oppo 105 vs 103

Certainement! My position is that there are only small differences among quality electronic components within a category (unless the manufacturer voiced with vehemence). Even via the analog outs, I could live with either the 103 or the 105 and, via HDMI, could not choose between them for sound quality.

Speaker choice, speaker/room setup and room acoustics are so much more influential, imho.

I have a 103. Its a great blue ray player and a fine multi-channel audio player. It is not an audiophile class 2 channel player... doesn't have the detail and dynamics needed.

thanks for all the replies, I have decided to go with the 105 or maybe another choice the marantz sa-8004.

I was in the same place as the OP and went with the 105. I can say that it is detailed and musical.

I compred it to an in house audtion with an Esoteric unit costing 5 times more and decided to save $4K.

There was not that big of difference, The Esoteric might have seemed to have a little bit weight to the sound.

I needed a new transport for my Dac but didn't want to go with a "Pure transport" only [for flexibility purposes] so I debated between the 103 and the 105. I first picked up the 103 then shortly afterwards decided I wanted to have the music-making ability of the 105 in case my dac was out to lunch one day and still wanted good music in the meantime, so I returned the 103 and now have the 105. Yes, it seems a bit pricey just to use its coax output but I am using it exclusively for 2 channel audio only (No video, no computer...nothing else) and the heavier chassis and [potentially] sturdier drive mechanism also swayed me. Unfortunately I don't have it hooked up to a tv or computer monitor and all the "autoplay" features and "remembering where I was on the disc" crap is being a real PIA when all I want to do is simplify it down to play/stop/start and maybe "next or previous". For THAT reason I regret the purchase so far but otherwise it seems to do its job ok through the Dac.