Oppo, great video reviews,, but good transport????

Hi Chad,

I tried my Oppo with my Monarchy M24 DAC and got really ho-hum results. My original Rega Planet was considerably better as a transport. And I've now found that the Rega Apollo makes a great transport when paired with the M24. That combination provides more musical detail and nuance than the Apollo by itself and seriously outclasses the Oppo/M24 combination.

My feeling after having tried the Oppo is that it has a little more potential as a stand-alone player than a high-end transport. But again, other more expensive stand-alone players will outclass the Oppo in that regard.

For the money ($150) you can't knock the Oppo, but in my view it doesn't challenge more expensive transports or stand alone CD players.

But following up on Plato's comments, then there are mods available that take the OPPO to a new level... check out Reference Audio Mods. After having a universal player modded by Electronic Visionary Systems (EVS), I am a convert.... don't think I'll ever go back to a transport-DAC system.

Chad:
I just purchased the 970HD and have had a little time to play with it. Most of the buzz has been video oriented. With so much worry over the chroma bug, jaggies, 3-2 pulldown and anything with the word Hi-def in it, this player address a lot of "wish list" items everyone uses as the benchmark to evaluate universal players. And it does a great job of playback as a "one box" solution. Sell it for 149 and a lot of people are experiencing Christmas early this year. I plugged it into my Lexicon MC12 and compared it to my Sony DVD7000, a first generaation dvd player that I use as a transport. I thought the Sony sounded a little better.
However, I needed a universal player that plays all the formats including the burned dvd's and cd's, which of course the sony cannot play. The oppo doesn't have the cladding and the antijitter that more substantial transports have. I think a used Denon3900 or a Meridian 596 would be a better choice. While realative bargains used, how can you compete with 149$. It's strengths are upconversion, good cadence correction, and the ability to play almost all the formats. And it's very good with DVD+R as well. No skips, it's fast in it's operation and has fair layer change speed. I have to agree with reviews like the Secrets of Home Theater site.
www.hometheaterhifi.com
Every year they have a "shoot out" comparing makes and head to head performance. It is a good transport, but not a great one. If audio is your primary concern, you might consider the predecessor. While still current, last years model specs out with better audio.

Comparing the Oppo 970 to my Cary 303/200 as a redbook cd player, the Oppo comes across as extremely enjoyable, but not in the same league as the Cary in terms of detail, liquidity, base control, etc. However the Oppo is so enjoyable that I've decided to build a really nice office music system around it.

That said, I can't directly answer your question in that I've not tried it as a transport. And, you already know that it does not FEEL extremely sturdy. My suspicion is that the electronics are quite sophisticated and so the transport plus power supply must be at least part of the reason that it falls short of the Cary. I cannot be sure.

Of course you cannot use high end power cords in that it uses the smaller appliance oriented plug connector (looks like an "8" in cross section, with one side flat).

Art

I would caution everyone looking at the Oppos to understand that there are two distictly different players currently in the Oppo lineup and more on the way.

The Oppo 971 is the one that got all of the buzz about its video playback. It cost $199 direct from Oppo.

The Oppo 970 is the newer universal player. It has somewhat diminished video quality but is a universal player and has been said to have better audio quality. It cost $149 direct from Oppo.

From what I've read over at AVS forum, there is a new Oppo (871?) on the way any day now. I think it is the successor to the 971, but I'm not sure if they will both remain on the price list.

Enjoy,

TIC

At what price point would you say the Oppo "audio" version competes with, would buying both be still a far better value then some costly all in ones?

The audio section of the Oppo probably would fare well against stand alone players of $500 or less. I think more than that would be pushing it, but still, at $150, it's got to be a great value. But just for the sake of argument a used Rega Planet will outperform it on audio both as a transport and a stand alone player.

Thanks everyone for your time!

When I bought my Oppo I asked them what's coming next? they said upsampling on audio. So I guess if they replace the 970 it would be with a comparable unit including upsampling on audio. In any case, this is a fun piece that costs less than the depreciation we typically incur in buying a fine piece even used and owning it for a few months.....
Art

Keep audio and video seprate.. honestly you want stellar video Oppo is your machine, and by the way thru the DVD concert discs the Oppo sounds excellent, but it is just a transport for that so its a good DVD transport when going thru a good surround processor/receiver etc...

2 Channel audio forget about it if you want to get serious... The oppo is very thin and easy to place in a system in most cases even if you are forced to stack it with a good 2 channel transport.. You will always be better off with two dedicated machines in my opinion, especially value for the money, at 199 that is more than enough for excellent picture and the downfall of a top class transport.. put all your money into a better transport for redbook audio if you want a more musical analog sounding digital source.

Read the tnt review,you get what you pay for.

Yeah and sometimes what you pay for is simply a rip off, anyone in this hobby longer than a week knows that.