I have read in some articles, that the universal player Pioneer UDP-LX500, or Pioneer UDP-LX800, could be a great alternative to Oppo... Does anyone have an opinion about these players?
One of the great aspects of the BDP-103/105 is the ability to rip SACDs to DSD files. Highly unlikely we'll ever see another new model capable of that.
I have an inexpensive Pioneer region free DVD/DVD-A/SACD Player DV-578a. On the + side it's got to be at least 15 years old & still works perfectly. On the negative, both audio & video are mediocre.
No offense but once again you are mistaken. The 105 and 205 have quite a few performance advantages other than just the 7.1 analog output. No need to list them again as tmtomh has already taken the time to list them . I was interested in the Pioneer LX-500 when it was first announced. But reading about the LX-500 over at AVS indicates issues with the player and poor response from Pioneer. You could check out the LX-500/800 thread linked below. Best to start at the most recent posts to see current issues reported. I would avoid the LX-500 at all cost due to issues reported and lack of support. Pioneer UDP-LX 500 / 800 Owners Thread (No Price Talk)
"Performance advantages" over what? It cannot outperform a good multichannel processor or a good DAC or a good headphone amp or preamp. It is an absolutely superb player and I am not disputing this, but the $2k+ prices are completely irrational.
How do you know the 205 can't outperform "a good multichannel processor or a good DAC or a good headphone amp or preamp"? You don't even list any specific components or pricing to actually make a hypothetical comparison. Have you done any actual A-B comparisons? You're hung up on the current prices of second party sellers of the 205. The original price was $1299 not $2000-$3000. What current or previous universal player has the feature set and performance level of the 205 at any price? That's why people are paying huge money for the 205. Because there's nothing out there that I know of at $2000-$3000 to even compete.
Anyone seen this new Marantz SACD 30n network player? The price is $2499, littie too high. Sounds like nice player, but doesn't come close to the 205. Marantz SACD 30n SACD 30n SACD/CD Player | Audio Advice Marantz SACD 30n SACD 30n SACD/CD Player | Audio Advice
They haven’t been manufactured in over a year and Pioneer isn’t replying to any inquiries about them. And it’s been mentioned earlier, too many existing players are having playback problems. Pioneer isn’t even servicing them under warranty. I wouldn’t go near them, even if you can find one. BTW, Pioneer itself may be on it’s last legs.
Are you suggesting the presence of a variable volume output and headphone output 'added on' to a player mean it can outperform a dedicated multichannel pre? Or the presence of a DAC input mean it can outperform an external DAC? In the used market I have actually managed to buy a Chord 2Qute, Arcam AV950, Arcam P7, Graham Slee Solo Diamond, altogether for substantially less than the 205 alone goes for. They all easily outperform the Oppo. It is a very good convergence product but, again I repeat, the prices are irrational. You can buy almost an entire, very high quality system for the money it goes for.
Bill, I think that's maybe down to not that many manufacturers making mid-high end 4k players anymore (or even then), so it's a bit of a limited field! The Oppo (105D or 205) came close to what I'd have wanted in a universal player, but the physical appearance didn't do it for me. As for my needs, the Cambridge 752BD has the formats (including HDCD) and the lack of a headphone amp is no biggie for me as I don't use headphones at home. It upscales to 4k, and now that I've got a 4K set, that's all fine, but I have mostly DVDs or Blu-rays and a few Blu-ray Audio discs. Any 4K content, I - got to admit - stream it off Amazon or Netflix. I need this to be an audio workhorse mainly though, so 4K in the player and not-upscaled-4K is not a necessity for me. For videophiles, I get that totally. So to feature set: preamp, multichannel, good DAC, no headphone amp, but does HDCD and has the aesthetic appeal I like. USB inputs front and back mean I can add an external HDD if I wish (and have on occasion). Check. Not all the features then of the 205, I'll give you that, but at full retail, the 205 in the UK came in at £1399. The 752 - £800 in 2013, I think the CXU might've been £900 a couple of years later. I bought my 752BD for £400 brand new in a Black Friday deal in December 2014. So I need a headphone amp? I can buy the HA1 or HA2 and I'm done. And I'm still quids in. Bottom line - which Swiss Army knife do I want? The one from Cambridge Audio or the one from Oppo (or, really, any other universal player manufacturer)? The one that best fits my needs. If I really needed that 205 feature set, in one box, then you're looking at a very limited range and the Oppo's going to be on your shortlist. But £1400 for a headphone amp and 4K when I've already got a great player...that's a little too rich a pill to have swallowed when most of my boxes are already well ticked for everything else.
I get your point, but I think to call the 205 a convergence product is pretty harsh! The market will bear what people are willing to pay for an item. I think the better universal players (the genuine ones, not the ones that were a bit half-ar*ed at it) were/are extremely good at what they do. Six years on, there's a reason why mine is still pressed into service regularly (though I use a Sony CDP-911E for CD playing duties these days). And, true enough, you can indeed buy all that gear for the same money, but the Arcam alone is the size of a small house, and you need to buy multiple boxes. I used to run just my player into a pair of AVI actives. Done, dusted, sorted. As near simple a physical set-up as you'll get without going down the streaming route. It was, and remains, fantastic.
No that's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that when comparing universal players the Oppo 105 and 205 have features and performance advantages over similarly priced players. That's some nice gear. To buy it all for substantially less than $2800 is a pipe dream IMO. So to me substantially less than $2800 would be $1500-$2000. To say you bought all that gear for that would be quite the challenge . Oppo 205 - AVS listing at $2800 from five days ago, still available. Might be possible to buy for $2500-$2650. Oppo 205 Just out of curiosity I did a quick search for the components you listed and a ballpark for what they go for on the used market in the US. Chord 2Qute - HiFi Shark with the lowest price $695.00 Used 2qute for Sale | HifiShark.com Arcam AV950 - eBay listing with bid price of $1250.00 cut it 50% to $625.00 Arcam AV950 Surround Processor Preamp | eBay Arcam P7 - HiFi Shark with the lowest price of $1750 Used Arcam P7 Power amplifiers for Sale | HifiShark.com Graham Slee Solo Diamond - eBay sold for $199 Graham Slee Solo Diamond GRAHAM SLEE MODEL SOLO ULTRA-LINEAR DIAMOND EDITION HEADPHONE AMP. WORKS. 220V | eBay $695.00 $625.00 (already discounted 50%) $1750.00 $199.00 ----------- $3269.00 I think we all get that you think the current prices of the 205 are "irrational" . So you compared the above components to the Oppo 205? To say one can buy "almost an entire, very high quality system" for $2800 is a complete joke. That is unless your idea of "very high quality system" is much less in quality than most here believe .
A figure totally dominated by the unrealistic pricing for the P7. I actually paid about $65 for my P7! I appreciate it isn't realistic for that price to ever come up again, but a more standard sales price would be about $850. Same for the 2Qute - I think I paid about $430. Just have to know where to look. On the Oppo - can I just restate again they are among the top universal players ever made. Once you factor in 4K in the 205 they are probably the absolute best. But the price is still madness and technology has moved on. You can get better performance by having other components do the heavy lifting (D/A conversion and amplification) and using a player simply as a core transport.
Pioneer hasn’t been a company for a long time, at least in the home audio arena. Instead, it’s a brand owned by Onkyo. Onkyo, in turn, is owned by Sound United, the same company that owns Denon and Marantz. A lot of “badge engineering” goes on and many Denon, Marantz, Onkyo, Integra, and Pioneer equipment are built off the same platforms, with little tweaks for each brand and different cosmetics. Somewhat amusing, Sound United is an American company, so these traditionally Japanese brands are now under American ownership. Basically, the opposite of the Samsung purchase of Harman, where hallowed American brands such as JBL, Harmon Kardon, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel, etc., fell under South Korean ownership.
Yep. Cent reval exactly but think it has something to do with the Mediatek board as HDCD went from Cambridge's CXU at the same time.
As much as I like HDCD, these days it seems like the only ones using it are The Grateful Dead & possibly a few country artists.
Onkyo was never owned by Sound United. The proposed deal fell through in 2019. Onkyo is still family owned, buying Pioneer in 2015. There have been some convoluted dealings recently, with the distribution of Pioneer and Onkyo now being handled by Voxx International, the owners of Klipsch. Onkyo USA as a distributor is no more, the distribution company is now called 11 Trading Company LLC. The distribution disruption is probably why the supply chain has been strained recently, other than COVID. BTW, supposedly the LX-500 is now slated to be re-released April 2021. I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Thank you very much, fellows. I'm surprised, the UDP-LX500 has earned the prestigious title of EISA Award Winner of the Best Universal Player for 2019-2020...
The fact that you haven't commented on comparing the Oppo 205 to any other components leads me to believe you have never heard or had one in your system. So when you say "you can get better performance" how would you know that? Reading reviews or spec sheets? Have you ever even owned an Oppo player? My thoughts are based on the fact that I see many say component A will definitely sound better than component B. Then when asked if they've heard component B they say well no I haven't. But they contend that it doesn't matter. Hearing is believing in my opinion. Not reading online reviews, spec sheets or the cost of a specific component.
