Official OPPO BDP-105 Owner's Thread - Page 70

tyroneslothrop, that headzone system is expensive. I would probably just get a receiver with Dolby headphone like the anthem receivers. Then run your hd800's through them or get something a different easier to drive headphone like even the cheaper beyerdynamics if you like more bass. This will also allow you to use ARC room correction which you might find to be the holy grail of all upgrades for your system

I recently replaced all my HDMI cables in my main system with Monoprice Redmere cables.
They work flawlessly and remove the need for port savers and angle thingy's.

However, there is no scientific reason for digital video to look better with the 105 or any other device.
By all means, go out and buy them but do not expect video improvements.

- Rich

I don't read this as them trying to sell anything since Monoprice offers both type cables and the Red Mere tech cables are not outlandishly priced. The other aspect to it is that Red Mere seems like a valid technology - in the case where an HDMI run would be too long for a typical light-weight cable. The problem with the story is that was not the case as is pretty clearly illustrated with CNet article. The original cable was working and as is the case with digital, you are getting it or you are not. Thanks for the cnet link - everyone should read this and think about it - before buying / replacing cables. The cable industry can be a wicked monster looking for suckers with more money than technical savvy - it should be illegal. But I don't think that applies so much to Red Mere when used in the application it was designed for.

^^ To add to the above, looking at the description page regarding RedMere technology, they are designed for those that want a smaller cable design / longer runs, and will not replace a regular HDMI cable for sound or picture quality. Meaning, don't expect them to be better than a regular cable.

http://rel.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/REL_Serie_R_Manual_9-11.pdf
For those wanting to use their sub all the time with the 105 Rel has the answer. Check out the manual for connection. But then you have to buy a Rel.

If all you are doing is playing stereo from the Mac, you should consider a Sonos system - I swam upstream for years and then finally got one - so liberating - now we finally get to easily enjoy our music collection.

ha - a worse fate could come. There are other Sub makers who allow for similar connections (high and low inputs simultaneously with independent x-over and level controls) - some even with more capability/flexibility than REL. I have 3 RELs though in different rooms now that I have accumulated over the years. I really like them - obviously.

I have the Rel Sub base system and love the way it integrates with my front right and left Vienna Acousitc Mozart Grand speakers when playing 2-channel music.

Thanks, I learned something. Digital signals are not affected from cable variances unlike possibly cable quality can affect analog signal transfer.

I use a Rel sub also connected via the amplifiers speaker outputs. I am satisfied with the results.

Interesting, so in essence you can route FL/FR via XLR out of the REL? I wonder how that colors the sound...

Stevepow,
Try as I might I cannot see any OPPO device showing up in my media streaming routines/devices while trouble shooting to exhaustion and I have 2 OPPOs. I see 2 unknown devices and maybe they are the 2 OPPOs but I cannot get the names to show up as you have. I have Netgear Genie so they are on the net and all firmware is up to date. I would love to see OPPO show up somewhere on my network devices in Windows 7 as I have many devices and are easily discovered but not anything named OPPO. Problem 2 shows up when I can navigate to a hard drive thru the OPPO remote - open a photo folder but not a music folder called FLAC Playlist w/o the OPPO needing a password routine even though as far as I can tell everything is shared. Bummer! Im thinking now ...a new Windows 8 computer, Apple devices and Jriver so that the frustration ends.
Dave

Why are they selling 6 feet red Mere with same tech? What's behind the tech to make RedMere directional cables, 1 end to Oppo and display?
Edited by Brian-HD - 12/31/12 at 11:58am

This is from the Rel manual “Hi Level.” This connection is made using the supplied 34’ 10” (10 meters) cable, the bare leads of which connect to the speaker output terminals of the power amplifier. The easy and foolproof connection at the REL is done with a Neutrik Speakon connector. The purpose of connecting to the speaker output terminals is one of the unique secrets of REL’s success. By connecting to the high level input on the REL from the amplifier, you build forward the sonic signature of your main system, including the tonal balance and timing cues of the entire electronics chain. In this way, the REL is fed the exact signal that is fed to the main speakers." I don't know all about that but it has made a positive difference in the overall presentation at least to my aging ears on 2-channel music. It also supports the music on the front speakers for music when I am watching a bluray concert or movie when connected via both the Hi-Level connection (Direct to Amp speaker posts) and the Low-Level connection (LFE).

Thank you for the replies to my question about whether to rip to WAV or FLAC. I have some things to think about.



Have you tried rebooting your computer? Does http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Share-files-with-someone help with sharing?

Hi, Len,

We're using a 50 foot Slim Series RedMere cable. We got it to replace a 50 foot Monoprice HDMI cable we purchased several years ago (because it was cheap). We weren't sure a 50 footer would work but it did. However, since we cannot run cables in the walls of our house we have to run it along the floor and across some stairs so wanted the easiest to install and "hide" so went with the RedMere.

Can't explain the improved PQ. Being a scientist I know that digital is either "there" or "not" but both my partner and myself asked each other "are you seeing what I'm seeing?" when we changed over. And we both agreed the PQ was much better with the new HDMI cable giving blacker blacks and more detail in shadow areas. We changed back and forth several times and got consistent results.

Under "you never know what you'll see and hear" Seattle skies, Gill

Plasma!

LCD suffers from needing a backlight, and without a backlight for each pixel, there is necessarily bleedthrough from one area to another. Manufacturers have chopped the screen into increasingly small regions to limit this, but nowhere near small enough to be one per pixel. They keep increasing the display rate, but motion can still be blurred. Color isn't accurate enough, and faces can suffer from the notorious "clay face".

OLED will be great once they drop enough in price (and assuming the problem of wearing out is fixed). But it's not there yet.

Even newer technologies are being demoed, but they're also not there yet.

I say stick with plasma.

If you want to be able to see detail in the darkest parts of scenes, plasma still beats everything else. There needs to be a slight residual current to make the cells ready to fire, which is why black isn't completely black on plasma, but Pioneer kept improving the technology to where the remaining glow was almost imperceptible. Unfortunately they had to get out of the business, but they sold the technology to Panasonic, which sells the Viera plasmas. Plasma had image-persistence burn-in problems, but that was years ago. The comical thing is that LCD talks about 240 Hz or whatever--plasma can run at 600 Hz or higher. It's way faster than LCD, which means motion isn't smeared. And the color gamut is super-accurate, so you don't get LCD's "clay face".

As for screen size, this is dictated by how much room you have, and viewing distance. Bigger is better up to a point, but if you are sitting too close to the screen, you'll see pixels (unless upscaling to 4k, with a 4k display). Also, sitting too close moves the edges to far to the sides in your peripheral vision. There are calculators online that can tell you what size to get given a particular viewing distance, although beware of the official THX values because, IMO, they have you sit too close.

It's technically true that all HDMI cables are the same, but we have a 45' run from rack to display, and had trouble getting things to work (not "sparkles"--we would lose the handshake and get a blank screen). Swapping out cables helped (thank you Blue Jeans Cable), but what fixed it once and for all was installing one Lumagen module at the display end of the cable (http://www.lumagen.com/testindex.php?module=hdmiext_details). Unfortunately, I don't think they make one that supports 4k yet.

Read the manual, not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing. It looks like it supports LFE, RCA, and power-amplifier inputs, like many other subwoofers support.

Well yes, but many other subwoofers support this. You don't have to run the signal all the way from the power amp to the sub either. You can connect the sub to the terminals on the full-range speakers. You can do this with many subwoofers.

But you need to make sure it's the right thing to do.

For example, a Martin Logan Descent-i has (in addition to LFE in), inputs for full-range RCA from a preamp, and full-range speaker-level from poweramp. When the preamp inputs are used, they go through the sub's power amp (the Descent-i's, like almost all Martin Logans, are powered speakers--you plug them into the wall). That's one amplification. If you come in on the speaker-level inputs, the signal is knocked back down to preamp level, then run through the sub's power amp. That's two amplifications, one of which is pointless and just introduces distortion. The factory recommends using the preamp-level inputs, if they don't pick up any noise (which can be a problem for long runs).

The REL also plugs into the wall, so it is a powered speaker, and probably has an internal power amp, as do most subwoofers. You would need to find out from REL how their internal amplification works to know which way is better to connect.

Update: You can also (on apparently both the Martin Logans and the RELs), op to connect first to the subwoofer and from there to the full-range speakers, but in that case I'd worry about what is being done to the signal before it gets to the full-range speakers. Making the sub the first contact instead of an adjunct to the existing full-range system seems risky.

On my RELs there is the normal SUB / Coax input, unfiltered and also the Speakon connector that uses the included cable for connecting the sub to the Left and Right speaker terminals. That connection has an adjustable low-pass filter and independent volume control. Dialing in the sound is a manual process - and a lesson in "less is more" to achieve the best result - with the idea being to fill in subtly below the frequencies the main speakers can produce. I really like the effect and would not buy a Sub I couldn't connect like that.

Can I connect to both the xlr and rca dedicated stereo outputs at the same time; xlr to power amp and rca to headphone amp. What happens when one or both amps are turned on?

Hi , I'm using the "Ultra slim" series 2meter, I haven't tried them for audio as my 105 is fed directly to my display via the hdmi 1 slot, all I can say is it connects better than any I've used and runs easy , the picture quality has definite "wow factor" and at the price I plan on replacing all my hdmi cables with them! However at the moment they seem to be back ordered and wont ship till the January.

All outputs are active all the time

Couldn't you just send an unused L/R output from the Oppo to any SW and manually set the crossover on the sub to where it's needed and get the same thing?

Have you tried any software besides windows itself? I think the windows server is problematic and a waste of time. I could never figure out why it worked sometimes and not others. So I downloaded some other free software and never had an issue. I'm using foobar myself but honestly foobar is for people who really like to play with things and configure them how they want. Foobar is infinitly adjustable but it also takes work, I'm guessing J River or DBamp works fine with much less effort. I wouldn't waste time trying to go to win8 for this.

Some people were asking about using a sub with music on the 105 I just gave them 1 option.

sorry for all the posts...

I've been using the oppo as a 2-channel preamp since it came out and I've been happy with it. But I realized something very surprising a couple of days ago and I've been checking it out all day today. I've been testing out some different speakers so I've been swaping them out and wiring things up in a way for me to do some A/B-ing. I'm using a Marantz NR1602 but also have it supplying a Emotiva XPA-200 power amp that I've been very happy with. I really only got the XPA because I wanted to try out some Magnepan's. But I have the oppo going straight to the XPA amp over XLR and the Marantz is connected thru RCA (with the OPPO- Marantz being HDMI). I also have the Marantz directly powering speakers on the B-speaker outputs. I only accidentally tested comparing the music coming from the XPA to the same speakers but with different inputs (it has a SE/Balanced input toggle switch) and truthfully wasn't expecting any real difference. But it is huge! Seriously like a whole new lever of speaker if I skip my AVR. I can't tell the difference between most of what people talk about and when I switch driver tubes on my tube amps I honestly can't hear any change but this was immediately and obviously noticable without even trying to hear a difference. I even switched them with a friend who knows and cares nothing about audio without telling him what I was trying to do and he described the same change that I heard.

I think everyone should try skipping their AVR/processor and see how it works. I bought the NR1602 because I liked the size but mostly because I only have 1 input (the oppo 105) and didn't want some huge ugly machine with 300 inputs I'd never want to play with. I got picked Marantz because I wanted something quality and it was a big step up from the Sony AVR I had before it. I could have bought most any AVR if I wanted it (well, I doubt I'd ever be willing to spring for the D2v). But I didn't expect it to take so much from the sound and had I read someone else posting this I'm not sure I'd have believed it. I realize it's a lower-end model but still... Curious if other AVR/processors would have the same effect. All the Marantz AVR's, including mine, use a 24/192 capable Saber32 DAC.


Someone else had issues with the steps being too large on volume with the OPPO. I don't think this is an issue at all, there are 100 steps after all which is more that most stepped attenuators have. I can't even hear a difference between one step and other - so the resolution is more than adequate. I think the real issue is that though change between steps 1 to 2 (or any other) is very very small, the change between step 0 to1 is actually pretty large. It is still quiet on step 1 (like background music quiet) but it is a large change between that and nothing.








Also, for people looking for a 7-channel preamp, Emotiva just came out with the UMC-200 which is looking pretty good so far and it has 7-channel in's that can be used in direct mode (no processing) (I'm not sure if you can turn the processing on, on the analog in's or not). I'm thinking about picking one up myself and see if I still hear such a large change when going direct from the Oppo. I've only had experience with one emotiva component so far but I've been very happy with it and my dealings with the company so far. No XLR inputs or outputs if anyone cares about that but they do have the 'x' model coming out any hour (I think the rumor was today??) what will have XLR but it's also much bigger and more expensive.

^^^

Interesting finding.
I am not completely surprised because the Analog inputs on my Onkyo 5507 Preamp are far superior to the HDMI, COAX, or Optical.
I direct analog / volume control has become a criteria for the next preamp.

I might have given the UMC-200 a spin, but it has too few inputs and does not have balanced outputs.
I little bigger version and I might try one. I am not ready to put down 6K for a Preamp, that I want to do less, not more.

- Rich

As the Website states:

I would think they sell the shortest distance cables for people who want a thinner cable too. I wouldn't know why that would translate into better quality picture / sound. Going from 24 & 28 gauge conductors to a 36 gauge? No wonder why they would need some form of technology built inside the cable to transmit all that information. Let us know if you decide to try one of the shorter lengths and what you discover with your setup.