Oppo BDP-105: Upping the 'Separates' Ante

Is the new BDP-105 from Oppo the audiophile's dream Blu-Ray player? Oppo is one of the go-to brands for higher-end disc players, their latest entry is a very serious piece of gear. With the BDP-105 Oppo has created an audiophile-quality Blu-Ray player that offers an intriguing possibility: Eliminating the AVR altogether. Using the player and amps exclusively for a 'purist' home theater rig. Because the BDP-105 includes two HDMI inputs and on-board DACs with analog 7.1 outputs, it is capable of performing tasks usually reserved for AVRs, like video switching and upscaling of outside sources. It is possible to link the BDP-105 to seven monoblock amps (or some combo of multi-channel amps) and perform full calibration and bass management. Why bother? So that when a movie is playing back in DTS Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD it plays through the shortest possible signal path, with minimal signal processing. That's the audiophile ideal, brought to home theater. Of course there have been other Blu-Ray players offering preamp outputs, but few that offer all of the input and switching options of Oppo's new player.

'Official' AVS Thread

Oppo website
Edited by imagic - 1/29/13 at 7:21pm

The point of this device - and it is a decidedly small target - is that it would be possible to pass uncompressed 5.1/7.1 soundtracks directly to a stack of amps. This Oppo can get you as close to pure, unaltered reproduction of an original motion picture soundtrack as possible. You are likely correct, a high-end AVR will likely achieve the same quality but this is more appealing to a purist, and for some folks (DIY) who already have the amps, it's an affordable shortcut to a seriously good quality source.

You beat me to it! Yes, that's what I was going to say. No analog = save the money ($700) and get the 103 if the rest of the feature set appeals to you.

Right. The 103 even features 7.1 outputs and HDMI switching. The 105 is all about the analog audio output, literally $700 worth of it. "The biggest change, though, is to the BDP-105, which now sports two ESS Sabre32 Reference DACs, a newly designed Toroidal linear power supply, dedicated stereo outputs with both RCA and XLR balanced connections, and a headphone amplifier connected directly to the DAC."

You're talking to someone who uses a HTPC for everything. I still love a good quality component, but I'm with you (except I rock Nvidia). As for the cost of amplification, I think one can do very well with some iNukes and some fan mods and this unit. So many options out there, nice to have a solid blu-ray player that can handle some extra tasks, even if it is a niche product.

I bought a Pioneer Elite SC-57 just for that capability. Feeding it with a GTX 660 Ti. Basically the AVR is a super-fancy soundcard to feed my amps. Fine with me, I got it open-box for 1/3 of retail. Rocks my world nightly.

One could use a 'bargain' AVR as an HDMI switcher and still have the Oppo be the DAC. The real question is, how good a DAC do you get for the extra $700?

Edited by imagic - 1/27/13 at 5:45am

There are two expectations - access to increased wattage by using external amps and a higher quality DAC than one would find on an AVR at that price point. Depending on the speakers used, an AVR - even a pricey one - could easily fail to provide adequate power to achieve reference levels in a larger room. You don't need a double-blind test to figure that out.

The 'amps can/should sound the same' argument is basically settled when it comes to solid-state gear. Competently designed solid-state amps are transparent. The Oppo 105 needs to be judged on the merits of the preamp/DAC. WIth pro amps, 1,000 watts/channel can be had for under $300 - the cost per watt is incredibly low compared to AVRs. I use pro amps and even in a smaller room I exceed the power levels my (relatively competent) AVR is capable of producing on a regular basis.

I think the issue is the use of Audyssey EQ would require re-encoding the analog output - the extra ADC/DAC cycle would (theoretically) negate some of the benefits of the improved DAC in the 105. Of course the unit could be used with Audyssey since it has an HDMI output. As others have noted, anyone in possession of a high-end AVR or dedicated DAC/Audio Processor would not find this unit useful. Someone who owns a HTPC and a few Crown amps might find it much more appealing (that would be me) - if I had not found a $1,500 AVR on clearance for $550 I'd be giving it serious consideration. I appreciate its ability to pull double-duty as a high-end CD player that would work connected directly to an amp in a 'purist' 2-channel system.

For that particular sort of connection, Oppo says this:

"Dedicated Stereo Output with XLR Balanced Connectors - The BDP-105 features a dedicated 2-channel analog output with specially optimized ES9018 DAC and output driving stages. The stereo output offers both XLR balanced and RCA single-ended connectors. The balanced output features a true differential signal path all the way from the DAC to the 3-pin XLR connector. By transmitting a pair of differential signals, the balanced output provides better common-mode noise rejection and improves signal quality."

Your Krell has balanced inputs... this player is targeted towards someone like you.

Any other issues should be covered by this blurb from the manual:

"Crossover: Allows you to set the Bass Management kick-in frequency for all speakers. When the
speaker size is set to Small in Speaker Configuration (see page 71), bass information below this
frequency is not passed to the speakers to reduce possible distortion, and if the subwoofer is
available, bass information will be redirected to the subwoofer. When all speaker sizes are set to
Large, there is no Bass Management.
x 40Hz / 60Hz / 80Hz / 90Hz / 100Hz / 110Hz / 120Hz / 150Hz / 200Hz / 250Hz – These are
the available crossover frequencies. You can press the UP/DOWN ARROW buttons and the
ENTER buttons to select it.

For your unit, looks like the HT bypass is exclusive to the RCA input. To me, it seems easier/better to pick a volume level that would substitute for 'unity' and use the balanced inputs.

For bass management, what you want is to send all the bass to the front L/R speakers (connected through XLR/balanced). On the Oppo, you would set all the speakers to small except the L/R mains, which would be configured as 'large'. The Oppo will re-direct the bass to the front L/R and send it to the balanced outs and the Krell would then be able to perform its bass management on that signal.

Edited by imagic - 1/27/13 at 12:01pm