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post #31 of 37
12/2/06 at 4:33pm
The reason for preferring Oppo 970HD to 981HD as an audio player was mentioned by Neuromancer on the DVD Player board. It has to do with the circuit board layout:

Quote:
(Originally posted by Neuromancer)
The design of the two products is different. The DV-970HD uses a single 4 layer PCB for the entire system. This reduces the possibilities of interference cause by noise, electricity, and so forth as the single board acts as a shield.

The DV-981HD takes its design cues from the OPDV971H, so the main board, the HDMI board, and the audio board are separate and connected by ribbons. These ribbons may be effected by interference, and therefore may suffer from loss of audio quality.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6&page=3&pp=30

I suspect the reason for this design compromise is basically cost-cutting, in other words, at a higher price point (than current Oppo players), the designers could have used one larger circuit board and avoided the multiple "daughterboards" with connecting ribbons.

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post #32 of 37
12/2/06 at 6:56pm
As far as used goes, I have a Phillips DVD963 SA (DVD and SACD player) and it does very well for audio. I _think_ it sounds better than my Rotel RCD-02 CD player. It also has flexible bass management on SACD format. It can be found used for US$200 or so. It's a fairly heavy unit with a metal front panel, so it has a bit of a quality feel to it.
post #33 of 37
12/5/06 at 7:30pm
I had the Marantz DV-6500 and upgraded to the Marantz DV-7600 and am very satisfied with the audio and the video performance. I bought it when it was $1200. At its current msrp of $899 it is an even better purchase. I feel I would have to spend a considerable amount more to see any noticeable improvements in performance. The new 6600 changer is great but a notch below the 7600 in video and audio quality IMO.
post #34 of 37
12/6/06 at 10:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic icons
The reason for preferring Oppo 970HD to 981HD as an audio player was mentioned by Neuromancer on the DVD Player board. It has to do with the circuit board layout:



http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6&page=3&pp=30

I suspect the reason for this design compromise is basically cost-cutting, in other words, at a higher price point (than current Oppo players), the designers could have used one larger circuit board and avoided the multiple "daughterboards" with connecting ribbons.
I'm surprised none of the so called "audiophiles" take exception with that.
PCB boards are very unpopular among them, and surelly preffer wires as a method over PCB. Of course none of those 2 players would 'count" as "audiophile grade" players by those same people, so maybe those threads are below their radars. ;)
post #35 of 37
12/8/06 at 6:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Magliocchino
Check out the Harman Kardon DVD-47 universal player. It has very flexible bass management capabilitites that I've only seen on much more expensive players (user-selectable crossover settings between 40 and 120 Hz). It is a noticeable upgrade from my Pioneer 578A especially for SACD. Redbook CDs also sound excellent using the internal DACs.

Anthony
If you have this unit, Anthony, how does it sound on the analog outputs? I have a Panasonic S97, which looks and sounds great, but doesn't do SACD. Also, do you know what kind of DACSs it has? I checked the spec sheet and the manual, but couldn't find any info. HK hasn't responded to an email yet. By the way, the website says an HDMI connection to the TV limits the digital audio outputs to two channels! A firmware fix is apparently in the works.
post #36 of 37
12/11/06 at 9:41am
Thread Starter 
I ended up getting a Cambridge 540D. I used my old reciever as a trade in and got a floor model, so I got it for $200 :)
I gave up SACD capability, but so far I'm very happy with it for DVD playback, and CDs sound excellent, although I think it sounds better as a transport, using the DACs on my Arcam receiver. It's got a nice, quiet transport. I can't wait to get some interconnects and try it out for DVD-A.

Of course once I get a squeezebox, it may not see much use for CD playback :)
post #37 of 37
12/11/06 at 12:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 19Hz
I ended up getting a Cambridge 540D. ...... I can't wait to get some interconnects and try it out for DVD-A.
I use my 540D for DVD-A, and it's great! Unfortunately, the inventory of available DVD-A is not growing :(
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AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › CD Players & Dedicated Music Transports › universal player (emphasis on audio) ~$400, recommendations?