Official OPPO BDP-103/BDP-105 Anticipation Thread - Page 82

For those who manage to get their 105's this week, please post some hirez pics of the un-boxing process. If you're savvy enough, post a hirez youtube video as well.

Ordered the 105 today. First day on the forum so please forgive me if this question is in the wrong place, but I am trying to put together a stellar system. I have the NEW! SMART VIERA® 55" Class VT50 Series Full HD 3D Plasma HDTV (55.1" Diag.), and now just ordered the oppo bdp 105. I believe the next step would be getting a great receiver/amp. Would anyone who knows this stuff inside and out know what receiver would be a good match for the 105. Top of the line.

Also, just throwing it out, but one thing I would really like to be able to do is save screen grabs of blu ray movies. I asked oppo and they said there is a frame by frame feature on the 105. I don't know if that is alone will do the trick. Maybe I can hook the 105 to my apple macbook pro via usb and then use a program or something. Any help would be appreciated.

My guess would be that they are using Linux to access local storage and do networking and as native support for ext file systems is most likely included in the kernel (or built as modules) it should be a no-brainer to support these file systems on attached storage.

Top of the line 7.1 setup?
Bryston SP3 preamp/surround sound processor (http://bryston.com/products/digital_audio/SP3.html)
Connected to (7) seperate Bryston 28BSST² mono power amps (http://bryston.com/products/power_amps/28BSST-2.html)

600 watts per channel, 20 year warranty, US Made, sounds tremendous. Will set you back around $80k though.

I would go 5.1 instead and save some money with the same SP3 preamp/surround sound processor ($9.5k) one 6BSST² Three-Channel Amplifier ($8k http://bryston.com/products/power_amps/6BSST-2.html) and one stereo 4B-SST-2 ($5k http://bryston.com/products/power_amps/4BSST-2.html) for a total of $22.5k

And what speakers are you hooking these up to? With all that top of the line power you'll want a world class set of speakers: http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Speakers/Home_Audio/800_Series_Diamond/800-Diamond.html

As for your Blu-Ray screen shots, get a Blu-Ray drive for your PC and capture them with your PC.

Cheers

PS. Don't forget the subwoofer, Paradigm SUB 25. To get the most out of it they recommend connecting it to a 240-volt line of power. (http://www.paradigm.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=viewlink&link_id=162&Itemid=2). If you want to save some money the SUB 15 is also outstanding and is designed to run on 120-volt.
Edited by bnieman - 11/14/12 at 3:24pm

Received my email notice of shipment from OPPO. I'm in Arizona, should be here Friday.

Now that the 105 has been announced can the beta testers comment on their impressions of the SQ from the DACs in multichannel and stereo modes and if you think SQ has improved from the 93 to 95 to 105?

Is analog played back differently on the 105 than on the 95 and is there a difference in how the dacs handle multichannel and stereo playback(processing) on the 105?

My order status indicates it was shipped and a FedEx tracking number is shown. But I got no e-mail from Oppo nor does FedEx recognize the given tracking number. As long as I get it my next Wednesday I'm happy.

^^+1

Me too! Psyched

I'm seeking some advice on which Oppo to purchase. Currently have a Cambridge standard def dvd99 and a Sony Blu-ray bdp s347 hooked up to the marantz sr7005. My main listening is done with cd's including many SACD and DVD audio disc. Both players currently sound much better when audyssey is enabled as opposed to no room correction or pure direct. Is there any reason for me to go with the 105 over 103 I'm willing to spend the extra dollars if it will improve sound quality related to my my listening habits. Also thanks to the fantastic information displayed on this thread I feel that I now have a pretty good understanding of the conversion process for sacd's and since my avr doesn't convert dsd directly to analog so should I expect an improved sound quality over my current players with one of the Oppos converting it to pcm?

If Audyssey is even available on the Analog inputs, applying it will require the Marantz to re-digitize the Analog input, since the processing is done in the digital domain. After processing the Marantz will then have to re-convert that digital audio back to Analog for output -- a process which uses its own DACs.

Thus the benefits of the enhanced Analog output of the 105 is somewhat obscured by the process of re-digitizing and the quality of the Marantz' own output DACs. Which suggests that if you are going to use Audyssey, you should stick to HDMI digital audio output from the OPPO -- and thus get the 103.

NOW, this analysis was easier when comparing the 93 vs. the 95, but now with the 103 and 105, there are ADDITIONAL things that come only on the 105. For example, the Headphone output and the additional styles of digital audio INPUT. So OPPO has come up with more ways to tempt you to buy the more expensive player!

Right now you've decided you don't want to use Analog "direct" -- bypassing the processing in the Marantz. I'd say if you think you MIGHT want to do that down the road, then the 105 would be worth considering. But really, the Analog output of the 103 is pretty amazing in its own right. So unless you know for sure you want to get "serious" about an all Analog path, you should probably stick with the 103.

....unless that Headphone jack tempts you.
--Bob

The things that make the biggest difference are room and speakers. Once you have that figured out picking electronics is much easier.

I had an experience this year where an order confirmation got sent to me with somebody else's tracking number. Can you imagine looking up the tracking and finding your item was delivered to an address 4 states away?

First of all, welcome to AVS!

There's a whole Forum here devoted to Receivers, Amps, and Processors. Most people have different ideas of what "Top of the Line" really means. For example, it is generally the case that you'll get better quality with a separate pre-amp/processor plus separate power amps than with an integrated "receiver" which has the power amps built in. Buying separates will cost more. I'm currently using an Anthem Statement D2v/3D pre-pro, which is already pretty spendy -- and that's not even including amps.

Of course if money is REALLY no object, there's yet ANOTHER Forum here where folks hang out to drool over equipment that costs over $20K a pop.

Anyway, I'd suggest you spend a bit of time browsing the Receivers, Amps, Processors forum to see which models are getting the most attention.

You'll find it easier if you start by setting a budget -- keeping in mind that buying separates also means buying power amps. ...and quite possibly a better subwoofer. ...and a new rack to hold all this gear. ...and running new power circuits to your equipment rack.
--Bob

Just do a refresh of the FedEx tracking screen and it should work. SJ

I think the Analog output from the 105 sounds better than the 93 (I never had a 95).

The basic functionality of the Analog output of the 105 is almost identical to the 95. The most important difference is in how attenuation is handled for the Subwoofer output of the multi-channel set. (This is true for the 103 as well). In the 95, +15dB of boost was needed regardless of the settings in the player. The idea was to apply that external to the player. If all speakers were set to Large (thus no bass steering due to Crossover processing), 5dB of that attenuation was not actually needed for clipping safety, and so you could safely apply +5dB volume trim to the Subwoofer output in the player, and thus only need +10dB additional boost external to the player.

In the 103/105, if all speakers are Large (or Off), then the multi-channel Analog Subwoofer output needs +10dB boost external to the player to match the other outputs. This is the standard attenuation for LFE. This is also the case during DSD-Direct-to-Analog-Conversion playback of SACD discs, since speakers are treated AS IF they were large in that case (since no processing is possible when DSD is sent to the DACs).

If any speakers are set to Small, and you are NOT sending DSD to the DACs, then the multi-channel Analog Subwoofer output needs +15dB boost external to the player to match the other outputs. This is the standard attenuation for LFE plus an additional 5dB attenuation to provide headroom for bass steered into the Subwoofer output from those Small speakers (i.e., due to the functioning of the Crossover).

Now, there are other audio improvements in the 103/105 which carry over to the Analog outputs. For example, the decoder in the 103/105 is more fully featured. Additional media file formats are handled, and certain limitations of the decoder in the 93/95 no longer exist. E.g., the rare, DTS-HD MA 192KHz 5.1 track format actually gets decoded as 192KHz (rather than 96KHz as happens in the 93/95).

And the new players have INPUTS that you can use to get digital audio decoded and played through the Analog outputs of the player.

The new players are also FASTER, which helps minimize the gap between the end of one media file and the start of the next.

And the new players have subsidiary application support such as 5.1 output from Netflix streams.

And the new players are DLNA Digital Media Renderers -- meaning you can "push" file streams to them using the UI on your favorite DLNA server.

So there are other audio-related advantages to the newer players beyond simple comparison of audio output quality.
--Bob

FedEx creates a tracking number for the shipper (which is what you get in the email), but it doesn't actually show up in the FedEx system for you to see on-line until the package is scanned-in to their origin facility. Check again after about 8PM California time.
--Bob
Edited by Bob Pariseau - 11/14/12 at 4:54pm

I got my UPS tracking number today. Should be up here in 4 days. I haven't rearranged my audio rack for years but will be pulling out an old BD player and a HD-DVD audio/video player since the 105 will take over those duties. Also, I really like the fact I can keep my Denon AVR-5308CI(used as a pre/pro) in the system because of the dual HDMI out's.

Thank you for the recommendations. I was thinking of the Wilson product line for the speakers. http://www.wilsonaudio.com/product_xlf.shtml

Cool! Post a photo of the Rack Mount BEFORE you put the 105 in the rack, OK?
--Bob

Thanks Bob, I'm always open to consideration. My current room acoustics are really presenting a challenge for me to produce a sound I'm totally content with. (Lots of tile and glass) I'm constantly adding enhancements against the wife's wishes and running audyssey seeking improvements. There is a good possibility of changing to a better location in the future. You commented on how good the analog sound was from the 103 do you think that the 103 or 105 would produce a significantly better analog sound than what I receive presently from the Cambridge Audo dvd99 ?

^ I don't know enough about the Cambridge to offer a meaningful comparison.
--Bob

This is the problem I had before. I was using some amps with 100k input impedance. The amps I'm using now are 10k and 20k so will see how it goes. I ordered a 105 and will arrive on Friday.

I'm using an old amp basically built for sound reinforcement duties with an input impedance of 47k, hopefully this is close enough to work well.

Chris

Bob, some of us are more in the 50K range, complete system. 20K in speakers, 15K amps, 13K electronics, 5K monitor,11K cables,
I wish this was a cheap hobby, BUT, I keep up grading.

I have one of these (BDP-105) arriving tomorrow. I will be using it in an audio only system, without a television. I am curious if I will be able to get it up and running as a two channel audio player without hooking up a monitor. I will be playing a mac mini into it to use the dac in a server capacity, so maybe that would be useful... I just don't plan on hooking up a tv unless necessary for installation. Anyone know if a tv hookup will be necessary for initial hookup?

You'll need a display to access the setup menus and to navigate any disc menus. You should also plan on using a display during firmware updates, or if you want use the player's own media files browser for attached drives or network served files.
--Bob

I like Bryston a lot too, I think they are Canadian however, correct me if I am wrong.

Mine has a 66 kΩ (balanced) input impedance too, so food for thought.