Another Universal Blu Ray Question

[sonicboom]

A new member looking for some opinions. I have an Arcam DV79 and AVR300. I am hankering after a universal player to give me blu ray movie playback along with dvd-a and sacd. I really don't want to be getting in to replacing the amp so I will be using the analog multi channel connections. The question is - which universal player from the Oppo/Denon/Marantz/Cambridge options is likely to go best sonically for music reproduction with the AVR300? ( I am a long way from anywhere where I would be likely to get a demo of Oppo against any of the others and with my amp). Cheers! Sonicboom

 

[professorhat]

Understand you can't demo the Oppo - in your case I personally would demo the others and choose from them, then let Oppo know that I was unable to consider their player because of a lack of demo options in the area (email would be fine).

Will that make a difference? Who knows? But it's certainly better than buying blind and if everyone did the same, it might well spur manufacturers to ensure demos are available in all areas (even if that's by a free customer home trial service).

 

[bigboss]

Here's the list of Oppo resellers:

http://www.oppo-bluray.co.uk/where-to-buy/

You could even call Oppo directly and request a home demo.

 

[sta99y]

Cambridge 650bd fits your needs perfectly, however it's discontinued now and RS supply only, you may pick a good one up off the bay tho. Sacs, analogue outs are perfect sounding as I use to a non HDMI amp.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Understand you can't demo the Oppo - in your case I personally would demo the others and choose from them, then let Oppo know that I was unable to consider their player because of a lack of demo options in the area (email would be fine).

Will that make a difference? Who knows? But it's certainly better than buying blind and if everyone did the same, it might well spur manufacturers to ensure demos are available in all areas (even if that's by a free customer home trial service).

Here's the list of Oppo resellers:

http://www.oppo-bluray.co.uk/where-to-buy/

You could even call Oppo directly and request a home demo.

In August 2011 I did what ProfessorHat and BigBoss would not have done, I decided to buy my Oppo BDP-95EU judging by its specifcations alone, following a glowing review in another magazine. I bought it blind from Lintone Audio because they were geographically closest to me, and I've been very happy indeed with it.