The issue with DSP5kHC circular front ports is that they are smaller than DSP5.2kHC backfiring rectangular ports and that means they will make noises earlier when raising the volume than the DSP5.2kHC does. Still the DSP5kHC and DSP5.2kHC are roughly the same size, but much smaller than their VC counterpart.

Thus the gap in performance between DSP5kHC and DSP5.2kHC is small compared to DSP5.2kHC and DSP5kVC.

DSP8000SE, DSP7200SEHC, DSP5200SE sides, DSP7200SE rears, 861v8, 210, Sim2 Ultranero 4, Stewart Cinecurve 2.35:1, XEIT CM-5E Anamorphic lens, Dune HD Duo Cinema 8K and Wireworld Platinum 48G HDMI -> UHD722 -> Shunyata Omega Ethernet. Shunyata/Furutech power-cables/filters. SR Master Fuse@861v8. Uptone Etherregen with 10MHz OCXO clock.