Will tariffs affect the price of these?? I’ve been wondering if they’ve been imposed on consumer electronics and if we’re going to pay the price.
Isn't the Emotiva just a transport, while the OPPO has a DAC, and can be used as both? That would certainly be a factor in which "sounds" better.
That is right. it is a full fledged CD player that can be used as a Transport also. Last night I did some a/b'ing between it and the OPPO 205, with the Grand Daughter chattering away, so nothing really critical. But under those circumstances it held its own surprisingly well, but again, this was no serious intense a b thing. But the two players had more similarities then big difference's. The Emotiva has a digital switching power supply, and of course the 205 doesn't. BUT the 203 also has a Digital power supply but again, if I score one which now seems unlikely, it would be in the family room with the Roku tv, not in the stereo rack. Beave
I didn’t say it is an “issue,” but the person I was responding to had indicated the 205 does not have a switching supply. It does have a switching power supply—just like every other Oppo disc player—and I was pointing that out. Also, some people (wrongly, IMHO) think switching supplies are inferior to linear power supplies, and that the existence of a switching supply will pollute all the electronics with RFI/EFI due to high frequency switching noise. So, it could be a concern for some people, albeit spurious IMHO.
Eric, thanks for the clarity. Also thanks to classic rock and all of you really! I Was of the mindset that a Digital switching power supply on the audio side was inferior to a true linear ps. And I was unaware of the 205 having one. So is the torroidal ps for the audio section in the 205? Next up and you all should like this is that 3 days ago I happened onto a chap that JUST put up a 203 on eBay for a starting bid of $550, WITH A MAKE OFFER on the listing. So some body offered the opening bid, $550, and the seller accepted it!! So he sold his brand new 203 for Msrp!! Someone was very generous and somebody was very lucky!!! Put a smile on my face!! So, on this fine Saturday, has anyone heard anything about August or if the 203 is going to get one more run? I still have to wait until September before I can buy anything else so this is going to be a looooong month for me. Beave
Yes the toroid is for the audio section. I've not noticed any polluting effects from the switch mode used in the video section. I think the bad switch mode supplies are usually unregulated plug top types that cost little. Often supplied with quite expensive Dacs and phono stages to keep cost down and forcing an expensive upgrade to be purchased.
This is good to know Cr. I thought all dig ps's added mass pollution to the proceeding s. Other than that it seems like it's all quiet on the OPPO front. Beave
A well-designed switching power supply shouldn’t spew out that garbage. Anyway, the switching supply in the 205 is covered by a large metal enclosure, acting as a faraday cage. The engineers at Oppo really have thought of everything.
This video includes a partial tear down of UDP-205, removal of the switch mode supply, and replacement of the switch mode supply with a linear power supply—IMHO, a totally unnecessary “upgrade” and given the passively cooled nature of the UDP-205’s case, having two heat-generating linear power supplies could be detrimental. Plus, the video section, SoC, and control circuitry would see little benefit from a linear power supply over a switching supply.
I agree with you. And from what I've seen, this isn't the only LPS available for the 205 and other Oppos - there seem to be a ton of them on eBay, from a variety of different sellers.
Region-free DVD playback is dead easy. One can burn a CD-R that, when inserted in the player and then ejected, makes it region-free (until the next time you turn it off). For Blu Ray I think it's hardware mod. Others know more about this than I do, I'm sure.
There are very simple kits that you can basically just plug into the USB and RS232 rear ports which enable the user to switch regions using the remote (press Dim x3 times, then Mute and the number for the region desired). This kind of kit runs about $75 - $100. Someone else may chime in but I believe the same kit works for the 103, 105, 203 and 205 models. I believe there are also firmware/software mods/hacks to accomplish the same thing but I've never tried this method with any of my Oppos.
I would add I have not been impressed with expensive amps from Linn and Chord which use switch mode power supplies so I'm not saying they don't have a downside at least in that situation. I don't think they impact on the audio in the 205 in that design but not saying it would not sound any better if no switch modes in the case (no way of telling). No obvious effect on other sources but I usually switch off all digital when playing vinyl in any case.
