Oppo UDP - 205

From whatever feedback is provided in this thread and another one on the Oppo, I am coming to the conclusion that, while the Oppo is no giant killer, it's sound quality comes close to 80% of what a high end dedicated SACD player can do. Which is not bad, considering that when time comes, you can either sell this player and buy a dedicated player, OR use it as a transport with a superb DAC.

"As for sound its not much better than my Modwright modified 105"

@azbrd,  

Comparing stock UDP-205 with Modwright modified 105....Is that a fare comparison?

Given the fact that the UDP-205 has a more advanced digital section I believe it should have been a push at least.  The Modwright 105 does not touch the digital section, although Bybee rail does touch the power going to the dacs.  The ES9038PRO DACs should have bested the older versions in the 105.

The other major issue with the 205 has been covered in this thread, when used with any Sony screen the HDMI drops randomly IF a HDMI loop (205 -> TV + non-4k-sur-processor->TV) exists, I installed the 205 in the "exact" same configuration as the 105 which did not have this issue.  Speaking to Oppo they pointed the finger at Sony claiming they leave all their HDMI ports active even if no signal is present.  

I also found it "cheap" that Oppo took away features like Tidal and netfix in the 205 that existed in the 105.  Never see a company pull features from a newer product. 

I've been using my 105, because of annoying audio problems using the  205 with DirecTV that don't occur with the 105.  Having learned about the firmware update, I reinstalled the 205 and updated it.  The annoying problems appear to have been fixed in the update.

db

azbrd,

Everything you say in your first paragraph is true re: that MW does not touch the digital section directly in their mod, excepting improving the AC quality fed to it, both by use of the Bybee rail and also freeing up the stock unit’s power supply from feeding the analog section and output stage (the massive MW external power supply does that).

Comparing the sound quality of my stock Sony 5400ES and my MW 5400ES and assuming that the SQ improvement between the stock 105 vs 205 is similar to redbook vs SACD, I honestly can’t imagine that the stock 205 would be close to the MW105 in SQ. Redbook on the MW is much better sounding than SACD on the stock unit. The stock and MW version are on far different levels of sound quality IME and the improvement is much more than a new-version DAC chip could ever produce IMO.

If using to feed a DAC through one of the digital outputs, there might be minimal difference in SQ between stock and the MW.

Dave

I've been using my 105, because of annoying audio problems using the 205 with DirecTV that don't occur with the 105. Having learned about the firmware update, I reinstalled the 205 and updated it. The annoying problems appear to have been fixed in the update.

Perhaps, but at least one *new* annoying problem has been introduced.