfect set. The music they make is together is glorious. For those who do not want to use a SACD player, I would suggest getting the AS-1100. It does most of what my 2100 does for 500.00 less, and is a cheaper solution for sourcing with CD players, and turntables.
Glad you got it sorted!
All: I have used this SA-CD 3000 player since 2014 and its performance has been faultless. I ran it continously for 8 months (!) to burn it in and to check its reliability. No worries there. Yes, a little slow in some of its operations – rather like the first Sony SACD player – but not that slow! No problems with transport but discs MUST be pristine. At its (relatively low) price, there is no equivalent, in my experience, in the marketplace. I live in Hong Kong, where there is often high humidity and always pollution – never a problem for the player. So David: Have the transport checked. And, Ashley; Don’t tempt fate! Moi
8 months? Wow, that’s a lengthy burn in period. Glad it’s working for you though and thanks for sharing your experience..
Ashley: Thanks – Yes, as burn-ins go, pretty long! BTW I have noticed that if the disc is not properly placed in the tray it does get rejected: we, too, must have precision! Yet what a so musical player, so beautifully built, as your thorough (and excellent) review points out. Best, Francis
David, I’m considering this player but I’m concerned about the issues you mention when playing discs. Was this sorted out?
Great review and I can only agree with your comments. I’m lucky enough to have one of these with the matching 3000 amp and I can only say “superb”. I may have an issue though with the CD player’s laser tracking: on certain CD’s whilst playing the last track I get gaps in the sound – it just inserts a blank gap. Sometimes just one and sometimes almost as if it’s trying to send me a morse code message! At first I thought it just to be a case of old CD with slight damage to the outer edge but it’s now done it on a brand new 2015 CD that looks immaculate. I will say though that gently wiping the CD with a lens wipe makes it play ok. Should this mechanism be this sensitive to minute particles of dust or dirt? The player is installed in a warm room that doesn’t suffer from dramatic temperature change so it’s not a case of condensation. It is also set up by spirit level. Only purchased new in October 2015 it has about 50-70 hours use. Anyone else had this or can advise? Is this a fault with the laser or is it just a quirk of this model?
Thanks, glad you liked the review. That doesn’t sound normal to me at all, I played a huge number of CDs on the review sample and never had any such issue. It did sometimes struggle to play a badly damaged disc, of which I keep a few around for testing; but I don’t remember it ever failing to play back a disc in its entirety. I’d get yours checked out by the dealer especially given the low usage.
David I had the cds-2100 and yes it does skip tracks when playing SACD and only with some disk. Not sure why. but I have had mine for nearly 18 months and notice the problem with new SACD’s I purchase 3 months ago and any SACD I have purchased since. I cleaned one of my most problematic SACD with lens cleaner and it seems to work. So I believe it is very sensitive to dust that I cannot see with my naked eye.
VicG, is it just with SACD’s or redbook CD’s also? Just this week ordered the CD-S2100.
Robert, I don’t have any Redbook CD’s. As far as a CD player the device is flawless in playback. My concern is only for the SACD playback as some of my SACD have a gap in playback, which at first affected only my newly purchased SACD, some of which are multichannel 5.1, Hybrid, etc. So I am taking the device back for warranty repair. I am sad to be without it, as it is best player out there. I over a thousand hours of mind blowing playback on it. So a better I have not found. Anyhow I ruled out the SACD as having a fault, as I re connected my old Sony SACD player and did not skip on any tracks on the half dozen SACD’s that gave me grief.
Hi,
have you compared Yamaha CDS-2100 to CDS-3000 ? I have got CD S-2100, but think to upgrade it to the top model. Are there any evident differencies in sound quality ? I listen to classical music only.
I haven’t. If there is a difference, I imagine it would be minimal and I couldn’t say whether it justified the cost. The best way is for you to arrange a demo, preferably at home so you can assess the difference.
I will try, but if ever I realise Yamaha CD-S3000 is better that the one I owe now (CD S2100), I will blame myself for my choice, so not sure whether I will do it. I imagine Yamaha CS-S3000 may have a deeper stage, but I am not sure.
I have owned the CD-S2000 since 2009 and it’s never had any issues with it even after more than 5000 hrs of use.
I always clean my discs before putting them in the player and I store all my discs in their original cases inside seal-able plastic sleeves.
VicG – Do your old SACD’s still work and it’s only the new ones which don’t ? If so simply get rid of the ones that don’t work and replace them with ones that do.
If it’s all your SACD’s now then you probably need a traverse assy – which should be covered under warranty unless the unit has had something spilled inside it or it requires cleaning due to being in a dusty environment or subjected to debris such as unusual amounts of dust or smoke.
Cleaning a lens is not something I’d recommend as you need medical grade isopropyl which cannot be prucharsed without a licence in most countries. Anything less rarely if ever works well.
Alan, I am taking it in for warranty work. It started to gap even on my oldest SACD “Diana Krall”, which I have had for nearly ten years. The issue may be optical cleaning or worse assembly related. I have tried cleaning the disk, blowing air in the cavity to loosen dust, on off shutdown, and changing the dpll bandwidth for the source as suggested by the manual. And that did nothing to remedy the issue. Today my player is working fine, but I already made preps to have it serviced, so when they come to get it I will be back on my Sony player for a while. If I had to buy it again, I would without reservation. It plays like heaven on earth. My mistake is in not getting another, which I am seriously considering. I don’t want any down time. lol.
David, did you get it resolved, if so please advise?