Only because you asked. Better now? Yes I have heard the 203 & 205 plus all the others I've mentioned. The 203 is a substantial improvement over the 103 in components & build quality.
HA Perfect. Good one!!... This is my very first OPPO. Glad you were able to get yours too. I know I don't need a 205 but the better audio tantalizes my audio taste buds
Thanks. Always liked King Crimson cover art. Just remember, everything & everyone suffers in comparison. I would highly recommend reading at least the setup portion of the manual so that the player defaults to the settings you want especially for outputting SACD in PCM vs. DSD etc. I just got my 203 yesterday as well so I'm not familiar with the setup specifics. A friend has both the 203 & 205 which I've heard extensively but previous to this, the last Oppo I bought was the 105 and the settings make a real difference. Not sure if the 203 has a variable output but on the 105 I switched the output from fixed to variable to keep it from over driving my preamp. I also set the SACD to output DSD vs. PCM. That made a really nice difference.
Oh My Gosh!!!!!!!!!! I have NEVER seen anything like THIS!!! Looks like a Blue Meanie PUKED on the circuit boards. See how I brought The Beatles right into this conversation!!! Beave
To get back to the central issue of Oppo closing: that is bloody sad. Another win for convenience (streaming) over quality; the company championed durability in construction and it wasn't afraid of things like "analog outputs for SACD" which made them a godsend in today's market. I have a 203, modded for international Blu-ray use, which is superb, and I just ordered another, not that I really have the money, but seemingly, it's now or never...With my investment in Euro-BRs, I need to know I can keep playing them in high quality and have a backup machine for when service becomes scarce. I haven't come this far to just start buying cheap units with less performance. Thanks to Oppo for the fine players and headphones; I will continue to enjoy both. I wish the people who worked for them luck in the future; for as long as it lasted, they helped create something that increasingly went in the face of most manufacturing these days.
NH gets a lot of its revenue from "sin" taxes (cigarettes, alcohol), property taxes, and corporate taxes. The reliance on, for example, alcohol taxes, is one reason it's incredibly easy to get alcohol anywhere in the state, including on Sundays and including at gas stations.
That's not what the Wikipedia entry about Oppo Digital or the Wikipedia entry about BBK or the Oppo Digital China web site or the BBK site (for source information) state. Both Oppo Digital and Oppo Electronics are owned by BBK. Nobody outside of Oppo Digital and BBK knows why Oppo Digital pulled the plug on manufacturing of all Oppo Digital products. Oppo Digital isn't talking and BBK isn't talking, and because they're both privately owned they're not obligated to divulge their decision-making processes. It would be nice (and interesting) to know why the plug was pulled, but it won't change anything in North America or Europe. However, if you wander over to: OPPO影音中国官网-极致发烧影音-OPPO耳机耳放,OPPO蓝光播放机 . . . the Chinese Oppo Digital web site is still flogging players and you can still order online. Makes me think that Asian retail is where it's happening for Oppo Digital right now and the company is just dumping North America and Europe. Or maybe Oppo Digital China just has boatloads of 203/205/Sonica and headphones still to be sold and has to play out the run in Asian markets. Remains to be seen.
I just saw mention over at AVS about Crutchfield's new order restrictions for ordering the Oppo 203 from their site. I respect Crutchfield's policy to limit those buying up Oppo players to only turn around and sell them on places like eBay for a huge profit. Meanwhile those that just want to buy one 203 or 205 are unable to buy them. Due to limited supply, orders for the Oppo UDP-203 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player are limited to one per household. Thank you for understanding. Oppo UDP-203
Make you appreciate the retailer more.... yeah yeah I understand freedom of commerce and all but this is smart under this circumstance. If a product was not discontinued then I would feel differently.
I agree. Freedom of commerce would also apply to a retailer that chooses to limit sales to stop those just buying Oppo players to sell for a premium.
I think stockpiling video players is not a great idea, unless it's for audio. I've stockpiled DVD players in the past and I never ended up using them. One was so obsolete I had to give it away, still sealed in the box. I bet most of these 20x series players will last well over 5 years. Imagine how different the tech will be by then. Anyway, just my opinion.
The USA dollar amount on that site is $1869.02. Much higher than US retail. I would have thought it would be cheaper. Beave
Bill Mac, apparently, you have not read my previous posts on TUC. Otherwise you would not assume that I have any interest in dealing with this company. For the record: I have no relations whatsoever with TUC, I have never dealt with them, and I couldn‘t care less if they live forever or closes down tomorrow. My point being: As your post shows once again, it is almost impossible to get any first-hand experience on a subject like this on an internet forum. Statements like ‚I don‘t know anything about XXXs work, but I know it can‘t be good‘ are no help at all. As to your links: I have seen the exact same discussion again and again. Somebody asks about mods. Some people step up and tell about their positive experience with a company. Next, you can hold your breath until the ‚experts‘ show and question the integrity of the supporters. Same old story, over and over again. As to the second link, and the lawsuit thread: For one, that‘s nonsense, and everybody with half a brain should know that. For two, it took me about two minutes on the TUC website to learn that this guy has a nasty attitude. So what else is new? No offense, but my explicit request was for feedback from people who have indeed HEARD a product that has been modded by TUC.
So I guess the question would be if someone posted a positive listening experience with TUC modded gear would you send a component to them to be modded? The fact that TUC has been around for awhile has no bearing on the quality (or lack of) of their mods. Whether I have heard gear modded by TUC or not I'm still inclined to post my opinion. The reason for that is to bring to light TUC's practices and the owners behavior. Consider it a public service announcement .
What about Darbeevision? I think Oppo decided that it wasn't worth the BOM cost and implemention cost. Just like they left out streaming apps. So many people seems to think that because they want a particular feature that a given company is making some kind of epic failure if it isn't included or gets dropped. It's like not buying a Swiss Army knife because it doesn't have Bluetooth.
I thought it was because the 4k tech built into the new chip includes upscaling and other video processing for regular HD and such, which renders the Darbee processsing redundant or moot. But I'm not as informed about the video side of these machines as the audio, so don't take my word for it.
In all honesty I didn't find Darbee to make much of a difference on my 60" Panasonic GT50 plasma. But I'm not much of a videophile and really don't watch that many movies.
I have a Darbee. Used it and liked it on my Panny Plasma. Do due other circumstances I disconnected it some time ago and until it was brought up haven't thought about it
Interesting find indeed. I only heard the Oppo 205 over some $30K B&W speakers in a local high end studio. The setup was not really my cup of tea. While the sound was incredibly detailed, it was nothing I would want to listen to at home. I also wondered how big the difference between the CXU and the 205 really is, and apparently they are actually not that far apart. Seeing how the fans were going crazy over the improved SQ, with the top-end DACs and all, is a bit of a surprise. As I said before, my CXU has gained considerably from the mod and I‘m sure glad I bought one while they were still available. While I have no plans whatsover for further upgrades, I can‘t refrain from the occasional window shopping, and the (hypothetical) ‚What would I do if the CXU broke down?‘ question. At this point, I think I would once again decide against Oppo. There are just too many things I don’t really like about the 205, or that I simply don‘t need. My personal (hypothetical) answer is Marantz SA-10. Which, unfortunately, and very un-hypothecically, is a $7,000 appliance. Fortunately, the CXU appears to be a rather solid machine, so I have good hopes it‘ll live for a long time.
The honest answer to your question is: I spent about two minutes on the TUC website, Photo section. At that point, I had never even heard of TUC before. Minute one, I read his explanations about high-end companies like McIntosh using cheap parts whenever they can. A statement I tend to agree with. Minute two brought me to the chapter where he says ‚whoever dares to copy even a part of genius concept will be brought to justice.‘ At that point I knew I would never in my life want to even speak to this guy. His attitude is most obvious, all the forums hate him, he has strong competition, including several people who have a reputation of being posterboys for integrity. So the real question is: Why is he still out there?
The CXU seemed to add a blanket of warmth over the sound, just a very thin one, the Oppo seemed more neutral in comparison. The newest configuration of my system prefers the neutrality. Both are good units and personal tastes and system synergy come into play big time in preferring one over another. The CXU also upscales everything to 24/96 and there was a bit of a "sameness" to the various sources and the Oppo less so. Again that suited my needs. A "modified" CXU or Oppo would be likely two different kettles of fish. It's too bad that choices are dwindling in this section of the market. Perhaps that will change, but with the way things are unlikely.
