Official OPPO BDP-95 Owner's Thread - Page 175

While I had to return my Oppo BDP-95, I have to admit that dealing with Oppo, the company, was great and returning the 95 was hassle free. I called for a return authorization and received it along with a pre addressed shipping label in minutes by e-mail. I would encourage anyone interested in this product to try it to see if it meets your needs. I would not have known if it met my needs without the company having a 30 days return policy.

Off topic and bickering posts removed. Condescending remarks about other AVS members is not allowed. Further violations may result in removal from this thread without notice. Ta daaa.

Just to add...

I am not stifling anyone's opportunity to voice their opinion good or bad about a product. But, you've stated your experience and your position to continue to do so, does not serve a positive contribution going forward.

From Tech Radar's Home Cinema Choice 8/11/11
Review: OPPO BDP-95EU

This is against the UK version of the BDP-95 which lacks internet capabilities as they use different version of FW against their region, but otherwise is the same player.

Any idea where I can order the PS Audio GHCA in Canada?

I've read a few gripes/wishes for the Oppo 95, or its successor, to have the capability to be used as a standalone, outboard DAC.

As an old-time analog audiophile who built his kit components before most on this site were born, and acknowledging that I'm not all that familiar with all that digital music components have to offer, could someone who is adept at high-impact, low verbiage explanations take a stab at explaining what the quite-knowledgeable members of this Forum would do if the Oppo-95, or its successor, were useable as a standalone DAC.

Would you connect the audio output from your computer to the DAC? How do you bypass the (inferior) DAC built into the sound chip on the computer? Would you connect a hard drive directly to the Oppo-DAC? Unless there is involved a computer with a program like Media Monkey, how would one select music files when connecting either a computer or a hard drive to this future Oppo-DAC work?

I currently have an Oppo-83SE that I use for playing CDs and DVDs. I do not find the USB input on either the Oppo-83SE or my Marantz receiver to be all that great; they are inconvenient; high-resolution digital files do not seem to be playable.

Does someone have a spare paragraph or two in them?

Thanks.

Some of the things in which you speak of hypothecticly are already possible via the present 95, while I'm new to the computer out board dac world myself. I have tried the usb input with 24/192 files and lesser including mpeg3and did some comparisons using mediamonkey, I copeid some disc to flac and wav and was hardpressed to tell a difference, now the 24/88 or 24/192 files from HD Tracks,2l or Hrx are now second in reference only to my Channel Classics recording of Ivan Fisher's Mahlers 2nd sacd. As far as getting files to the 95 from your PC, J River is nice and worked for me when I tried it. Others here Are more adepth on the connection of external hard drives. ( Hope to get one soon though) And can fill in what I left out

Hope this helps!

If you can use windows explorer you can use the hard drive via USB/e-sate. Copy files to HD (use the file format created by rip program or the one you build (artist/album/track works great)) and drag and drop/copy the whole mess at once. Hook it up and explore using your monitor/remote. So simple a rocket scientist could do it.

what is the preferred format the Oppo BDP-93/95 requests when pulling content off a DLNA server that will be transcoding on its end?

The player doesn't request any sort of format. The server offers a list of files, you select one with the browser.

"transcoding on its end": which end is "its"? Servers will optionally transcode, although it's not necessary for types supported by the player. The FAQ has a list.

Are you talking about audio or video?

-Bill

I would also appreciate further comments and set-up ideas and advise when it comes to hooking-up a computer to the Oppo via USB or e-Sata.

I absolutely love the sound of the Oppo while playing 24/96 or 24/192 files directly from the USB ports. Nothing in my collection comes close to that. Not even SACD. My main issue as of right now with the 95, however (and, yes, I know I mentioned this before here), is the fact that I need to have a monitor on at all times to browse and search through the files in a hard drive or USB stick. So I gave up and bought myself a Squeezebox Touch, which is a dream to use as far as the interface is concerned. Of course, the DAC there is not even close to the one in the Oppo, and now I am faced with a dilemma. To be quite frank, I usually end up choosing the Squeezebox when I just want to relax and play different things in my collection, or even explore albums that I downloaded in FLAC and forgot were there in the first place. You just can't beat the convenience factor of the Touch. For serious listening, though, there is no question: the Oppo wins.

But you guys are saying that one can connect a computer DIRECTLY to the Oppo, and use something like Media Monkey, etc, as the player and/or controller to feed the Oppo's DAC with the data, by-passing any other computer related processing? How do you do this? I thought the USB inputs were not designed in that way and that they would not install themselves as drivers... Or am I reading things wrong?

The player can be a DLNA client. This is a network function; you'd use ethernet or wireless, not USB. The FAQ has plenty of background information.

You still need a display attached to the player so you can operate the browser. It's the same browser as when you are using local media.

-Bill

Thank you, that is what I understood and was aware of, but to me the hassle involved just doesn't make it worthwhile. I simply got confused and thought the USB input could be used as an actual input connected to a computer, such as a laptop, and that one could then use a software like Media Monkey and the laptop's screen as the player/controller, for example. A semi-simple solution.

I wish Oppo could develop a DLNA Control app so that one could use that to control the player instead of relying on an external monitor and/or complicated set-ups. One could connect a large hard-drive to the back of the Oppo, connect the Oppo to a wi-fi router, and then use the app as a remote control displaying metadata. It would be such an elegant and convenient solution...

Make your needs known to OPPO. All the existing features are there because people wanted and requested them.

-Bill

I did.

Are you aware that some people have a partial workaround for this by using a small and cheap LCD display that can be attached to the Oppo's component output, rather than having to use the display on your TV or projector? These displays are available for under $100.

Thanks, yes, I do. We actually discussed that here before and I did buy one cheap portable TV that I connect sometimes to the Oppo via composite video. Still, not the greatest solution, and yet more cables to deal with. An app-controlled alternative would be miles ahead when it comes to elegance and convenience. Browsing through large collections is also an issue using the Oppo's media interface. Hopefully a firmware update can improve this (for example, the ability to go from "A" to "Z" without having to scroll all the way down would be most welcomed).

I understand what you are saying and agree. I asked OPPO about this (implementing DLNA "Renderer" functionality) and they indicated it is on their wish list but no promises. There are some issues with the chip set they use and implementing this. But the more requests on this, the better.

Since I use DLNA "Play to" directly from my laptop to my (wireless) Samsung TV, I totally understand the convenience and transparency you talk about. Of course the Samsung doesn't do HD audio, only 16/44.1. Being able to do that wireless from a good laptop to a *future* BDP-xx would be a trigger for me to go for the next model ... which of course would also have an augmented front-panel display plus other wish-lish items discussed here :-)

The Oppo 95 doesn't support WMA Lossless, which is the high-rez format for all the Boston Symphony Orchestra's downloads.

Is this lack of support a technical issue? Or a licensing issue?

Yes and yes. Best option is to convert those to WAV or FLAC.

Thanks!

I've tried both and they work fine (including multichannel). It's just that my first choice would be to avoid the extra step.

By the way, I have the download (converted to WAV) and SA-CD (both multichannel) of Brahms Requiem from the BSO, and I can't hear a difference.

I'd assume that the reason they use WMA-lossless is for copy protections. It's not like it's a universally compatible format.

If the 2 versions of Brahms are from the same master, they should sound alike.

Hello, I have read only the final 10 pages to date here. So I hope I didn't miss what I want to know: How is the 95 vs the 93NXE? I read reviews about the 95 vs the 93NE or this one on 6moons about the 93NE vs the 93NXE.
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/nuforce16/1.html

The 95 is mentioned there, but not tested. I understand the 93NE adds a triode/class A flavour to make it sound more musical. And the 93NXE adds more resolution to that. But where does that leave the 95?

I now own and enjoy the 83SE-NE (won the 83SE, had it sent to Nuforce). I use HDMI for Blu-Ray and the LR analogue for 2CH CD/SACD. But the 93NXE or 95 would be for the other house. I am hoping to use the Marantz AV8005 pre-pro when ever that arrives (Onkyo 5508 2nd choice). So I would like the usage of the XLR outputs on the 95. Unless the 93NXE simply sounds better/nicer?

My musical preference is Jazz-Funk-Rock-Electronic (yeah I know, that almost all there is, except museal classical - kidding!)

Edit: I discovered that ModWright is offering a $500 SolidState upgrade for the 95 that seems to do about the same thing to it than NuForce to the 93?
http://www.modwright.com/modifications/25

First, I haven't heard either yet. That said...

Did Nuforce add a dedicated 2CH analog output to the 93NXE? Even if so, I'd be surprised to hear that for $100 less than the 95, Nuforce made the 93NXE do what the 95 was designed "from the ground up" to do (namely, 2CH analog output) better.

Seems to me the 95's closest competitor would be the 83NE.

The way DLNA works, if the DLNA client requesting a file off the DLNA server does not support the file format the DLNA server carriers (WMA lossless being the case here), the server is given the option to transcode the file to a different format in realtime for streaming; if the player does not request a particular format generally MP3 is what the server transcodes it to (Windows 7 does this). Probably would need an Oppo engineer to answer this question.

It would be nice if Oppo supported WMA lossless (or better yet a Zune app) natively but it sounds like it has s hardware limitation that prevents this.

I have a bunch of blue rays ripped to .mkv with the hd audio. Can anyone confirm that this will play them back?

Thanks,
Steve

High def audio is not supported in MKV files at the moment. No one knows about the future.

-Bill

I agree with both suggestions above too.

I think mutliple playlist support is must-have when you have vast collections hooked up via external hard drive. This would take us a good way forwards in my opinion. You'd then flip to Pure Audio mode and switch off the TV.

Or MAYBE the player could display the first playlist found (these would have to be saved in subfolder x) on the internal display when booted up with no disc inserted. You press play on remote to start it otherwise press skip track to pick next playlist. Now you can flip through the whole library using just one row of text and you dont have to turn on the TV at all...
Sounds easy..

Hi,
I did connect the analog outs to the analog ins of the power amp part of my AV receiver and control the volume directly with the oppo, like others in this thread have suggested earlier.


I have a Marantz SR9600 which itself is a wonderfully sounding receiver.

But "unfortunately" the sound is much better when using directly the power amp compared to the standard connection, where I use the pre amp ins.

However, if I go into the power amp directly from the oppo and get the best sound quality from the oppo, my media player and tv receiver are not connected anymore, and this is the problem.

Is there a better solution, than changing cables all the time.
Earlier somebody suggested to use an audio switch, which is expensive and may also cause some quality loss.

I would be thankful for any recommendation

Thor, with my 95 i to sometimes go 95>XLR>2ch pro amp> speakers.
Or 95 5.1 MCA >avr & 2ch to pre-out> speakers.
I really like the direct sign best for D2ch. sound, but it is "manual labor".
I do use HDMI directly to the TV, so i can get video for D2ch audio sources. Watch move- setup a SACD or DVD-A- or watch the CD tracking menu. I don't need to change any of the HDMI cable nor 5.1 MCH.
just the XLR to the pro amp need to be removed from the AVR pre-outs {then back again for 5.1 MCA}
\\is this your Q?
db
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