I was on a conference call with a manufacturer (not audio) to discuss upcoming price increases due to component shortages affecting the entire electronics industry. Basically the smartphone and IoT market heating up along with an uptick in the global auto industry has put a huge strain on the supply chain. Some passive components and general purpose ICs are up as much as 800% and can have current lead times of 30-40 weeks. These shortages are expected to last well into and even throughout 2019. Not likely that this will affect the Apple’s, Dell’s, Sony’s, and the like, but it could be very tough on companies that deal in relatively small quantities like Oppo Emotiva, Parasound and others. Maybe Oppo sees a shrinking market that could have very real challenges and decided to start making a clean exit before things get really ugly. Completely understandable, I have owned a 95, 105, and now a 203, but I can honestly say that my three month old 203 has played a total of three or so discs. Every young person I know plays all their physical media via their game console. I think we may see a bumpy ride for the next couple years.
A lot of the comments in this thread (they don't make anything anymore, revenues will be zero, etc.) sound like people don't realize that Oppo Digital is a subsidiary of Oppo Electronics. The parent company isn't closing and it probably earns way more than the subsidiary did making cellphones and whatever else they might manufacture. Now I am not saying that service and support will continue for many years to come...guess time will tell on that one. At the end of the day this is probably a company that is just closing a business that stopped making money. Can't fight the demise of physical media...it's not going to stop.
I really did not see this coming at this time. CD sales are falling but they still are at a fairly high level. But maybe it is the DVD that is giving Oppo heartburn. I'm glad I stuck with vinyl but even I have CDs not on vinyl. I have tried ripping them and playing them through a server but the sound quality was not as good as my Esoteric for some reason. I currently have a Marantz DVD/SACD player which was an audio upgrade to the Oppo although not with video. Have to see if Marantz stops too.
I just sold my 103 to help fund the purchase of the 105. I loved both players but not as disc players so much as file players that have multichannel DACs in them. Hardly spin discs anymore with a JRiver music server sitting next to an Oppo. But man what useful connection options and DACs for the price. I don't care so much if the disc spinner craps out so long as the DACs are working well!
Yes, they are getting out before they released a player that stalled out sales wise. Didn't wait for a failure to happen. Good for them.
Calling Oppo Digital a “subsidiary” of Oppo Electronics is really overplaying the relationship. Oppo Digital is a very small company, headquartered in Silicon Valley and incorporated in California, that designs and develops relatively high end video and audio equipment. The products were designed and tested in the United States. It has different products, markets, employees, C-level leadership, etc., than Oppo Electronics, which is a huge cellphone manufacturer based in China. The umbrella corporation for both Oppo entities is BBK Electronics, although the exact corporate relationship between all the players is unknown to me. I guess that Oppo Digital is as much a “subsidiary” of Oppo Electronics as T-Mobile is a subsidiary of Deutsch Telecom. Yes, the companies share some common ownership, but serve different markets with different products in different countries.
Anyway, the Oppo BDP players are still available for sale on the company website. However, I do not know much much longer they will be.
This is very sad news. I'm totally file-based for anything other than SACD and DVD-Audio, but I do not want to lose the ability to play those discs. Just bought a 203 on Amazon for the usual price, as a backup for my Marantz universal player. I'd been putting off buying and Oppo, now we've run out of tomorrows. It was inevitable. Physical media is dead with this generation. No blame, it's just the way it is.
Alright. But calling them a subsidiary isn't to say that Oppo Digital has a big role, serves the same markets, or creates the same products. It's simply stating a fact. They are owned and controlled by a much larger parent.
You make post insulting Chinese-made gear, which was not even specific to Oppo, in a thread about Oppo going under. Its a text-book example of thread-crapping.
If you plan on holding on to CDs or DVDs for the long term it is best to stay with the largest companies since they can support for awhile; but more importantly parts will be easily available for 3rd party repairers. It is no different trying to restore or repair a classic Chevy vs a Studebaker.
"The tech support, warranty, servicing and spares business will apparently be handled by an as yet unnamed third party." Oppo Shock: Popular AV Brand Announces That 'It's Time To Say Goodbye'
I’m not sure what degree of control is exercised by the parent, though. In my interactions with the company, everything was through American C-level officers and American employees. I mean, Geico and Kraft Heinz and Dairy Queen and Duracell and Fruit of the Loom and BNSF and Johns Manville and Lubrizol and Helzberg Diamonds are all subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway but I don’t see much evidence of control between and among them . . . LINKS TO BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY SUB. COMPANIES
This really really sucks. My 93 and 103 are complete workhorses. Their customer service was/is amazing.
I just order a 205. It's the most expensive piece of component I've ever purchased. I've always wanted one, so this unfortunate turn of event pushed me over the edge. In another thread, I mentioned about a week ago that I worried more about the availability of SACD players than the longevity of the discs themselves. I am afraid I was right.
Shame. I’m glad I ripped my SACDs with my 103D and hope it keeps going as log as possible. Oppo UK state they will close in the summer with a new EU hub opening to replace them (not that the UK will be staying in the EU).
Apparently, distributors were told about this a year ago, and the reason is to focus on cellphones where they are already #1 in China: Oppo topped China’s smartphone market in 2016, as Apple recorded first annual decline
That's not exactly easy to do, though. The good news is that most decent A/V receivers these days decode DSD, so all you really need is a transport capable of passing DSD over HDMI, and there are plenty of those in circulation already and still being sold. Of course if you want to use your own DAC you're S.O.L. Some higher-end A/V receivers still have multichannel outputs though, so you can still use your own amps, if that's your thing.
I think I'm one of the few that isn't surprised about this. I had a gut feeling that their latest players would be their last. Too many people have been opting for Sony and other players. And while other BD players have gone down in price, Oppo's players have remained high. (Not saying their not a good value, but they are high). Plus the fact that the other guys gradually discount their players, something Oppo never did.
Eh, you've made a bit of a jump there though. A more fair comparison would be something like products within 3M rather than Berkshire's structure. Or just Oppo. I mean hell, if you can sell phones to a country with a billion people vs. the much smaller market of high end audio at a nicer price that's less profitable selling phones wins. A couple of years ago I almost bought an Oppo but went with Cambridge instead. Probably the amp/receiver will be the next to go so I'll look for something that can do HDMI when that comes around.
