Helios X5000 Remote Control and Test Results

The Helios X5000 remote is small and lightweight. It fits well in your hand and is backlit. Your thumb falls easily on the OK button in the center of the directional keys. The remote stays lit for about five seconds which is just about the perfect amount of time as far as I'm concerned. Other than the OK and directional buttons, the buttons are all pretty small. Of particular concern were the playback control buttons that were among the smallest on the remote. There was nearly no way you could find those buttons without lighting up the remote and looking down. If they had included some sort of Braille dimple on the center of the playback key area, that would have helped. Overall, however, this remote worked well for me.

What doesn't work is the whole idea of having to enter a URL from the keypad. Now, since the Helios X5000 has a USB port on the side, you can plug in a USB keyboard if you have one. This makes the ability to enter a URL via the remote actually has a cool function - allowing you to enter in something in an emergency without having to grab the keyboard or hook one up. Unfortunately, I don't have a USB keyboard on hand to test that functionality. Luckily, you can access your bookmarks on your computer from the Helios making this functionality basically unnecessary.

One thing I liked was that you could change the display on the unit from displaying the time elapsed, to the time remaining, to the file/track/chapter number or disable the display all together. When you are watching a really long movie and you want to judge how much sleep you are going to get if you stay up until the end, it is nice to know how much time is left. Now, if someone can explain to me why they programmed this functionality into the Clear button instead of the Display button, maybe I could finally get some sleep at night.

Listening Evaluation

NeoDigits markets the Helios X5000 as "the ultimate digital media player built for absolute audio and video enthusiasts; designed to satisfy even the most critical of audiovisual connoisseurs." Well, taking a look at the supported audio formats, I only see one that is actually lossless. Currently only FLAC is supported while WMA Lossless (as I discovered) and Apple Lossless are completely unsupported. While this is not a mortal blow to the unit (FLAC support is very desirable), I'd still like to see support for some of the other lossless formate. Regardless, the unit does have Wolfson Op Amps and Burr-Brown DACs, so the unit is ready for high end playback. High end two-channel playback, that is. I'm not really sure why the Helios X5000 doesn't have 5.1 outs for SACD and DVD-A but it doesn't. As an audiophile grade player, I would guess this was in the running but apparently it didn't make the cut for whatever reasons. Still, there are plenty of members in the cult of the two-channel and the Helios will fit the bill just fine. 

CD: Euphoria - Precious Time

To test out the two-channel abilities of the Helios X5000, I played an Audio CD from the tray. I chose the Euphoria release, Precious Time. This album has an interesting mix of slide 12-string guitar and electronic music. Some if it is a bit repetitious, but for the most part it features the kind of mellow background music that you can feel safe playing at dinner parties while remaining interesting enough for some discriminating listening later on. There is a ton of bass on this album as well as some nice delicate guitar work. The Helios conveyed the album well. The soundstage was perfectly preserved in comparison to some other transports I've used. There was no audible noise floor.

CD: Jamiroquai - A Funk Odyssey

This album has the dubious honor of being one of my son's favorites. You put this on and he's guaranteed to be dancing by Track 3. While it took me a long time to "like" this album, it is fairly catchy and sounds like it would be one of my favorites if I was young enough to go to clubs. While it is mostly electronica, it does have a fairly high production value and a lot of very quick drum tracks. The Helios, over both the digital and analog outs, maintained the integrity of the album without coloring the music. If I had to make a comment about the differences between the DACs in the Helios and those in my Denon AVR-3805 , it seemed that the Helios DACs seemed to convey a bit fuller bass.

CD: Lorna Hunt - All in One Day 

After all that electronic music, I was ready for a change. Lorna Hunt's debut release is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Sure, the music is bare-bones and raw, but that is exactly what I like about it. No unnecessary processing, no sense that the music was overly produced... it gives you the feeling like you are listening to a bootleg - the highest quality bootleg ever! Once again, the Helios performed admirably. I once again felt the kind of envelopment into the musical experience that only a high quality recording can do. I could hear every little imperfection of the music - the kinds of imperfections that connoisseurs of music and art love to see. I think of them as the "brush strokes" of audio. An album that is perfectly produced just sounds sterile. This had character. And the Helios reproduced it all flawlessly. Yes, it reproduced the flaws flawlessly. I get the irony.

I was a bit disappointed to discover that the Helios didn't look up the disc information. I mean, it is connected to the Internet. It isn't like it is such a big stretch. What's more, apparently since the drive is active, the screensaver is disabled. This keeps the Helios logo on the screen for possibly hours at a time. I am using a LCD so it isn't much of a concern, but for our friends with plasmas, this could be an issue. Since nothing is being displayed, it seems like the screensaver should engage. One nice thing about the Helios X5000 is that the volume control is completely disabled except for the analogue outputs. This gives you direct control of the volume when you might need it and not at all when you know the receiver will do all the work. This also indicates that the "Raw" data sent via the digital out is not being processed by the Helios in any way - which is as it should be.

Calibrating the Helios X5000

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" says you. "Calibrate a DVD player?" Yep, the Helios X5000 has some rudimentary video calibration options. They are completely inaccessible from the Setup menu (inexplicably) but during playback, you can hit Setup and adjust the Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation of the picture. In my opinion, these are a bit too gross for serious calibration and should only be used as fine tuning for each movie. You can use them for calibration if you like as the player remembers the settings from movie to movie. If you do decide to use them to make adjustments, make sure you manually reset them afterwards. The adjustments take the form of percentages with 50% being the default for each of the three adjustments.

Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing Summary of Test Results

Perfect Score is 130
Helios X5000 Benchmark Score: 20

Comments of HQV Testing

There are a couple of words to describe the results of the HQV testing. Disappointing is probably the least insulting. But understand that this unit does produce a stunningly vivid and detailed picture. See the Viewing Evaluation section for more details.