Official OPPO BDP-105 Owner's Thread - Page 120

....double post.............

Right, like a new brand of Whisky - don't really start to appreciate it until the bottle is almost done. Fortunately don't have to go out and get a new Oppo after a long "session".

Q on the power cord thing - is it also necessary to rewire the from the panel to the outlet with equal quality wire, not to mention whatever the PoCo is providing from the station to the house, or does that last few feet really make or break it? Or does the cord have some sort of conditioning circuitry in it? Would an on-line style UPS that was basically isolated from the PoCo and other in-home circuits do as well or better? On-line UPS can be expensive, but compared to some of the power cords I have seen , not so much.

The power cord I have was made by a friend who got into making them for a short time, he had a review in Hi-fi Choice in the UK many years ago....it's big chunky guy but I have no idea how he constructed it .

That's all I use and the Oppo power cord went on the CX-7......to be honest today I wouldn't say the cord sounded that important.....last night later on as is commonly observed I thought he Oppo sounded better and when I swapped cord it seemed to go up a notch again. Today's session was during the afternoon.....as you probably know it's a common observation hi-fi's sound better at night.

Anyone using the Oppo 105 with Adam active monitor speakers like the S3X-H ?

Adams are brilliant - it should sound glorious and if not, I blame the Oppo.

I'm running the Stereo Analogs, as another zone, into a pair of Meyer HD1s and it is excellent. Still trying to decide if is as good or better than my years old Apogee converter - either way - nice to have comparisons like that to sort out.
Edited by stevepow - 2/10/13 at 9:06pm

Are you sure you aren't exaggerating? By my testing, engaging DTS Neo:6 drops the volume about -4dB.

The bug where Neo:6 processing would not engage for a 5.1 down-mix no longer exists in the current firmware.

As with all surround sound algorithms, whether you like the result will often depend on the particular stereo content you are playing.

I've compared Neo:6 in the 105 to surround sound processing in my Anthem D2v and the results are comparable. Of course neither sounds as good as playing a "real" multi-channel audio track.

I recommend you re-check your Analog output speaker volume trims using the 5.1 LPCM test track from the AIX calibration Blu-ray disc.

Also, if you are using Stereo Signal FRONT LEFT/RIGHT. Try toggling that to DOWN MIX STEREO and back to FRONT LEFT/RIGHT to be sure you aren't getting bitten by the bug we've discussed here.

ETA: That bug, if triggered WOULD have the effect of making the surrounds sound low because the surround channels are ALSO, mistakenly, coming out the front channels (i.e., fronts and surrounds are out of balance with fronts sounding louder). In addition, the over-all output is lowered because of "down mix attenuation". You can toggle that Stereo Signal setting "on the fly" and if that's the cause of your problem you will hear the fix immediately when you toggle back to FRONT LEFT/RIGHT.
--Bob
Edited by Bob Pariseau - 2/11/13 at 3:16am

Are you running the latest firmware in the 105? There was a recent bug fix for Optical/Coax output. Check Setup > Device Setup > Firmware Information. Your "Main" firmware version should end "1220".
--Bob

Thanks, that's too bad but I am sure (hopefully) I can find a way t get around that..

RouslanB.and to the rest of the thread readers,

I think that perhaps my quick-review should have been put into the 105 "sound" thread. Please move it you feel that is the case. Apologies.

Now to answer RouslanB's question:

As per your request, I did hook the 105 directly to the mono blocks via XLR. This is what I heard, and again this is an initial impression.

Overall, very good sound but no match for the XSP-1 pre amp. Direct hookup gave a slight closed in feel for the sound stage, though the sound stage was very very good. Bass response seemed to become a bit louder and a little bloated to my ear. But again ...not bad. When hooked up through the pre-amp, bass was more detailed, tighter and controlled.
Overall: (with the XSP-1 in line), bigger sound stage, with significantly better, detail, as well. I got a more open, airy sound; minute, low-level detail was there, notably in Diana Krall's voice in "A Case of You" on the Live in Paris CD.
I should have tried direct to mono block via RCA but I just didn't have the time as it was a busy weekend. Also to note, I did not have any attenuators in-line when performing the test. The XSP-1 is noted for having a very accurate volume control.

I think one could save money and listen directly to the amps with the BDP-105 and be very happy, but for those like me, who still listen to vinyl, you're still going to need that pre-amp..

Looking forward to hearing things with XLR connectors and with more miles on the odometer. I still think that the upper range needs to smooth out a tad bit but after reading posts here on AVS Forums, I trust that will come.

KP

>>>>>I put on a .Wav from a Darol Anger album. Acoustic guitar strings had so much more “low level” information associated with them. I could here, for a better term, “micro harmonics” emanating from the speakers. Sounded so much more real. Moving quickly on to Gary Willis' “Bent” album....Jazz fusion.
Bass drums were, tighter, punchier and detailed, as was bass guitar. Toms were wide open with lots of tone and ring. This thing just “breathes” in and out!>>>>


Wow!! from Anger 's organic bluegrass fiddling to Dennis Chamber's teeth rattling bass drums and "tribal" (pun intended) explosions on " Bent" -- lol now THAT's putting the 105 through its paces.

@Beatmachine

LOL, "Armageddon Blues" (Bent) is not for the faint of heart! The 105 handled it all with aplomb....so it is....the bomb!

 

Will you compare the BDP-95 to the BDP-105 I am wondering if it is worth the upgrade?

Only very briefly.

Precisely the tune I was thinking of! "Emancipation" is another good one because the percussion is tuned almost as low as the bass. Ive had problems with other changers not easily distinguishing between the two.
Not so with the 105!

Ramatan, thanks a lot. Do you remember by any chance what was the volume level on Oppo?
Attenuators helped me to get volume higher - 60 - 70 for moderate volume to minimize digital volume control imperfections and be close to 100 (the volume you would have with a preamp like XSP-1)

What app do you use on your iPad or Android to control the 105?

The oppo has a lossless 32-bit digital attenuation, you really dont have to worry about it.

jriver media center running on my HTPC for my music and movie library, with Jremote running on my iPad to control and push music via DLNA to the 105.

HERE, bottom of the page.

 

Ok we just need to know if you think it sounds better, many reviewers don't think so?

 

Unfortunately, this persistent rumor that Oppo's 32-bit digital volume control 'drops-bits-hence-affects-resolution' stubbornly refuses to go away despite many, many posts and conclusive mathematical proofs from Oppo that show otherwise...(sigh!)

Thanks Bob.

4dB is about what I measured - that's quite a bit of a listening level change. I don't get that sort of fall off with any other processors I have used. I'll check the other settings and toggle the Downmix just to make sure, but if you are getting a 4dB drop it sounds like that is how it is implemented. On my Marantz Pre/Pro the front levels don't change from Stereo to DTS Neo:6 and back - if they do it is imperceptible. And that seems correct - I have googled around for what "DTS Neo:6 Music" does and apparently it is supposed to leave the front channels alone and create the other channels from them.

From Dummies.com (sounds reliable, right - why I checked for more sources):
"DTS Neo:6: DTS Neo:6 Music and Neo:6 Cinema are decoding techniques for stereo or Dolby Surround-encoded two-channel sources. Neo:6 Music keeps the front left and right channels intact while synthesizing the center and surround channels from the 2-channel source. Neo:6 Cinema can create a 6.1-channel signal from 2-channel movie sources."

From a Crestron explanation:
"DTS Neo:6 Music
This mode is suited mainly for playing music. The front (left and right) channel
signals bypass the decoder and are played directly, so there is no loss of sound
quality, and the effect of the surround signals output from the center and the
surround (left, right, and back) channels add a natural sense of expansion to the
sound field."

This ATI manual says essentially the same thing - http://www.brentbutterworth.com/PDFs/8500.1_manual.pdf

So I think whatever the Oppo is doing is not correct for "music" mode - the fronts should not be attenuated. I have emailed them about this - maybe they fix it. I like to switch between listening modes as I please and late at night an errant 4dB level change can disturb the sleeping family members - don't want to lose my "stereo privileges".

Steve

Can you play video from the HTPC to the Oppo? Does this work with DVD and BluRay ISO files?

Has anyone used the audio outs to their av amp and then hdmi from the av amp back through the oppos input. So the av amp is a kind of hdmi hub. This would be really convenient but will it blow my amp.

I'm using JRiver now and noticed something I'll pass along. Sometimes Jriver doesn't see the Oppo. The solution is to power up the Oppo after launching the Jriver Media Center.

Bob,


I didn't make a note of the volume level when using the Oppo straight to amp. I can say that it was at a healthy listening volume, around the same level as when I do serious listening with the Eomo pre in place. Not an exact science but it wasn't meant to be. Sorry.

I wish I could get a set of Emo XLR's in the 2M length to run the Oppo to the pre, but they are out of stock. Got a free pair when I bought their pre back around Christmas. I want keep both sets of xlr's the same.....not sure why though, just seems like a logical thing to do. Otherwise, I'd go BJC..... but then I'd b throwing a set of xlr's away. So for now it's RCA for the time being.
Using RCA to the pre and then using XLR to the amps really kinda negates any valid conclusion one can make about about the sound comparison...but that is what you asked me to do so that's what I did.

kp

Every digital volume control 16 bit or 32 bit has a potential to introduce a distortion compared to a analog volume control. You may argue that distortion is negligible an inaudible :-) but technically it is there.

More accurate would be "Every volume control has a potential to introduce a distortion." In many cases your analog control may be much worse the ESS Sabre's digital one.

See this for some background: Digital vs. Analog Volume Control

Chris

Unfortunately, along with the meager useful information, there is a large dose of game playing in that presentation. The horrible S/N of the 16-bit DAC (if anyone is even using 16-bit DACs anymore!) is only an issue if the noise floor is already audible. When the music fades out, are you hearing hiss/noise from the speakers?

I didn't see them making the case that analog volume is worse than digital, but that digital, done right, could attain most if not all the benefits of analog volume. With that I agree.

Guys, please, don't get me wrong - this is not a theoretical discussion for me - trying to decide if SQ will benefit from a pre-amp (emotiva XSP-1 for example).
What do we know:
- oppo's pre-amp outputs amplified enough signal to drive Emotiva XPA-1 power amps directly (at less than 100 volume)
- XSP-1 has an excellent analog volume control
- we have some data ( algthought not double blinded AB test) suggesting that Oppo ( at 100 volume) with XSP-1 preamp sounded better than Oppo ( at less than 100 volume) connected to the same power amp directly.

How do we explain this leaving aside physiological factors?

Quality of XSP-1 preamp section is irrelevant - input signal is amplified enough by Oppo already with all the potential distortions Oppo preamp might've introduced. There is nothing XSP-1 could've done to make source signal better in its amp section.
The only potential difference - in one case the volume in Oppo at 100 (digital volume comtrol bypassed) and in the other case (driving power amp directly) - digital volume control could be much less - for example - 30
Superbly implemented analog volume control of XSP-1 could be the only explanation why Oppo + XSP-1 may sound better. Do you guys have any other hypotesis?

If I follow that logic adding attenuators ( a static analog volume control) may bring digital volume on Oppo closer to 100 potentially improving SQ without investing in preamp.