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I have three digital sources

I have a 4 year old Audio Note dac 2.1. I used to think it was a pretty solid piece of gear. Problem was when I bought a Cambridge Audio dacmagic to mostly stream mlb baseball games from my pc. Trouble started brewing when I hooked the dac magic to my Accustic Arts transport and it was every bit as solid a performer or even better than the Audio Note dac.

Then indignities on top of indignity I bought an Oppo 83se as a blueray player and to play sacd, and it clearly is in a different league (as in better) than my Audio Note dac and dacmagic on anything it plays. I run two systems - one computer based and one with the oppo as source. The Audio Note is the odd piece out but have been thinking should I upgrade to 3.1 (I run Audio Note HE speakers that I love in my main system), should I sell up and think about a newer technology dac that will mate with my transport or computer better, or even wondering if I just need to roll some new tubes into the 2.1 (I still have all original tubes). Just looking for a little discussion about where to take my digital sources.
ladavid
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
David,

For kicks today I played an SACD through my Oppo BDP-83. As I recall, it's really, really good! Except for one thing: the machine's output level is so low I don't have enough system gain.

On RBCD it's no match for the DAC but SACD is good.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Epilogue: My player is not an SE, but a "normal" BDP-83.

I didn't notice this difference before. So, really I have no idea what the OP was hearing on his player. Or little idea.
ladavid OP
79 posts
 
judging by how close it comes to my Audio Note dac and Accustic Arts transport the Oppo se is really good. I actually was surprised there wasn't more discussion about how good the se is in this thread.

That said, I think it is the weak link in my system - may start a thread about how good a cd / sacd player you have to buy to significantly hear an upgrade from the oppo.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
I bet a modded Oppo SE can get quite good then.

The stock one is still chock full of mediocre parts (at to anyone who considers all opamps sub-par).

(The Sony 5400 is the same; opamps, so-so-parts at best everywhere, sounds great stock.)
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