This was posted by a member, from Ontario, in the "SACD DVD-A and Blu Ray Audiophiles" Facebook group. (I invited him to join us.)
Customer dissatisfied with Reavon player
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Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:
This is awful. These universal players are mature (to say the least) technology which should not have problems and bugs such as this!
I would look for a used Oppo before purchasing a Reavon!
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Not to mention the seeming lack of a customer service department in North America to which this unit could be sent directly....and reliably repaired.
I have 5 OPPOs, 4 of which are still working reliably [My NUFORCE modified OPPO refuses to play multichannel and OPPO refuses to repair 'modified' units and NuForce is out of business]! And I always credit OPPO with keeping up with the very latest firmware updates either via firmware disc and now WiFi enabled!
And that Reavon XBR~X200 player did cost more than even the superb 205 which via WiFi firmware updates includes Dolby Vision for video and MQA decoding ability for CDs!
I have yet to see any modder, that I would allow to touch, any of my gear. The great majority of them, should be called "ruiners", not "modders".
If I want to ruin some of my gear I am certainly capable of doing it myself without paying an audiophile price for someone to render a piece unrepairable and then disappear. Most of the crap that they do would not pass an ABX listening test. This includes , silver wires , linear power supplies, "upgraded" capacitors, over priced power entries, and pretty machined mechanical components. I find modders to be far into the snake oil end of the hobby. jmo
I did independently invent op amp rolling in the 1970s. A friend had a Crown IC 150 preamp. I "upgraded" the op amps (in the line section) to faster ones (LM 318H from LM 301) but even then I was very nervous turning it on because I was afraid I might have turned it into an oscillator. But it worked and he was convinced it sounded better. I could not tell any difference. It was not a great sounding system. (Crown Power amp and Bosey 901 spikkers)
But I never wanted to experience that nervousness again. Or risk having to pay to have somebody's system repaired. At that time I did not own an oscilloscope.
If I want to ruin some of my gear I am certainly capable of doing it myself without paying an audiophile price for someone to render a piece unrepairable and then disappear. Most of the crap that they do would not pass an ABX listening test. This includes , silver wires , linear power supplies, "upgraded" capacitors, over priced power entries, and pretty machined mechanical components. I find modders to be far into the snake oil end of the hobby. jmo
I did independently invent op amp rolling in the 1970s. A friend had a Crown IC 150 preamp. I "upgraded" the op amps (in the line section) to faster ones (LM 318H from LM 301) but even then I was very nervous turning it on because I was afraid I might have turned it into an oscillator. But it worked and he was convinced it sounded better. I could not tell any difference. It was not a great sounding system. (Crown Power amp and Bosey 901 spikkers)
But I never wanted to experience that nervousness again. Or risk having to pay to have somebody's system repaired. At that time I did not own an oscilloscope.
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Fundamentally, most rely on audio memory, which is notoriously poor and fleeting. You send your device to the shop in the hope and expectation that it will be improved and then you wait while your memory fades and your anticipation grows. Then, finally, it arrives and, wow, it must sound better.
Amen to that. Take a listen to what Paul has to say about first hearing a horn speaker and then how it sounds to him 15 minutes later. This part starts at 4:26 into the video.
And lets not forget about the (digital output only) Reavon UBR-X100 'universal disc player' which was originally promoted as offering SACD and DVD-Audio disc playback. Not only was SACD playback withdrawn but DVD-Audio disc playback didn't even function at launch. And neither did some other features.
If I had purchased a Reavon player, I'd be pretty nervous to learn that the same french Groupe Archisoft Company has started flogging a new 4K UHD player going by the name of the Magnetar UDP800 (starting at €1,599.00)...
If I had purchased a Reavon player, I'd be pretty nervous to learn that the same french Groupe Archisoft Company has started flogging a new 4K UHD player going by the name of the Magnetar UDP800 (starting at €1,599.00)...
The most fun of this audio hobby is modding your own equipment and it can make a difference. I miss "Audio Amatuer" with it's POOGE articles.
Every change made to a piece of equipment has got to make some difference. Noticeable maybe maybe not. I think it's always best to use the best components (affordable/practicable). Especially with capacitors, a single change will be inaudible but removing and replacing a large number of crappy electrolytics from the signal path certainly will improve the sound!
Op-amps have advanced greatly from the LM709, 741, 301, 318. The TL071 family served well for years and sounded good but has long since been eclipsed by much better devices.
Modern equipment is difficult, beyond my personal capabilities to do much with with their surface mount, almost invisible components. I love the old stuff!
TVB
400 Club - QQ All-Star
I looked at the reavons but the build quality did not look as good as Oppo's. I bought a panasonic 9000. It was $300 cheaper than big Oppo (which I wanted but never had the chance to purchase). The 9000 plays dvda, dvdv, dts and 4k bluerays with analog out. It has real build quality and I have no complaints during its several years of service. The only thing it wont play is sacd. Not that big a deal because sacd players with analog out are out there in the used market very cheaply. I have collected 5 of them for a total of about $100 and they all play. My latest is a sony scd-ce595 with 5.1 analog outs. It is a great machine so far. So easy to play with NO MENUS to set up.Just put the sacd in and it reads it. Push play and there you go, sacd 4.0 or 5.1 and it uses any sony cd player remote. Write ups on it are very good and with mods is supposed to rival the sound from the big sony sacd players. On a side note, I recently sent in my oppo 95 for service and they replaced the analog out board. At my request, they also reprogrammed it to play sacd iso's. I use these expensive players for music and use other bluray player's for watching movies. My advice is to get the 9000 if you need analog out (which might be a dying breed) and keep a lookout for cheap sacd players that play in surround.
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I have an Oppo 105 that is my primary media player, and I dread the day when it dies. My only mod is an apparently authorized jailbreak from Oppo Australia to let it play all region discs. It plays everything I can throw at it except 4K discs, but there are no 4K 3D TVs, so it’s not a big deal.
All the issues I’ve had with it boiled down to a thumb drive that went south for unknown reasons.
All the issues I’ve had with it boiled down to a thumb drive that went south for unknown reasons.
Before I lucked into (two) Oppos, I bought a Yamaha DVD S1700 player for $40 locally. It has analog outs too. It plays both DVD-A and SACD multi channel audio. In it's interior it looks very similar to the above pictures of the Reavon. I think you cannot draw many conclusions from what it looks like. They just didn't finish the product design, probably the software. Of course Yamaha products almost always do what they are supposed to do. But ogly and cheeep looking stuff can perform fine. The Reavon just seems not to in this one fellows experience and perhaps others.
edit: The DVD S1700 does convert the DSD of SACDs to PCM Audio. that doesn't bother me and even for someone whom it does bother , it is still better than not being able to play SACDs at all
edit: The DVD S1700 does convert the DSD of SACDs to PCM Audio. that doesn't bother me and even for someone whom it does bother , it is still better than not being able to play SACDs at all
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But since the OPPO 205 is basically SOLID STATE and has adequate ventillation across the top portion of its architecture, would 'overheating' really be an issue unless you stacked another component [NOT recommended] atop it?
Don't remove the drive until the player is powered down. I ruined a thumb drive that way as well.
I am in the same spot as you. The Oppo 105 was always just a bit out of budget for me but I kept watching the Oppo site for refurbs. Finally one popped up at about $200 cheaper & I immediately ordered it. I purchased it just as the 203/205's were coming out so I guess it can be thought of as one of the newer of that generation. It has worked flawlessly.
Since my Anthem pre-pro does not do high res formats the 105 is what plays my SACD's, DVD-A, Dolby True HD, etc. And as I use a projector I really appreciate the Netflix/VUDU/YouTube etc apps built right into it. I also have the Australian all region firmware fix.
If it goes kaput & Oppo is no longer servicing it I would probably buy a much cheaper main stream unit for video. And in the closet I have an oldie but goodie Denon 2910 that does DVD-A & SACD & in excellent working order. So you know, one player for video & one for audio.
On the other hand the Oppo might outlast me!
jefe1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
One Oppo to rule them all
Lord of the disc players...
Lord of the disc players...
I'm not sure how helpful this method is. When I first got my Oppo I did started out using a flash drive plugged into the front USB. Then I moved up to a 3TB EXT HDD. I know, I know, it's crude & primitive compared to others set ups around here but it works for me.
Anyways as usual it has a power/activity light on it. I noticed that even with the Oppo turned off, the HDD light still showed as on. And I can pick up the HDD & feel the disc spinning. So simple powering down would not benefit a flash drive or HDD, just unplugging it. And of course the question returns how to do that safely.
For my self music & movies are usually in the evening & I just pull the USB plug from the Oppo when I'm done. So far, so good.
The external hard drive must have separate power supply? As I recall the 2TB drive that I was using on my 103 had its own wall wart. The flash drive is powered from the USB port.
The 95 that killed my drive has to be powered down first, just like you have to "eject" the drive from your computer before removing it. Sadly the 95 won't take a large HDD, it only seems to works with flash drives.
Nope. It's just an (embarrassingly ) simple WD My Passport 2.5" 3TB drive plugged in to & powered by only the USB port.
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