Onkyo Integra DX-G10
Onkyo Integra DX-6990
(1988 - 1990+)

Rare, very rare 27 kilo monster CD player where everything is... light.

More precisely : optical. 1988 marks the beginning of Toshiba's TOS technology, transforming electrical current into light to avoid any electrical interference from the circuits ruining the signal's coherence and integrity. Denon used the same system in its PMA-1520 digital amplifier, and elsewhere as well. And others, too.
So the DX-G10 (Integra C-2001 in Japan, Integra DX-6990 in Europe) transfers the digital signal from the digital board to the analogue board by way of five opto-couplers. Before that final stage, light is used to power the two Opto-Drive converters, so as to eliminate possible electromagnetic leaks into the signal itself. The Opto-Drive circuit swaps the regular Zener diode for a combination of LED and photoresistor.

The two Acculinear converters are 18-bit and factory-calibrated as far as the 4SB (fourth Most Significant Bit) for the most in linearity. Two 8x oversampling digital filters help out and perfect the fully-balanced d/a scheme.
Besides the analogue outputs, a TOS fiber digital output is present to remain in light from the laser's to the (optional) external converter, should the Acculinear prove to be not sufficient. A regular 75 Ohm coaxial is also present, should the TOS finally sound not so good despite its purity :)

Not much so far to make 27 kilos, so the DX-G10 rests on a graphite-reinforced steel base of the the same kind as that of the A-G10 amplifier (Integra A-2001 in Japan) - now we're closer to 20 kilos. The remaining seven comprise the power transfomer and its two main windings (digital / analogue), the GIC analogue filters before the analogue output, the aluminium shielding of the various blocks, the thick aluminium top and front, the real wood sideburns with black piano finish, and the linear motor CD drive. Said drive was of course built by somebody else but it was none of the usual japanese suspects (ie. Sony) but Sanyo. An excellent drive which has one of the best RF patterns coming out of the laser and otherwise very solidly built, and seemingly still serviceable today !

Supplementary audiophile touches lies in the absolute phase reversal switch (by way of the RC-112C remote control) and the dimming of the FL display (by way of said RC-112C). Non-audiophile touches lie in the variable output level which flashes with ten tiny little LEDs, just below the shuttle search.

As for the Integra P-308 and M-508, the export version has a badge that says Grand Integra while the original japanese version only says Integra. In the case of the DX-G10, I'd make an exception to that little white lie ! It is one of the CD players I contemplated when I finally went for CD in the mid 1990s - remaining stocks were very high in France and they got heavily discounted. I didn't get the Onkyo , nor did I go for the Kenwood L-D1 - ah, mistakes.