Official OPPO BDP-105 Owner's Thread - Page 115

^
But make sure your volume is way down before you do this.

Opps! I almost forgot to mention that important detail!

thanks

With that equipment the oppo should sound good. I wonder if you got a defective unit...

Bob, I don't don't know how you noticed the glitch with toggling between the 2 settings but I def found that to be the sound problem. I was in joyful bliss to find a solution and was going back through all my music sources and seeing they sounded very nice. Then I put on a Doors DVD-A and noticed that the bass was gone on that recording. I was listening to the stereo portion of the DVD-A and didnt change anything but it seemed like the player assumed a subwoofer was in use? I put a CD in and noticed that the signal setting changed on its own to L/R while still showing it as being in the STEREO DOWNMIX position. WTF? I am guessing that the DVD-A triggered the player to do something with the settings outside reach of the operator? This is a big glitch that I dont think I can live with. It takes a little zen to and back and forth to confirm the 2 settings and I wouldnt want to wonder all the time if it slipped back into L/R. I hope its only mine that is having these issues. I will have to contact Oppo and see if mine is defective. Thanks to everyone for their assistance!

Yes, I did try this out of curiosity but I could only get to about half the volume for what I typically use. I use a phono so I was contemplating using the balanced inputs for the Oppo and the unbalanced into the phono, using the blanced/unbalanced switch on the A23 to toggle between the two. I wasnt sure if that was a good idea or not but I didnt have to try due to volume limitations.

They told me raising 5.1 to 7.1 is a feature they are willing or are looking into.

It's just a bug (not a defect in your unit). OPPO Engineering is on the case, and I fully expect there will be a firmware fix forthcoming.

In my testing, it appears to be triggered by going between multi-channel and stereo content of certain sample rates. The point being it isn't going to slip gears while playing the same type of stuff. You can check with the internal test tones to see if it has triggered. Or you can toggle the setting before changing the type of thing you are playing, "just in case".
--Bob

Oppo 105EU review  http://highfidelity.pl/@main-346&lang=en

Very interesting review for once.

Like you I'm a happy Sonos customer. THE interface that can be used by all family members to say the least sure...not perfect either but that is an illusive target anyhow, which is what all this gadget fun is all about!

From a rational point of view moving to ALAC could be an approach. However I also have FLAC only hw and promoting this closed system concept just does not sit right in my head. Music is emotion and I just wanna be free enjoying this when and how I want. Why not adapt to FLAC instead of keeping ALAC around. ATRAC vs PASC anyone? (and the 3rd open source one ran with the bone) As a wise Scotsman once said: "there can be only one"..and let it be free

That's another review that is not overly convincing on the music stereo replay front.

^^. And there will be more. So what? A review is an opinion. Read many, filter out what is important for you, then make the step to listen yourself and generate your own. Then buy it or not. When you do, use it stabilise your opinion to keep or return. Keepers keep enjoying what they have and the cycle starts again. Continuous improvement is here to stay. Join in or stay on the sideline, all choices some of us are fortunate enough to have.

Instead of diving in there you might have noted I have a 105 arriving tomorrow. Part of the journey is hearing with your own ears but what I will say there are some components that simply don't get these types of reviews-possibly the complexity of the player contributes to that.

I've joined it and we'll see how the Oppo performs in my system.

I went through the first 13 pages and did not see this question. 113 more to go and argh!

How are folks hooking up their Oppo unit if they are using a Processor with similar audio and video enhancement circuits?

1. The Oppo 105 has analog outputs so you can use the internal dac for “good” sound.

a. Does a typical AV processor leave these signals alone if the Oppo is connected to the processor via standard AV cabling, therefore preserving the Oppo dac signal?


2. The Oppo does 4K scaling.

a. Should this be connected directly to the display and bypass the AV Processor to solely use the Oppo 4K circuitry?

b. Assumption is that if the Oppo is connected to a processor via HDMI, the processor’s video chips will take over. Correct?


3. I would assume a listen and viewing of all these permutations could lead to the Oppo analog out audio and the processor’s video being preferred, but is this possible once an HDMI cable is inserted in the loop?


The Oppo is attractive as a stereo dac, especially with the Modwright tube mod, but I want to make sure I do not short-cut its potential upside in sound by defaulting to a processor’s circuitry if it is less capable to my ears.

I do not know what you might consider the "typical" AV processor but they do vary.  Some will digitize the stereo analog inputs but not the multichannel ones.  Some digitize neither, some both.  Some with give you options for one and/or the other.

That was a strange review. I feel I have been infected with hyperbole and extraneous...extraneousness.

In all of that "reviewing", it strikes me odd that he a) never came across a single glitch - lock up, stereo flip-flop, etc - or b) felt for some reason those issues that we all know are there were not worth mentioning. Hating to throw the baby out with the bath water, but I have a hard time taking any of these sorts of reviews seriously. It's like eating Twinkies and expecting to get a healthy meal.

Maybe Pacuła's ears and brain are really that dialed in to nuance - I read his Mark Levinson No512 review as well trying to triangulate, so I needed one more - and I found it - http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/acousticrevive2/1.html wow That review is pretty nearly absurd attributing analog-like sound qualities to various USB cables.

And quotes like: "Likewise, comparing the “dense” layer of the SACD with the CD layer on the same hybrid disc is a mistake. The CD layer reflects laser light significantly worse than that on the “regular” Compact Disc, making it more vulnerable to distortion." Seriously? Is there some real theory behind that? Is SACD playback an analog process? Maybe they should cut the grooves a little deeper on those things.

Pacula goes on to write, "Dedicated CD players are a bit more restrained in their presentation of bass and can better control it. They also show a slightly deeper soundstage." Why? Is there a technical limitation in the hardware that accounts for this? We'll never know because it is nearly impossible to ever see and have a conversation with the Elves who make them.

As for the Oppo, he writes, "The Oppo, however, stands out in terms of its scale of sound. Its midbass is clearly emphasized, which extends to some degree onto lower midrange resulting in male voices being weighted down and stronger and the bass guitar getting a gentle “push”, coming out from the shadow. This is a deviation from neutrality, let’s not have any illusions. It is, however, intended and well thought out; that is precisely why the sound is big and expansive."

Yes, let's not have any (more) illusions because we don't have any way to know if we're having one or not. If only there was some sort of science and engineering to help us out...or one forthcoming Elf, those bastards!

OK, so many of us have noticed the bass of the stereo DAC - I'll give him that, and it will be interesting to see how it trends. What is lacking is someone simply putting the thing on an analyzer to see if the bass, when compared to the source audio, is really hyped or simply more accurate than typical receiver or player converters (like the other Oppo outputs). There's just no need, beyond journalistic entertainment, for all the subjective gushing when a simple analysis could tell a much more objective story.

Steve, Skeptophile

Most AVRs have some sort of "Pure/Direct" mode that bypasses processing and should leave the audio unprocessed. You typically lose bass-management and speaker calibration in the "Pure/Direct" mode depending on the brand. If you are not used to it, that can be a surprising sound quality - like going back to the 70's when it was just speakers and amps and life was bliss. Or your room and speakers and amps could hate each other or your wife has made you hide them in weird places out of view so that all that processing is needed to make it sound anywhere near as good as prominently placed giant speakers and amps in the 70s.

Additionally, unless you have a fairly high-end AVR, the multi-channel analog inputs are not processed/digitized at all (too expensive for most mass market gear). Using those lets the Oppo do processing/bass-management, etc. and lets the Oppo's analog output make it through to your amps as pure as possible. Of course there are still analog circuits in there doing something. That is why some users get rid of the AVR and take the Oppo straight to their amplifiers for the ultimate pure chain.

^^^^
Yeah that review was a bit hard for me to read as well.
I think he liked it overall but he doesn't favor universal players in general.
You know whatever, it's a 6moons review.

Filter on Bob - that will make if go faster - less drama - but cuts to the chase.

And read Bill's FAW page - http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-103-faq - several things in there that are not obvious without a lot of T&E.

Okay. That's what I thought. So to get bass management you might as well go through HDMI to the processor then for the movie end of it.

What about the video quality of the Oppo versus going through an Integra, Marantz, or other latest generation AV Processor in the $1500 to $4000 range?

I ripped some wav files from CDs last night and played them via the USB dock they provide, plugged into USB1 input in rear. I was expecting the pure files to sound better than the CD but noted the CD sounded significantly better. I saw that the Oppo can download the songs onto the Oppo unit but mine hasn't done this. I also read that the audio is supposed to improve if you play the files directly from the Oppo drive but you cant delete songs from the drive so it wouldn't be a soluyion since I imagine the drive would get maxxed out at some point. Has anyone figured out how to play digital files at full quality from the USB inputs?

I would expect them to be the same.

I've never heard that claimed.

I've never heard that either.

Unless you attach the drive to a computer and delete them. Or use a file server and maintain the files there.

It should just work. Something else is wrong if you are hearing a big difference.

-Bill

The Oppo can also give you bass-management and speaker trim/distance calibration. I think you have to hear it both HDMI and analog to decide which works better: using the 105 as a 105 or using as a 103.

I don't know where to begin. There's basically nothing in this post that's correct.

There is no storage inside the OPPO you can use to "download" songs. The only drive in the OPPO is the shiny disc (optical) drive. Files played from USB-attached, external hard drives play at IDENTICAL quality to the same files played off of shiny disc, so if your WAV rips aren't sounding identical to the CDs you ripped from, then there is something wrong with the way you did the ripping.
--Bob

Subjective evaluation of bass is fraught with difficulty unless you are really REALLY sure about the bass response of your speakers/subs as coupled in your listening room. For example, if a given piece of equipment has additional extension of bass into lower frequencies it may reveal nulls and resonances you never knew you had before -- not to mention low levels of rattle and buzz. For mid-high to high bass you may hear aspects of your crossover network that you never knew were there. To reverse this, an analytic approach to bass may not tell the whole story of how a bass setup will work in YOUR room with your gear.

Reviews are useful, and should not be dismissed out of hand, but there's no substitute for trying it yourself in your room with your gear. All that really matters is whether there is an audible improvement in your room.
--Bob

New to the forum and hopefully my first post isn't off topic by too much. Please re-route if it is.
I have recently upgraded my entire system and it now falls to finding source hardware. I've decided to get with the times and rip my entire CD library to .wav onto an external 1TB USB Harddrive. I have been using an Oppo-BDP-93 and the sound is quite good when playing these .wav file through the USB connection on the player. I think that it's superior to playing the original CD or DVD-A on the player's transport.

But now I'm after the best sound possible and from what I've read I've narrowed it down to the BDP-105 or the Eastern Electric MiniDAc Plus. One member on this forum said he thought The EE sounded better than a stock 105. The two use the same DAC.

The big selling point to the 105 is that you can see the .wav library on the TV screen. with the Eastern Electric DAC, I'm not sure how I'd see the library.

Would anyone care to toss in their two cents that might help me make a decision. Is there a way I could run the EE DAC though, say the BDP-93, and have the library show up on screen?

I do realize that they are roughly the same price (the 105 is a little more) but with the 105 you also get a very nice Blu Ray video player.

Thanks,

KP

Hello Ramatam,
you can use your Oppo 93 as transport, connected to the EE DAC via Toslink or RCA.
I own the Oppo 105, I don`t miss an extern DAC at the moment.

I think if you attached a hard drive to a USB port on the BDP-93 you could browse the drive on-screen.

The thing about the 105 is that you get a bunch of other features over the EE. It's multichannel, has a head out, HDMI inputs, has some speaker management stuff, etc.

Thanks for the responses. I think I'm going to go with the BDP-105. They have a 30-day no questions asked trial period so I think it's the most logical path to take.

K

One thing to consider, that I am experiencing is that you can't get gapless playback with the 105 currently, even with FLAC files. This is not good for seamless segues on albums like Dark Side of Moon, etc. Hopefully, Oppo will fix this in a future firmware update though. Can't wait, as I was excited about creating a giant Grateful Dead database on an external hard drive. Won't undertake that until this is resolved though!