Universal Players vs. Dedicated CD/SACD Players

The Oppo 95 and later are good units (I have the 105D and have heard others in the past) but they are engineered to a price point which they've done the best to maximize ROI at that price. Owning the 105D I can tell you it excels at video and does a good job of CD and SACD playback, ability to leverage its DACs from an external source, etc...(XLR sounds better than RCA) BUT there are Universal players out there that are better at audio.  Shop around, listen extensively, etc...before you buy. Esoteric will definitely 'crush it' to use 68pete's words but my opinion having owned several generations should be taken as exactly that.

Thank you all for the input. I didn't know if I was splitting hairs with this or if indeed a universal player might compromise the audio side which is most important to me. 

I would say just enjoy the music. Hi-enders like to spout on about interference, internal crossover, etc.which is more imaginary than reality, with marginal improvement. Also, people often like to justify their purchases, with owners of 10k CD players compelled to state that is the only way. I have a sub 2k universal player from years ago, and I don't find the audio lacking. Video is horribly outdated!

I have an Oppo BDP-103 and use an Ayre C-5xeMP for music. I tried the Oppo with music, but it sounds flatter and less dynamic than the Ayre. Not terrible, but not terribly exciting either.

In my experience, dedicated CD players have better redbook performance than similarly, or even somewhat more expensive multi-format players.  I haven't tried very expensive (10K+) multi-format players, which may well have better CD performance.  If you listen to a lot of regular CDs, I would try adding a good DAC to the Oppo, say something in the $1K+ price range, which should be a significant improvement over the CD performance of the Oppo, IF you are sensitive to the improvements better CD replay will render.