List of Blu-ray Universal (SACD/DVD-Audio) Players

Not true. They had the MVP861 and MVP871.

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products...-cd-player.asp

Cool idea. I love your fetish for listing things!

You forgot Onkyo.

Ayre DX-5

Theta is coming up with an Oppo Mod I think. Compli

I am in shock of the price of these. The Oppo price seemed reasonable, but speechless at the rest.

The list would be more informative if it includes a brief note on any bugs and issues for potential buyers. So after scouring the threads a fair bit (resulting in eye strain) the Denon 4010 converts to DSD to 44.1/16 PCM out and the Oppo has soft pops and (until I upgrade to HDMI pre-pro) won't output analogue audio if connected to TV via HDMI. The Denons (both?) have AL4 in addition to HDMI.

I'm not considering the high-end as I want to move away from analogue and that leaves very few affordable choices at present. In the high-end threads it's the same old well rehearsed arguments about having high-end analogue audio for people who already have high-end non-HDMI pre-pros. So those who forked out $15k or whatever on the old pre-pro are supposed to cough up another $10k for a player with high grade analogue components to pair with the old stuff? Why not buy a high-end HDMI pre-pro as an upgrade and a good but sensibly priced digital transport instead, such as the Classé SSP-800 plus Oppo. Perhaps Arcam, NAD and Linn who had DVD universal players aren't rushing out their Blu-ray universal players because they don't see a market for them.

The presence of soft pops is very user-configuration-specific for DSD only, and is not a general problem, and it is avoided by decoding DSD to PCM in the Oppo. Some consider that a severe limitation still, but YMMV.

Analog outputs are always active on the Oppo. There is one issue (a "safety mode" really) that DSD is converted to PCM for the analog outputs if a TV or other non-DSD-compatible device is connected via HDMI, to avoid DSD being sent to a poorly-configured-EDID device and blowing out audio circuits on that device. If a DSD-compatible device is connected via HDMI, or no device is connected via HDMI, then DSD is converted directly for analog out.

AFAIK, at any rate, based on the latest updates in the Oppo Owner's thread.

shinksma

Thanks for the well worded clarification, shinksma. Reassuring.

The link for the Lexicon BD-30 should be updated, perhaps to the Lexicon web site. The current link suggests it may not have analog outputs, but the Lexicon website clearly indicates otherwise (hard to have imagined that it wouldn't have). Think they shipped or are near being shipped. I have one on order

They sent me the product sheet and it clearly indicates both 7.1/5.1 and stereo analog outputs.


Me, too.

Wow. I just may have to check out the 2011UDCI. Nice to see Denon making some strides into the sub $1k range for such players.

I hope this is an appropriate forum for this question.

Can anyone explain to me why so few players support the DVD-Audio format? I thought that with the high resolution of BD players that more of them would support DVD-A, but it's still an oddity even after all this time.

Does it require some kind of tricky or expensive decoding chip or licensing fee of some kind? I really think that the shortage of DVD-Audio-capable players is preventing the format from taking off. The typical use purchases with no consideration of this wonderful medium and then is in the lurch when given the opportunity to try it.

Funny. That is not what is preventing a dead format from taking off. I see any number of universal players (except from Sony) that will play DVD-As. In fact, I suspect that we have seen released in the past year more DVD-A-compatible players than DVD-As.

Aside from the format being deader than a doornail, there are several issues. 1st is licensing. 2nd is MLP support and decoding, which you are correct shouldn't be a huge issue. Last and biggest is the blinding plethora of DVD-A discs that use odd-ball authoring and protections and refuse to play right for a variety of reasons. There is virtually no standard practice for authoring, navigation and protections on DVD-A.

When developing DVD-A support for the BD players, Oppo had to buy nearly every DVD-A disc in existence to iron out playback issues. Most issues are decoder chip related and have to be reverse engineered to find fixes.

Bottom line: decoder chip makers could care less about DVD-A support. The chips are not developed with DVD-A in mind, it has to be added on at the player maker's end.

That is a humorous observation. I view DVD Audio as the modern equivalent of recordable cassettes. It's a way for users to preserve their vinyl and other analog source material and also a way to share music as well as make it more portable. Happily, it's also being used as a way to preserve the old quadraphonic recordings as well.

That would be a great medium to preserve SACDs, too, if there was a convenient way to rip them. (It would piss off Sony, I bet.)

Those players from Marantz look good. I like the sound of the typical Marantz component a little better than what I have heard from Oppo, so hopefully these are solid units.