Oppo replacement recommendations?

[ubertrout]

I include burned DVD-A in my definition of "Universal player". This is an entirely legal disc format.

So, under the WIPO Copyright Treaty burning a DVD-A ISO from a commercial disc isn't legal, even if you own that disc. In the UK it would be the 2003 copyright regs: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2498/regulation/24/made

I appreciate the insistence that it should be allowed, and I understand that you can technically author a DVD-A disc yourself, which I recall you've mentioned doing in the past But given that the vast majority of such discs are technically infringing, this doesn't strike me as being a winning argument. And frankly, you're just going to exasperate yourself demanding it.

 

[izackary]

Audio Science Review tests of the DACs in current Arcam AVRs showed pretty poor results. Arcam took notice and said "ah, we have it configured wrong" and claim to have fixed it in a firmware updare. But ASR have not re-tested, so we really have no idea where the current Arcam AVRs stand with current firmware. As the owner of an Arcam AVR31 I'm interested, though it sounds fantastic and test results wouldn't change my view of that.

The poor DAC results were especially peculiar after reading the analog section measured very well.

 

[mandrix]

So, under the WIPO Copyright Treaty burning a DVD-A ISO from a commercial disc isn't legal, even if you own that disc. In the UK it would be the 2003 copyright regs: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2498/regulation/24/made

I appreciate the insistence that it should be allowed, and I understand that you can technically author a DVD-A disc yourself, which I recall you've mentioned doing in the past But given that the vast majority of such discs are technically infringing, this doesn't strike me as being a winning argument. And frankly, you're just going to exasperate yourself demanding it.

Well all the legalities aside, I fail to see how burning and playing a disc of one's own authoring is a sea change different from ripping a commercial disc to .iso and playing it in any number of software players.
I've authored a fair number of DVDA discs and always burn to an -RW disc and test it out. After that I just play it either with the Oppo off my network or with a software player.
I have several players that will play either burned DVDA or SACD.

But yeah, I agree, no sense beating a dead horse. But I still find it hilarious that old Sony players, with Sony being the kings of content control, will rip SACD.
That must really chap their backside.

 

[shokhead]

Well all the legalities aside, I fail to see how burning and playing a disc of one's own authoring is a sea change different from ripping a commercial disc to .iso and playing it in any number of software players.
I've authored a fair number of DVDA discs and always burn to an -RW disc and test it out. After that I just play it either with the Oppo off my network or with a software player.
I have several players that will play either burned DVDA or SACD.

But yeah, I agree, no sense beating a dead horse. But I still find it hilarious that old Sony players, with Sony being the kings of content control, will rip SACD.
That must really chap their backside.

Bet it's a bit more then chaps their backside! LOL

 

[Owen Smith]

So, under the WIPO Copyright Treaty burning a DVD-A ISO from a commercial disc isn't legal, even if you own that disc. In the UK it would be the 2003 copyright regs: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2498/regulation/24/made

I appreciate the insistence that it should be allowed, and I understand that you can technically author a DVD-A disc yourself, which I recall you've mentioned doing in the past But given that the vast majority of such discs are technically infringing, this doesn't strike me as being a winning argument. And frankly, you're just going to exasperate yourself demanding it.

I never said anything about copying commercial DVD-As, I'm talking about authoring and blowing a DVD-A yourself. These days I'd use blu ray or just play a multi channel FLAC, but that doesn't change all the burned DVD-As I already have. A similar argument can be made for authoring and burning your own SACDs but that really is flogging a dead horse, technically no law has been broken but so many players never played SACD-R and so little consumer gear can record in DSD it's a pointless argument.

Anyway, my Oppos (2 x 203, 1 x 95) all play burned DVD-As and for the one burned SACD I have my Oppo 95 will play it. If I lost burned SACD playback I'd throw that disc away, but burned DVD-A playback is a must for me. I still don't know if the Magnetars support it.

 

[Owen Smith]

The poor DAC results were especially peculiar after reading the analog section measured very well.

Indeed, which means Arcam saying they had the DAC misconfigured makes sense. I'm inclined to believe Arcam on that until I see evidence to the contrary. These are ESS DACs, they have options for internal resampling which as ASR said should eliminate the problem if used.

 

[Owen Smith]

But I still find it hilarious that old Sony players, with Sony being the kings of content control, will rip SACD.
That must really chap their backside.

Serves them right, miserable gits.

 

[mandrix]

I never said anything about copying commercial DVD-As, I'm talking about authoring and blowing a DVD-A yourself. These days I'd use blu ray or just play a multi channel FLAC, but that doesn't change all the burned DVD-As I already have. A similar argument can be made for authoring and burning your own SACDs but that really is flogging a dead horse, technically no law has been broken but so many players never played SACD-R and so little consumer gear can record in DSD it's a pointless argument.

Anyway, my Oppos (2 x 203, 1 x 95) all play burned DVD-As and for the one burned SACD I have my Oppo 95 will play it. If I lost burned SACD playback I'd throw that disc away, but burned DVD-A playback is a must for me. I still don't know if the Magnetars support it.

I hear you. While many of mine have been old OOP Quad rips, I find DVDA a suitable vehicle for playback. As for authoring SACD, I do so few that every time I get into it I have to sort of figure it out all over again. I have not used any DSD sources, I use Saracon for resampling and the Phillips encoder to compress.
Sound wise this way I hear no difference and simple DVDA is easier to author for a "quick and dirty" disc.

 

[gbaby183]

The DAC in the 205 is an excellent one and returned some of the best measurements tested at Audio Science Review. So it is possible that using the 205s DAC and analog outs you might get a better sounding result. Most of the AVR's we tested did not return DAC results near the 205s.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-of-oppo-udp-205-uhd-player.3660/#post-87675
OTOH, the 105 revealed some problems that couldn't be backed up with testing of a second unit.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...urements-of-oppo-bdp-105-blu-ray-player.2421/
Recent AVRs have shown big improvements over the last couple years. Funny how things seem to improve when someone is actually watching the cook.
So using a 205 in a system that can utilize the analog outs appears to be a good one but almost no AVR's offer analog in any more and in these days of Atmos, etc; this is all pretty much obsolete tech.

Remember, I was referring to a processor rather than an AVR.