I have the drives directly connected to the Oppo USB via a USB hub. No streaming from the computer.
Holy Cow Oppo BDP-103
- Thread starter par4ken
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Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:
I rip most of my CD's to the hard drive so some haven't been put in a CD player at all. But yes CD players can have a different sound to each of them. The biggest thing about CD sound now days is that most are brick walled and as such just don't sound right, no matter what the player. Ssully would ask have you tested the 105 against the 103 double blind with perfectly matched levels? I believe what you are saying about sound quality, sort of wets my appetite for a 105 but for now I'm very happy with the 103!
What is the reason you folks have all those tracks on multiple outboard HHDs and having to select them with the rudimentary navigation system of the Oppo an equipment limitation? I mean, using a dedicated media player like JRiver or Kodi or Foobar is just such a better experience overall, I could never see myself going back to that type of system.
Ever seen reviews like these?
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...urements-of-oppo-bdp-105-blu-ray-player.2421/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...measurements-of-oppo-udp-205-uhd-player.3660/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ppo-sonica-usb-dac-and-streamer-review.11845/
These are real reviews with in depth measurements. I just listed some Oppo specific products, which generally measure well. Take a look through the index and see the number of other high end (and pricy) components that offer mediocre or even poor performance that have been well reviewed using otherwise subjective methods. It gives one a great appreciation for the value of blind, level matched A/B testing. And if you search the internet about such rigorous A/B testing studies, you will soon come to the conclusion that its not really optional if you strive to get to the truth.
In Ssullys defense, the high end audio world is financially supported by individuals who measure the quality of components subjectively, thinking they hear something that isn't really there, and paying a premium for it.
Ever seen reviews like these?
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...urements-of-oppo-bdp-105-blu-ray-player.2421/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...measurements-of-oppo-udp-205-uhd-player.3660/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ppo-sonica-usb-dac-and-streamer-review.11845/
These are real reviews with in depth measurements. I just listed some Oppo specific products, which generally measure well. Take a look through the index and see the number of other high end (and pricy) components that offer mediocre or even poor performance that have been well reviewed using otherwise subjective methods. It gives one a great appreciation for the value of blind, level matched A/B testing. And if you search the internet about such rigorous A/B testing studies, you will soon come to the conclusion that its not really optional if you strive to get to the truth.
Not sure how I would even connect that number of drives to my PC and have everything operate quickly. I guess with something like JRiver it does the decoding? Is it able to play a Blu-Ray image as if it was a physical disc being accessed? I have a ton of those on the HD's connected to the Oppo.
Hey I'm thrilled to have the HDDs connected to the OPPO in place of mutiple disc changers now.
Now I'm only 5 years behind.
Now I'm only 5 years behind.
The general answer is yes but it will depend on how the BDs were ripped/backed-up.
I believe they all offer plugins for various formats. I really only use Kodi. I dont know if it plays images, i rip all the video to MKV and select what i want from the Kodi library. It passes through all the audio codecs to my prepro and that does the decoding. It does not bring all the functional menues with it, but i dont want that anyway. Foobar or Jriver may do what you want. How would you connect to the PC for audio and video?
Amen to that.
As a Blu-ray Folder structure within an AVCHD folder.
It's nice having the original menus with the ability to select individual chapters by name instead of searching through an mkv file of a concert for a song. Also the PC doesn't enter into my equation other than when I add something to one of the hard drives.
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The pc can bitstream via HDMI connection, DTS-HD, TrueHD, DTS, etc. I've been doing it with a very old ATI 6450 graphics card for ages on my HTPC, you just need the app to do it. (I mostly use PowerDVD 20 for BD) OH! Forgot! Last year I upgraded the graphics card on the HTPC to a more recent card, an ATI 6850. lol.
Now these old cards won't do 4K video, though. Even my 390x supposedly won't but I've not tried. Not gonna buy a $2000 gpu. Not sure what Intel graphics / gpu will do.
Now these old cards won't do 4K video, though. Even my 390x supposedly won't but I've not tried. Not gonna buy a $2000 gpu. Not sure what Intel graphics / gpu will do.
I don't need to do double blind testing nor even extensive measurements to tell me that FM radio sounds far superior to AM. This is what I'm talking about, there was such a huge difference in sound quality between what I was used to and what I heard from the 103. That's why I was so blown away. The initial deference noticed was much more solid and hard hitting bass, and that was through 70's era headphones. After further listening the Oppo sounds great on everything, but the big very audible difference were on those SACD's.
Now by logic the conversion process from DSD to PCM can not be perfect, I think that that is where the difference lies. I'm not saying that DSD is superior to PCM either, just that conversion of one to the other is not a perfect process.
If any of you people want to do your own double blind testing that's fine with me, I just don't think that it's necessary in this case. It might be more useful to check it's Blu-ray audio output against some other player by double blind testing, to see if there is a difference there. That would fall along the lines of what some of you are talking about here, but IMHO you are getting down to splitting hairs, as the big sound difference is not there.
I'm trying to imagine this. So, your Oppo is really just a file opener, tag reader, and data streamer to the AVR at this point? And you use its GUI (ported to an external screen) to choose what to play?
This is me too, for many years now. For bitstreaming audio data over HDMI from the soundcard, any app with a WASAPI output option (foobar2k, Kodi, Jriver, VLC too I think) should do. Hardware players offer the bitstream option sometimes too (though perhaps only for lossy sources)
When bitstreaming is working, you know your output is bit-perfect. To test it, just bitstream a DTS or AC3 file -- white noise mean it's not bit-perfect. With a working bitsream setup, the only bit-mangling is done at the user's discretion, in their AVR. I like that.
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You're right, I find every claim about CD player differences in quiksrt's post highly dubious. A 'bright' CD player, by any normal definition of 'bright', would show a measurable EQ difference from flat, for example, in the audible treble range. But we virtually never see this in published measurements. Meaning you have to stretch further and further from plausibility to find a non-trivial technical 'cause'. When the real cause may well be just a trivial output level difference, or plain old flawed human perception.
If you want to *really know* about the sound, sighted auditioning's often unreliable. It so often leads to unwarranted confidence in unjustified conclusions....which influence the spending of money.
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The RABID anti~tweak, curmudgeonly ssully, a favorite 'sparring partner' of mine for YEARS will have a literal field day with this post:
First and foremost: The '5' series OPPOs [as in 105] were always priced higher not only for their inclusion of analogue outputs but for BEEFIER power supplies over the '3'series. ALL the OPPOs come with detachable power cords FOR A REASON: You can replace them with BETTER power cords [your choice]. Internet retailers like Music Direct are always having sales on them and offer one a hassle free 60 day guarantee to return the item ....if unhappy.
So I took my basic OPPO BDP 105 and replaced the stock power cord with a [gasp!] $500 Shunyata Research cord and then plugged it into a very pricey Shunyata Research power conditioner: MAJOR UPGRADE #'s 1 & 2!
Next, as with ALL my components, I elevated the unit on 3 brass spikes to 'decouple' it from my custom built solid maple shelves: Upgrade # 3!
I place a Marigo damper [cost $220] atop ALL my discs and the 105 is among those few who accept such dampers without a hiccup. Dampers assist in better focus of the laser on discs for improved replication. Upgrade #4!
And just because I'm rather cheeky......the icing on the OPPO is one of those mystical, often negated, Shakti Stones which sit stop the center of my beloved OPPO.
And being an avid tweaker, I also spray my discs with 'disc enhancing' Ultra Bit Diamond plus which REALLY, REALLY makes a difference and is painless to apply. Works on all digital media but is hard to find nowadays.
And once my new system is finally set up [BIG set back due to Covid~19], I will install my OPPO 205, applying the same LOVE afforded my trusty and beloved 105!
And do all these [admittedly excessive] tweaks improve the sonics of the OPPOs.....or for that matter any digital component: A RESOUNDING YES!
First and foremost: The '5' series OPPOs [as in 105] were always priced higher not only for their inclusion of analogue outputs but for BEEFIER power supplies over the '3'series. ALL the OPPOs come with detachable power cords FOR A REASON: You can replace them with BETTER power cords [your choice]. Internet retailers like Music Direct are always having sales on them and offer one a hassle free 60 day guarantee to return the item ....if unhappy.
So I took my basic OPPO BDP 105 and replaced the stock power cord with a [gasp!] $500 Shunyata Research cord and then plugged it into a very pricey Shunyata Research power conditioner: MAJOR UPGRADE #'s 1 & 2!
Next, as with ALL my components, I elevated the unit on 3 brass spikes to 'decouple' it from my custom built solid maple shelves: Upgrade # 3!
I place a Marigo damper [cost $220] atop ALL my discs and the 105 is among those few who accept such dampers without a hiccup. Dampers assist in better focus of the laser on discs for improved replication. Upgrade #4!
And just because I'm rather cheeky......the icing on the OPPO is one of those mystical, often negated, Shakti Stones which sit stop the center of my beloved OPPO.
And being an avid tweaker, I also spray my discs with 'disc enhancing' Ultra Bit Diamond plus which REALLY, REALLY makes a difference and is painless to apply. Works on all digital media but is hard to find nowadays.
And once my new system is finally set up [BIG set back due to Covid~19], I will install my OPPO 205, applying the same LOVE afforded my trusty and beloved 105!
And do all these [admittedly excessive] tweaks improve the sonics of the OPPOs.....or for that matter any digital component: A RESOUNDING YES!
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No, you don't because there are scientifically accepted, well understood inherent reasons why those two technologies can and do sound different. There is no analogy to CD players here.
Those well understood inherent reasons I mentioned, do not exist for what you report. There's no technical reason your CD players should sound fundamentally different like this.
Very well accepted non-inherent reasons, though, *do* exist, for what you report. You haven't investigated them.
Your reports of 'blown away ' difference are not news to me. Audiophiles have been making dubious claims of big 'even my wife heard it!' differences for decades. They never pan out when investigated rigorously. They also get reported in 'phantom switch' experiments...where there is literally no difference between A and B. (Akin to putting different price tags on wine from the same bottle -- an amusing number of people report the 'pricier' glassful tastes *so much better*.)
So you don't need to tell me yet again that you heard something big and wow therefore must be real Anecdote noted, for the millionth time. Unfortunately, it proves nothing. It could very well still be just a big mistake.
I've told you why your conclusions are questionable from the POV of known science and sensory testing practice. Your beef is with that, not me. I'm just the messenger.
Feel free to test that idea properly with two of your most different-sounding players, but, off the bat, the logic is faulty. DSD was *meant* from its inception back in the day, to be converted to PCM. Transparently to the ear, if not 'perfectly', since, obviously, inaudible high frequency content is discarded. The 'imperfection' should not be audible like you report. Anything that is making such a big audible difference as you report, if real, sounds like some sort of EQ, compressor, or other fiddling with levels added on -- *nothing* intrinsically to do with DSD-->PCM.
“Isn't it pretty to think so?” - Hemingway
Do the fancy new clothes make a difference? A RESOUNDING YES!
Wow.I'm.Just.Mystified.
Once again I have deleted a lengthy post because there are members here that review for a living, and I don't want to even seem to imply that their reviews are anything but honest and forthcoming. I certainly have seen over the years reviews, however, from some that are total bullshit. When you used to see a magazine, e.g., that continually builds up the major advertisers and disses the little guy, it's a safe bet something isn't kosher, so to speak.
But crap science is still crap.
I say do whatever works for you, it's your money, not mine. As I said before, circumstances conspire to tell tell the brain what it wants to hear, or actually, the brain likes the story that make us happy, regardless if we build the story to feed it or just buy into one.
Once again I have deleted a lengthy post because there are members here that review for a living, and I don't want to even seem to imply that their reviews are anything but honest and forthcoming. I certainly have seen over the years reviews, however, from some that are total bullshit. When you used to see a magazine, e.g., that continually builds up the major advertisers and disses the little guy, it's a safe bet something isn't kosher, so to speak.
But crap science is still crap.
I say do whatever works for you, it's your money, not mine. As I said before, circumstances conspire to tell tell the brain what it wants to hear, or actually, the brain likes the story that make us happy, regardless if we build the story to feed it or just buy into one.
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Do the fancy new clothes make a difference? A RESOUNDING YES!
TO THOSE DISENFRANCHISED .... A RESOUNDING NO!
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