Would you buy an Oppo BDP-105 now (as opposed to another player)?

Yes - a very nice choice.

 

I have to say the picture is just a little bit better than my computer. The audio is a completely different story. It sounds great. I would have to say my Asus xonar hdav 1.3 deluxe I thought sounded good but is not in the same league as the BDP-105. So maybe my Darbee addition will have an even better picture.

I ordered a 12 db attenuator for my back channel and the HDMI input worked I had to fuss with it a little. I may have worked to my benefit my sound card was designed to strap the HD audio to HDMI this was prior to today’s current video cards, an unused feature till now.

 

Similiar route. An Esoteric sa-50 for CD/SACD playing and a Pioneer Elite 79avi for DVD-Audio. For Bluray I still love my Pioneer bd 320 for video and analog sound from bluray and it still kills. Changes might be coming soon when I will eventually get a new LCD/LED/Plasma screen. Undecided as you see. Take care, John M.

 

I bought an Oppo BDP-105 last week and it has about 100 hours on it. It sounded a little lean initially and that's definitely changing. I really like it on most CDs, and it seems to have opened up a bit. However, now I'm listening to my old SACDs. Some "warmly mastered" titles like the older Sony Legacy SACD - Carole King's Tapestry sound phenomenal.

Then I played the 2003 Columbia Blonde on Blonde SACD, and it sounds really shrill and screechy. Others have said that the older Dylan SACDs are bright compared to the new MoFi's. Still, I was startled at just how bad Blonde on Blonde sounded on the Oppo. I wonder if my new player is accentuating this recording's flaws, and if that's somehow related to a lack of break in on the DSD side?
I also played Steve's Zombies SACD and it sounded good, but much less warm than on my old Sony DVP NS900V SACD player.

Once again, CD playback sounds great after some burn in on the Oppo. So, is it possible that my new player needs a separate burn-in process specifically with SACDs?
In other words, even though the existing burn in has worked with CDs, is it possible that there are "DSD circuits" that **haven't** burned in thus far - simply because I've only been playing CDs?

Advance thanks,
Audiohound

PS: Has anyone tried the Oppo with a tubed preamp or a tube buffer such as the ifi iTube, which I'm considering adding to my system...what's it like?

 

We have read reports that you need some mileage on both CD playback and SACD playback.

 

Almost one year on and oh how my opinion has changed!

 

Late to this, but a year of the UD7007 was enough for me. This, IMO, is a flawed piece of kit. Similar it seems to the aforementioned McIntosh: slow to load, unresponsive remote, a niggly interface that made switching from using the onboard YouTube service to playing a disc an unnecessary chore (switch off, switch on).

The sound is tonally lean slightly, which isn't a reason to berate it, but the fact that all of the above were promptly negated by the Cambridge 752BD said to me that Marantz fell at the first with this one. For £1000 this needed to be a whole lot better.

 

I had a similar experience with my 105.

What made a significant improvement was a Shunyata Venom power cable. Not the cheaper $75.00 one - but the $150.00 one.
Burn in also made a big difference, but it took over a month with the original cable - then I put in the Shunyata and finally got the full sound and detailed, big bass from SACD's I was expecting.
http://www.musicdirect.com/search.aspx?SearchTerm=shunyata venom&SearchTerm_Vldt= [req][len=3][blankalert=Please enter something to search for!]

Keep in mind that poorly mastered SACDs will sound like poorly mastered SACDs. I don't know about the Bob Dylan discs you mention, but some SACDs I previously thought were not so hot, such as the Elton John SACD's from Universal, are still not so hot.

But, other discs, such as Bryan Ferry's Boys And Girls SACD, which I thought was too harsh on my previous player, now sound incredible.

 

My apologies in advance, I suspect this has been discussed elsewhere. I'm thinking of buying a universal player, and I'm considering the 103 and 105. Given that the 105 is roughly twice the cost, I want to be sure the additional cost is warranted. I'm specifically curious about the audio. Given the limitations of my receiver, I'd either be using the front L and R outputs on the 103, or the left and right stereo audio out on the 105 to connect to my receiver. From an audio perspective, would there be a substantial difference in performance between the two?

 

As for the differences between the two I don’t know. I have the 105D and it has been worth every penny. The 105D also is a DSD dac.

 

The Oppo is not what ai would call a warm player. If you want to make it significantly warmer, get a second hand Musical Fidelity X-10v3 and put it inline between the BDP-105's stereo outs and your amplification.

 

Still happy with our 105. Great player for the money.

 

The DAC(s) in the 105 and the audio output stages seem substantially better than the 103. IF I had the extra money it would be an easy choice to go with the 105. There are a few reviews where both are reviewed (Stereophile Kal R. I think did one, and there's another audio blog one where the guy raved about the better 105 and then talked about modding it for even greater sonic bliss ... don't know about that one (what his system is, whether he's "trustworthy" in his opinions, etc.)).

http://audiophile-musings.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/oppo-bdp-105-review.html

What receiver do you have? rest of your system? (it's not listed) if they are mediocre quality (well, maybe that's being too harsh!), and you aren't planning upgrades, the 103 seems like it should be high enough quality. I mean if your receiver and speakers are <$1000 each (new) or something. If you plan on using the 105 as the basis for a new/upgraded system, it seems like a good one to use. Maybe in a couple years (as with all things digital) there will be better/cheaper ones on the market (or actually better but the same price) but you will be enjoying this one in the meantime, and it seems pretty much SOTA for this price range and even higher. I would guess that the 105 could be a great source in something like an $8000 system and not be a limiting factor.

Maybe I'm being too harsh or something in my <$1000 apiece assessment, but certainly in such a system, the 105 seemingly would NOT be a limiting factor in sound quality! I would venture to say that the 103 may very well be indistinguishable from the 105 in that system, but of course there's no way to tell but to try both over some decent period of time, to see if any perceived differences are important to you.

 

I agree. If you have the money for a 103, a bit of saving and cutting back on a few luxuries for a month or so and you could soon have the money for the 105.

 

Will 4k players coming online soon cause the price of used 105D's to drop? I'd like a used 105D for audio exclusively (for now), but can hold off for a bit if I can save $$ on it when the new generation of 4k players come out.

 

I think it might be awhile (a year?) till Oppo comes out with 4k players. I would assume the prices of the 105D will drop a little but not a huge amount though. That's the beauty of Oppo players is that they really hold their value. I was looking to grab a Sony 5400ES to see how it sounded for RBCDs and stereo SACDs. But the prices are so high and most do not have a warranty. So I'm seriously looking at a 105 to replace my 103. At times Oppo has refurbished 105s for $959 which I'm considering. That's with the full two year warranty which is great. I just looked on the Oppo site and there are no 105s available at all just the 105D.

Bill

 

I would be thrilled to see 4k players, as my 4k set has had very little content, but I have not seen much talk of real content. I have a 95 and just bought a 105. I am hopeful that they won't screw up a new one, and I'll replacevthe 95. From what I have seen so far, the 105 is the best single piece of gear I have purchased.

 

I'm going to wait until 8k TV's are cheap then connect a native 4k blue ray, I wonder if a 1080p blue ray would look like a DVD on that?.

 

Thanks, Bill & Bayou. Bill, do you see refurbished 105D's on the site from time to time? Thanks.

 

At this point, I'd wait for the tube-based model to be released...

 

I do not recall seeing any 105D refurbished units but I wasn't really looking. You could call Oppo and ask them if they could put you on a list if they have one for a 105D.

Is a tube based Oppo player a reality or just something you would like to see?

Bill

 

It will never happen

 

Perhaps not, but never is a very long time...

 

If you're looking at either then, and if you can get it, shortlist the Cambridge Audio 752BD as well. Great performance, different approach with a different DAC. Some prefer it for music but both are good machines. Personal preference in the end I suspect.

 

Icon Audio and Eastern Electric ate but two who produce well regarded tube players. Redbook only though.