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Has the Oppo carried the AV industry?

I looked through my last Widescreen Review magazine the other day (March issue), and I came accross the latest Oppo Bluray player review -didn't read it. In fact, I refuse to read yet another all-universe, all-everything, "the end-all-be-all", "greatest thing since sliced bread", "MUST HAVE", "there is none better", "will revolutionize your home theaters picture and sound quality, to world class levels" article, about the mythical Oppo player!!!..can't do it..WON'T DO IT! NO!!!
Over the last 13 years, I probably honestly read two (maybe three) entire Oppo Universal disc player reviews -start to finish -and other articles discussing Oppo mods and upgrades, articles/discussion that REFER to an Oppo player, as part of some reference system, and inevitably, I find that the Oppo reviews will JUST WON'T GO AWAY, APPARENTLY! They're like bunnies! They keep producing more of their kind, whether you want them to or not!
Lol -I'm just simply amazed by how much attention and press that a lowely disc player has obviously gotten over the years! Surely, owning an Oppo player must bee a system transforming experience! ..a "must have" item, no less. I must have missed out..cause I never owned one. In fact, never really cared to own one! I've been dazled by how good the quality of video processing has been in all the plain-Jane disc players, flat pannel display's, and even high end video projectors I've owned continue to supply me wiht! But, apparently, every one else bought the Oppo. Cause I surely, honesly, can't remember a year that's gone by in the past decade, where I don't rememer NOT reading somwhere about an Oppo player!
It's really felt, to me, like home entertainment AV products, and home theater in general, have been on a "demand" slide over the past decade! 7.1 and 1080p, Bluray, etc, have all been around long anough now, that it's kind of a "been there, had that" kind of feeling I get when I think about this hobby anymore. I guess life and priorities has weened me away from being a die-hard enthusiest now-a-days. And yet, I can't get the Oppo topic out of my thoughts, whenever I look at my gear!..and I don't think the hobby is going to let me forget much about it neither. lol!
Anyone else get the oppinion that this product surely has been single most important product in the AV industry, these past 10+ years?! Because it's certainly been the most talked about brand/topic I can remember reading about, if nothing else.
I really do think they'll be making Oppo's for the next 100 years, period! -even if they'll do 4k upscaling, 4k/8k future exact pixel mapping, wifi-HD streaming, toast your bread and make you breakfast, whatever! I'm thinking that these Oppo's just must have been so good, that no serious enthusiest, whatever-phile, or system owner should have ever considered "going without!"...otherwise, they missed out!?
Well anyway, anyone here who's used the Oppo think that the product has been a make-or-break, indespensible, product that really made all the differnence to the picture quality they achieved, or the sonic experience they got using these things? (I'm tickled pink by the digital AV processing advances I've gotten just upgrading processor and displays, year after year) I just want to somehow hear that I really missed out all these years, and the only important consideration I should have made was BUYING the Oppo! Cause at the very least, I'm not totaly convinced that Apple and Oppo aren't the same company, ..secretly.
100 more years of Oppo players?..servers?? -probably
avgoround
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Hi Schubert,

Very good question, I'm having a hard time realizing this, too. Up until inserting the Oppo, I thought I had stumbled upon an ideal music solution with the combination of a very neutral and revealing class D power amp paired with the VTL with nos Mullard tubes. I've described the excellent synergy of this pairing in some other posts. Since my system is now used about 60% for ht and 40% music, the VTL was a perfect fit with its ht/passthru and my separate ancient Parasound AV2500 preamp/processor. This setup, which took me awhile to figure out, allowed my system to be a very good performer for both music and ht.

I thought I had determined that I needed tubes in my system somewhere to achieve the sound I was wanting (very detailed but with 3 dimensional sound staging and a touch to the warm side of neutral). I thought I needed the tubes to attain this but I now think I was wrong. I've proven to myself that a good performing system can be had through a tube/solid state hybrid AND a completely solid state one. My current thought is that the important factors are having good equipment that is connected well in the most direct manner.

I think connecting the 105 directly to my main amp via Audioquest xlr cables is a factor in my excellent results. It is very apparent that the noise floor has dropped, which does all sorts of good things for the sound performance. Another benefit is utilizing the 105's very good audio circuits and saber dacs as a source component instead of my older Sony DP-s7700 cd/dvd player.

What drove it home for me was listening to one of my favorite cds,Jack Johnson's "In between Dreams", which is mainly vocals and acoustic music with touches of electric guitar that always sounded very harmonically correct and almost euphonic with my prior system. When this cd had the same qualities played back direct through the Oppo, it was a revelation. The VTL wasn't responsible for this, it was in the music and both systems were just very good at capturing these qualities.

Even after realizing the above, however, I'm still reluctant to sell my beloved VTL. As a result, I'm going to place the VTL back in my system (between the 105 and my amp) just to be certain I can get by without it. It's not exactly a fair comparison, though, since the VTL will be another link in the chain and will be connected via rca cables instead of xlrs. I'm just going to choose solely based on sound quality.

Anyway Schubert, I completely understand your skepticism since I felt likewise prior to trying it. I don't think I can overstate how much I'm enjoying the Oppo 105. The hype is true.

Later,
Tim
schubert
7,386 posts
 
I've always loved tubes but I grew up back in the day when a new RCA cleartop was a $1.99 at the drugstore which also had tube tester in the corner.
I have a Eastern Electric Avant pre with 5 12au7 , 2 12ax7 and a 6x4 rectifier, Even with these most common of tubes you might spend more than the pre costs initally over its lifetime. And if you don't want to spend all day switching tubes around you need a good tester as well.
Get into 300B and amps with 4 or more power tubes you're talking a lot of money even if if you can talk yourself into believing Russian tubes sound good.

I might get a 105 for my birthday in July.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
dbphd
1,616 posts
 
Tim

I've been experimenting with SE and XLR connections from an Oppo 105 and Sony XA5400ES to a Parasound JC-2 analog stereo preamp -- I need the preamp for the CD/SACD players and a JC-3 phono stage. When I switch between SE and XLR while a disc is playing on the Oppo, the sound is continuous even though the light on the JC indicates the input was switched, no level nor quality change.

When I do the same routine with the Sony, the level is higher for SE than XLR, presumably because of impedance, but if there is a quality change it's too subtle for me to detect.

I concluded that superb sound is available with either the Oppo or Sony with either SE or XLR. The connections are short; the JC-2 output goes to Proceed HPA amps that drive KEF Reference 107.2s; the surround and SW channels go directly from the Oppo to HPA amps and Velodyne SMS-1s.

db
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Schubert,

I'm generally a tube lover, too. I recall my dad and I pulling tubes from our tv and bringing a bagful to the local Walgreen's for testing back in the 1960s when I was a kid(I'm 55 now).

That's a lot of tubes in your EE Avant pre. My VTL only uses 4 (2 12au7 and 2 12at7) and a complete set of nos Mullards is a fairly reasonable $200 from Upscale Audio. My initial set was $160 in 2006 and lasted over 6 years running 24/7. This confirmed to me that not switching them on/off daily really does reduce wear and extend tube life. I thought this concept was crazy when I first heard it on A'gon in 2005 but it's true. I replaced my tubes for the 1st time in Jan of this year.

I do not want to get into owning a tube tester and agree that Russian tubes are nothing special except for the low prices.

Dbphd,

I need to apologize to you and everyone reading this thread:

I incorrectly attributed my system's dramatic performance gains to the direct connection of the 105 to my amp via xlr cables. I am sorry if anyone was misled by my prior posts,

I believe the true contributors to my gains were the following:

1. The increased performance of the Oppo 105's audio capabilities compared to my previous Sony cd/dvd player's capabilities.

2. The increased performance of a computer audio system(laptop running JRiver media center software, NAS with 'ripped' cd collection) streaming digital files to the Oppo 105 for digital to analog conversion and playback.

3. The incorporation of hi-res 24 bit/96khz downloaded music files.



Interesting that you found no sound quality advantage with xlr over se connections. After comparing my newly configured system connected via se vs xlr cables, I would agree that, if there is an improvement using the xlrs, it is very slight and nothing I could detect with certainty.

I now believe the 3 most important factors influencing my impressions are my use of a computer system as a music source, the resulting increased playback of hi-res 24/96 FLAC and WAV files and the addition of the Oppo. Duh, right? I didn't treat my new setup scientifically, where only 1 variable is changed at a time to determine effects. I made multiple changes at once; the Oppo, computer as source, hi-res music files and direct to amp xlr connection. These were most likely the cause of my perception of a lowered noise floor and resultant increase in system performance.

Since I couldn't detect any differences, I think I'll go back to the xlr hookup(and sell the VTL) due to simplicity and reduced long term tube expense.


Anyway, happy early Birthday wishes to you, Dbphd. I can say with confidence that you will not regret buying an Oppo 105. I cannot overstate how pleased I am with mine. If you have any interest getting into hi-res computer audio, send me a pm and I'll walk you through the configuration. My cds even sound better 'ripped' to, and played back through, the hard drive. 24 bit/96khz music files are stunning and the best source for music listening I've heard thus far. Convenience and sound quality are the major advantages from my perspective.

FYI: Amazon and Oppo Direct have the lowest prices at $1,199 on the 105 I've seen. However, they don't have free shipping so I bought mine at Crutchfield for $1,219 and free shipping which resulted in an awesome $7 savings over both of them.

Now, please stop telling everbody that I never give you anything for your b-day, ok?

Thanks and hope you enjoy your b-day, Oppo and $7,
Tim
avgoround OP
287 posts
 
Nobel100,
No, didn't buy one, and probably won't, honestly.
Let's forget the fact, for the moment, that the Oppo's don't upscale to 4K resolution, and we got new projectors and displays coming out now that DO JUST THAT! (Why would I pay for scaling and processing in the Oppos, when my display is already processing video signals beyond what the oppo can do?)
Besides all that, I can't imagine getting any serious game changing significantly better picture quality simply by getting an oppo, after tweaking and calibrating my projector, than with a descent Sony for 1/8th of the price, honestly.
Also, right now, my audio system is in a "really don't care so much,at present" mode, which is yet another reason I don't care about hunting down an Oppo.
Then, we get to the near future, where all these players -AND DISCS - go BYE BYE! ..and then we are all at hard-driver storage/media servers anyway.
You can't convince me that we won't all be condensing our disc collections onto Kaleidascape type Terabyte hard-drive units, and servers, pc storage and streaming, etc, anyway, in the not to distant future.
Let me recant my position. I will likely end up with an Oppo by finding some package deal, or Craigslist/Ebay listing, where someone's practically giving it away, or I just happen to end up with one by accident some day!
That is likely the scenario with which I'll end up with one, if ever. Right now, I really just don't care, I guess.
Happy with what I got. But, one things for sure, you will not get me plunking down long green for NEW on one of these bad boys, just cause I gotta have it! Not going to happen.
You all knock yourselves out though. Im sure all your guests will be impressed with you system transforming, world class Oppo in your lineup, no doubt! -and then they'll surely want to go out an by one for themselves, from your enthusiasm alone. Marvelous. The industry changing Oppo legacy marches on.
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