As an owner of an Oppo 105 and Emotiva UMC-200, I would agree with many comments above. I had a 103 and was always sorry that I didn't buy the 105. I finally upgraded and it was an impressive difference. Not only was the sound quality better but the control is much better too.
The emotivas do 1 thing really well-they pass the signal through on direct mode with no noticeable affect on the signal quality. My emotiva is a seamless multichannel volume control. I do like the volume control in the emotiva much better than that of a digital volume of the oppo.
SACD processing is really only done one way and newer technology won't trump high quality from a few years ago. And it is designed to be processed by the play. So the quality from the player is more important than the pre-amp.
My suggestion:
1-upgrade your oppo
2-try using it without the pre-amp before wasting money on a pre.
3-why in the world do you have 5 amps when there are so many high quality 5 channel amps out there? Downsizing might just improve and/or simplify things? (My amp is a 5 channel Mac)
4-really read the suggestions above. These guys are giving great suggestions.
The emotivas do 1 thing really well-they pass the signal through on direct mode with no noticeable affect on the signal quality. My emotiva is a seamless multichannel volume control. I do like the volume control in the emotiva much better than that of a digital volume of the oppo.
SACD processing is really only done one way and newer technology won't trump high quality from a few years ago. And it is designed to be processed by the play. So the quality from the player is more important than the pre-amp.
My suggestion:
1-upgrade your oppo
2-try using it without the pre-amp before wasting money on a pre.
3-why in the world do you have 5 amps when there are so many high quality 5 channel amps out there? Downsizing might just improve and/or simplify things? (My amp is a 5 channel Mac)
4-really read the suggestions above. These guys are giving great suggestions.