Official OPPO BDP-105 Owner's Thread - Page 14

Originally Posted by Eric Goldman 

Bob, I knew I could count on you.

I had sworn off being an early adopter back when I bought my first Flat Screen DLP 50 incher for $4,500.00! Perhaps I should use my 30 day return and wait for Oppo to address the bugs and then get a ready for market product......(I still love you Oppo!)

Originally Posted by Hikmer 

I am having a very hard time hearing a substantial difference between my outboard DAC and the 105 onboard DAC. I am not going to say I am the most critical person out there, but for my money I will be keeping the 103 with my external DAC. Don't get me wrong, the 105 is good but my equipment and ears just can't tell a huge difference. For instance the difference between the 103 and my DAC is very obvious so I will be using the 103 as a transport or getting a third party upgrade in the future.

Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau 

I've not tried AppleTV with the HDMI Inputs, nor have I tried an iPod dock with Optical Digital connection to the Optical Digital input, but I see no reason why either should give you problems. The OPPO can not handle ALAC formatted music files directly, but as played by the iPod it should work. And yes, any audio accepted on the HDMI or Optical Digital inputs will be processed by the same high quality audio in the 105 used for shiny disc playback.
Perhaps someone else here can give this a try for you and report.
--Bob

Originally Posted by Hikmer 

I don't listen to multichannel so I can't say for sure. I am strictly a two channel guy

Originally Posted by ehlarson 

How do you think the Electrical Engineer designs these devices?. Hint, it's done based on a fundamental understanding of the perceptual importance of various specifications. Pick up a copy of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society and you will see that it's full of articles discussing how objectively measured parameters affect perception.
Dr. Sean Olive, head of R&D at Harman International publishes an excellent blog describing some of their work along these lines.
http://seanolive.blogspot.com/
Sure, users often buy based on subjective impressions. But there is no particular reason to believe these buying decisions are anything close to optimal. And there is the fact that audio equipment marketing and the sales process is often designed to take advantage of emotional response and discourage analytical thinking.
This subjective buying process is why we get products like Shatiki stones, LP demagnetizers and audiophile fuses.

Originally Posted by dmusoke 

To continue the discussion of specs versus musicality of a component(alas!) ...
A case in point is the ESS9018 DAC reference board from ESS Technologies. This board measures extremely well and it has to, to show off its awesome technical specs that the 9018 dac has BUT .... it sounds horrible according to Oppo. Hence design changes have to be instituted after the dac to make the board sound extremely pleasant and musical as shown in the Oppo 83SE, 95 and now the 105.

Originally Posted by dmusoke 

To continue the discussion of specs versus musicality of a component(alas!) ...
An obvious case in point is a tube based PCB versus a transistor based one.Consesus is that a tube based design is more pleasant ot the ears than an equivalent transistor one(if thats ever possible to build). Many reasons have been offered as to the reason why but the consesus is the distortion profile of a tube design having even-order harmonics at a high level which are pleasant to the ear versus odd-ordered harmonics of a transistor design which are believed to sound very harsh to the ear.

Originally Posted by Mivsbai 


Thanks for your reply,from your kindly explanation,my understanding would be the 105's built-in DAC will handle all digital inputs (from HDMI-in, optical in) and covert digital signals into analog in good quality, am I right? I am really new to this kind of 'technology' thing, so I have to be sure in order to make the purchase.

And does the built-in volume control work well with active speakers?

Also, would oppo 105 has lip sync problems with panasonic plasma tv while playing DVD or blu ray? As I don' plan to use av receiver to adjust lip sync.

Many thanks

Originally Posted by pinoiski 

Do you have a Synology NAS as well? I was able to make it work with Windows Media Server but it took a lot tries before it stabilized. It might be a compatibility issue between Synology and BDP-105.

Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau 


Unless your Sub is way too small for your room, it is pretty unlikely that max Volume on the Sub plus the +10dB boost you've put into the OPPO settings would be insufficient.

Check the Manual for your Sub and make sure you haven't accidentally wired to its High Level input rather than its Line Level input. (The High Level input is intended to be wired to the output of a Power Amp.)

Also check and make sure you have disabled any internal crossover processing in the Sub -- or set it to the highest possible frequency if you can't disable it altogether. If that's mistakenly set to a low frequency, you are telling the Sub to discard most of its input.

If you really do have everything hooked up properly and still can't get enough volume from the Sub, then the correct solution is to get a bigger Sub (or a 2nd Sub).

HOWEVER, as a workaround for the moment you can balance things by lowering the output Volume trim for the OTHER speakers. You could do that by lowering the gains for all 3 in your pre-amp or lowering their output volume trims in the OPPO.

But really, what you are reporting sounds to me like a big Red Flag that you don't have your Sub wired/configured correctly.
--Bob

Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau 

The "DACs" are the Digital to Analog Converters. Whenever you are listening to the Analog outputs of the 105, the DACs in the 105 are in action. Whenever you are listening to the Digital audio outputs of the 105 (HDMI or Optical/Coax) the DACs in the 105 are *NOT* involved. Instead the DACs in your Receiver or sound processor are doing this job.
So yes, if you play audio into an Input on the 105, and use any of the Analog audio outputs of the 105 for listening, then the high quality DACs in the 105 are doing the work.
The built-in Volume control on the 105 should work just fine with your active speakers. Do be aware that if you do a settings RESET (as for example after a firmware install), that Volume is reset to 100. So set it back down lower again before you wake up your neighbors.
There are some audio / video sync errors being worked on right now. As it turns out, for shiny disc playback, audio / video sync is CORRECT on the Analog outputs compared to HDMI 1 video for all combinations other than 1080p/24 video output. So even in the current, 1114B Public Beta firmware. If you use Analog audio for shiny disc playback and set 1080p/24 OFF, you will have correct sync at the outputs of the player. (1080p/24 needs 75ms additional audio delay added.) If you use the INPUTS of the player there are still some audio/video sync errors that OPPO needs to correct. So this may be noticeable when you try your AppleTV.
--Bob

Originally Posted by Rkny 

Or is that a function of the lower digital quality of YouTube downloads?

Originally Posted by wmcclain 

Welcome to AVSForum.
That is the likely explanation. The player doesn't know whether the input signal is coming from DVD or YouTube. It does what it can with the input.
-Bill

Originally Posted by pete6737 

Mivsbai
I use Apple TV into the oppo bdp105 hdmi inputs. It works like a champ. I haven't done any critical listening but to me it sounds good. I spent of my few days with the oppo with mostly multichannel and Xlr outputs. Pete

Originally Posted by Styln 

First, I won't post again on this topic. Second, I fully respect everyone's decision on how they buy equipment. Good for you!
OK, so two things here I want to comment on.
"Pick up a copy of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society and you will see that it's full of articles discussing how objectively measured parameters affect perception."
Have never picked up a copy of AES, it's great to hear that they are doing this This is what science can do to provide an interpretation of the music that connects with people. I hope they succeed. My view is that this is not easy to do and just looking at the standard specs is no guarantee of great sound. Again, my take is that each component is the chain is important. There is a reason a Steinway is preferred by many pianists. I doubt they insist on playing one because it has great specs... even though there is tremendous technology to build a piano. Rather, they play it because it allows them to express themselves musically better than an upright Yamaha. So moving from the source side to the output side, I follow the same paradigm. Each component in the playback chain must be able to impart the feel of the music. The specs are important to a point, but ultimately, if it cannot convey the intent of the performance, well, the specs don't matter. Now, we don't actually play a BDP-105, but we do integrate it into our systems, pick the coat hanger, er cables, speakers, speaker placement, cross-over, and of course the music - all for me, my ears, and my brain interpreting the sound. All of these things build into a system synergy that, when it's right, is just an unbelievable joy. My experience is that specs alone will not give you joy.
"Sure, users often buy based on subjective impressions. But there is no particular reason to believe these buying decisions are anything close to optimal."
Nor should they be. We are talking about people buying a component to listen to art. How does one optimize that? If someone enjoys the presentation more because they just love the jewel like look of their deck, than that is fantastic. If they enjoy it more because they know they saved thousands of dollars and looks don't affect the sound, that, too, is fantastic. What colour and intensity of light should you use to illuminate your pictures in your art gallery? Is it the optimal one, or the one that brings out the feeling and speaks best to you? Does a Selmer sound better than a Vito? How does one optimize that? People are different and enjoy different aspects of their art collection. Please, oh please, let us not optimize artistic expression and interpretation.
As we go more and more digital, I suppose there will be less and less need for building a synergistic system. That will be a phenomenal accomplishment by the AES as they'll have designed the average system purchased at Walmart to be capable of bringing a person great joy and/or tears. Until then, I'll be buying great sounding components, like the BDP-105, because they convey the essence of the music and not because they're either optimal or have great specs.
Styln

Originally Posted by jimshowalter 

You really owe it to yourself to hear a high-quality multichannel setup with SACDs. You get a three-dimensional soundstage, and (at least for classical recordings) the labels aren't making the dumb quadrophonic mistake of junking up the rear channels with instruments. They keep the musicians in front, where they belong, and just send back-of-the-room ambience to the rears. It's a striking effect.

Originally Posted by bsauvage 

Fair point, and thanks for your insights!
Given that I'm upgrading from 83SE, I'll go right to the 105, and IF the sound is 'not good enough' i'll consider adding an outboard DAC (but the likelihood seems faint at this point).

Originally Posted by Styln 

First, I won't post again on this topic. Second, I fully respect everyone's decision on how they buy equipment. Good for you!
OK, so two things here I want to comment on.
"Pick up a copy of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society and you will see that it's full of articles discussing how objectively measured parameters affect perception."
Have never picked up a copy of AES, it's great to hear that they are doing this This is what science can do to provide an interpretation of the music that connects with people. I hope they succeed. My view is that this is not easy to do and just looking at the standard specs is no guarantee of great sound.

Originally Posted by ehlarson 

I think you greatly underestimate the progress that has been made in this area. Major companies like Harman have succeeded in using analytical approaches to designing great sounding equipment, and now do so on a routine basis.
This is pretty well captured in this article, which was written 14 years ago.
http://www.harmanaudio.com/all_about_audio/audio_art_science.pdf

Originally Posted by ehlarson 

I think you greatly underestimate the progress that has been made in this area. Major companies like Harman have succeeded in using analytical approaches to designing great sounding equipment, and now do so on a routine basis.
This is pretty well captured in this article, which was written 14 years ago.
http://www.harmanaudio.com/all_about_audio/audio_art_science.pdf

Originally Posted by darkphader 

Just ran across a problem with subtitles - if the .srt file uses standard Unix line breaks (line feed) the subtitles are not rendered correctly. With standard DOS line (carriage return and line feed) breaks they are. Have not tested yet with standard Mac line breaks (carriage return).