Cambridge Audio 751 BD or Oppo BDP95?


Has anyone had the opportunity to compare these two players? If so, what were your impressions. I want to buy one of these players but, i can only audition the Cambridge. Thanks for any feedback

Brian27b
brian27b
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.
I'm surprised that there haven't been any comparisons yet. I am definitely interested in knowing the real differences in PQ and SQ between these two affordable players. I am currently using a Marantz BD7003 and running the sound through a Cambridge Audio 840C, which to me ears is only somewhat better; no huge gain. I understand I may not acheive a noticably better SQ with the new players, but I'm wondering if the PQ will be significantly better than my current player.