Cambridge Audio 751 BD or Oppo BDP95?

Both the Oppo and Cambridge are based off the new Mediatek SDK, a standardized product for high end blu-ray capabilities using advanced video scaler called the Marvell QDEO.

Mediatek license this design out to smaller firms so they do not have to reinvent the wheel by designing a new player from the ground up. Yes, this includes Oppo. PCB layout, rear ports, firmware and such is very similar, because they stick to the reference design.

Where they differ vastly is on the audio side. The 751BD essentially has the latest DacMagic built in for audio, while the Oppo-95 uses a Sabre DAC.

What Ayre and other manufacturers do is something totally different. They physically buy the Oppo players, then strip out the boards and mod them to make their own product.

According to What Hi-Fi? magazine review (August 2011):

The Cambridge is meaty & crisp, the Oppo's detailed high and low frequencies bookend its expressive and informative midrange.

The Cambridge Audio player favors brawn and power while the Oppo trades some of that action-packed sonic weight for a more tonal balance. Add to that the Oppo's serious on-rack presence and the more intuitive remote. The 751BD, on the other hand, sounds more robust.

In our opinion, you can't really go wrong with either machine, hence both players walking away clutching a five-star rating.

The Cambridge Audio Azur 751-BD is a better choice than the Oppo. Why? You will not find an open port with an exhaust cooling fan on the back of the 751-BD that's on the back of the Oppo BDP-95. The Oppo runs hotter than the
Cambridge Audio player. You don't have to worry about dust getting into the unit through the port hole when not in use.

Agisthos,..DacMagic does not do analog out from the 751-BD.
Analog out is done from the five Wolfson WM 8740-24/192Khz
DAC'S. DacMagic is the name of Cambridge Audio's D/A convertor unit which is designed for Mac computer's and other streaming devices. DacMagic is not mentioned at all in the specifications of the 751-BD on Cambridge Audio's site.

Audiozen, the DacMagic contains 2x wolfsen chips. One for each of it's 2 channels. The BD-751 contains 5x wolsen chips. One for each of it's five channels (you will only be using 2 for stereo).

The DacMagic uses ATF upsampling tehchology licensed from Anagram Technologies, which has now been renamed as 'Q5 upsampling'. Same thing in the BD751.

So you can see, the sonic signature of these devices will be much the same due to the use of common components and design.

DacMagic has the sonic advantage of a dedicated enclosure and power supply not shared with an optical player. And it also has the convenience of multiple digital inputs.