Oppo BDP-83 has arrived in my house.

[pete321]

jase fox:stop slagging off the Denon because it certainly doesnt deserve it.

I hope you're not including me in that, cos I've had both the Denon and the Oppo and paid the same price for both. In view of that I think I'm justified in having my opinion. As I've always said in posts gone by, I thought £350 was about the right price for the 2500BT, if that's what it can be got for now, then it's definately worth considering.

I guess it would be fairer to compare the Oppo against the new machines from Pioneer and Denon given that it was released sometime after the 2500BT was. Anyway, I never intended this thread to become a 'my machines better than yours' issue, just wanted share my comparisons with what were, 2 similarly priced blu-ray players. The name Oppo and blu-ray certainly does seem to stir emotions!

 

[jase fox]

pete321:
jase fox:stop slagging off the Denon because it certainly doesnt deserve it.

Anyway, I never intended this thread to become a 'my machines better than yours' issue,
But unfortunately it did !!

And oppo certainly does'nt stir emotions for me at all, it,s just folk trying to say the Denon is'nt worth it.

 

[pete321]

When you've seen both, you'll be able to say that as an informed decision, until then it's a bit of an asumption. Both myself and Will have seen both.

 

[jase fox]

pete321:When you've seen both, you'll be able to say that as an informed decision, until then it's a bit of an asumption. Both myself and Will have seen both.Yep, but i can assume what i want, besides are you sure it is'nt placebo? As i get told that all the time with my powerkords?!!

 

[pete321]

Calm down, I agree with you about the Powerkords or else I wouldn't have shelled out for LAT AC-2's. I'm well known for slagging off my kit, I like to feel I'm getting value for money. I'm not too pleased with the performance of my AVR600 for £3500, on the other other hand my DacMagic is superb for the money. I don't think I suffer from placebo, if I buy something and it's not up to what I'd expect it to be I'll say so. Are you disappointed with any of your kit?

I'm not slagging off the 2500BT for the hell of it, I bought it and was disappointed by the performance for the money and said so. If you put it side by side with the Oppo I don't think you'll see much difference either way with the picture quality, both are good with HD and SD. I prefer the more dynamic sound that comes from the Oppo and it beats it there IMO. But, with everything else on top of that which the Oppo does that the Denon doesn't, it's simply better value for money, in my opinion (humble) of course.

 

[jase fox]

pete321:
Calm down, I agree with you about the Powerkords or else I wouldn't have shelled out for LAT AC-2's. I'm well known for slagging off my kit, I like to feel I'm getting value for money. I'm not too pleased with the performance of my AVR600 for £3500, on the other other hand my DacMagic is superb for the money. I don't think I suffer from placebo, if I buy something and it's not up to what I'd expect it to be I'll say so. Are you disappointed with any of your kit?

I'm not slagging off the 2500BT for the hell of it, I bought it and was disappointed by the performance for the money and said so. If you put it side by side with the Oppo I don't think you'll see much difference either way with the picture quality, both are good with HD and SD. I prefer the more dynamic sound that comes from the Oppo and it beats it there IMO. But, with everything else on top of that which the Oppo does that the Denon doesn't, it's simply better value for money, in my opinion of course.
Well i used to wander how good the AVR600 was for £3500 as i would'nt even contemplate paying all that for an amp, what did you used to have Pete? And what dont you like about it exactly?

As for me being disappointed with any of my kit? I'd have to say No, as ive never spent masses of cash on components anyway as ive felt there isnt any need to really, my current set up is the best ive ever owned & im majorly impressed with all aspects of it.

But once im really happy with my products i.e my amp, plasma, bluray etc like i am now i dont really go out looking for better as it just turns into an addiction, because as soon as you believe youve found what your looking for, something else comes out & thus the cycle continues. With my current set up now i shall wait until i feel its had its day then just go out & get the next best replacement at the time.

 

[pete321]

I had an Onkyo TX-NR905 before which I was content with for movies, but stereo music was more of a priority to me. I wanted to get something like the Naim XS stereo amp and connect to the pre-outs of my Onkyo, but that meant another shelf and the plasma being moved. That was very quickly kicked into touch by the other half. The only other option was for a better 1-box solution, the only musical receiver it seemed was the AVR600.

The amplification is way better than the Onkyo, only trouble is I guess I was expecting a lot more from a piece of equipment costing £3500. It's good, but I have to be honest and say it didn't meet my expectations. My modified DacMagic does a better job of converting my lossless music collection to analogue. In view of this I can't help wondering whether I'd have been better to have got something like the Yamaha Z7 and saved an awful lot of money. Still it's done now and my system sounds very good, just not excellent which is what I was hoping for.

One thing's for sure, there won't be anymore spending for quite a while, DacMagic, AVR600, Proac Studio 140's and Centre and of course, the Oppo (I daren't add it all up!).

 

[jase fox]

pete321:
I had an Onkyo TX-NR905 before which I was content with for movies, but stereo music was more of a priority to me. I wanted to get something like the Naim XS stereo amp and connect to the pre-outs of my Onkyo, but that meant another shelf and the plasma being moved. That was very quickly kicked into touch by the other half. The only other option was for a better 1-box solution, the only musical receiver it seemed was the AVR600.

The amplification is way better than the Onkyo, only trouble is I guess I was expecting a lot more from a piece of equipment costing £3500. It's good, but I have to be honest and say it didn't meet my expectations. My modified DacMagic does a better job of converting my lossless music collection to analogue. In view of this I can't help wondering whether I'd have been better to have got something like the Yamaha Z7 and saved an awful lot of money. Still it's done now and my system sounds very good, just not excellent which is what I was hoping for.
I think your more lucky that your other half only kicked you in touch for wanting to move the plasma & not wanting to spend 3.5k on an amp, unless you told her it was half that price? ha

From what i know of you Pete you seem a hard man to please? Or always looking for absolute perfection?

Like i just said im very happy with all of mine, music, movies i think adding the powerkords has been the icing on the cake for me, it is a nice feeling when your completely satisfied with what you have, ive never always felt this way as i have a cousin that would always go one better & that used to have an effect on me even though i used to tell him differently, i think it effected me because i knew he had better but not anymore.

 

[pete321]

Perhaps, but I think it's more about value for money, as I've said, one of the cheapest pieces of equipment I've got gives one of the best returns, the DacMagic. The Oppo is worth every penny. I can be pleased, sometimes!

It's also got to do with what I had in my bachelor life, Cyrus monoblocks, etc. I know how good a system can sound!

 

[pete321]

jase fox:unless you told her it was half that price?

Funny you should say that, a retailer I used to buy from would give me 2 receipts, the real one and one for the missus!

 

[jase fox]

pete321:
jase fox:unless you told her it was half that price?

Funny you should say that, a retailer I used to buy from would give me 2 receipts, the real one and one for the missus!
Absolutely, that's always the way.

Ye ive had some good stuff in my batchelor days to, mind you im more into AV now as opposed to music, in my younger years i always had my music on as you do when your younger, but dont listen to music half as much now.

 

[Sliced Bread]

pete321:One thing's for sure, there won't be anymore spending for quite a while, DacMagic, AVR600, Proac Studio 140's and Centre and of course, the Oppo (I daren't add it all up!).
AVR600 = 3500
DacMagic = 225
Proac Studion 140s = 1440
Proac Centre = 630
Oppo 83 = 514
Grand Total = A whopping £6309

I'm really really sorry, I just couldn't help myself

 

[mgillespie05]

well you got my attention ,sounds great,were did you buy your oppo i would love to get one asap. i can play s-acd on my ps3 60 gig knw a 500 g but have been waiting for a machine like this for ages and the brother can get blue ray disks in the usa so region change a must

thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Get in touch with Henry at CRT Projectors. Very easy to find him on the web. You can install the region change mod yourself, it's very easy to do and the instructions are online and very clear. I think if you really want one, you'll have to ask Henry directly because he's had so many orders from all over Europe that he's flat out and has taken it off the market on his website until he clears the backlog. It's now the worst-kept, best-kept secret in Europe.

I'm loving mine.

 

[pete321]

JohnNewman:pete321:One thing's for sure, there won't be anymore spending for quite a while, DacMagic, AVR600, Proac Studio 140's and Centre and of course, the Oppo (I daren't add it all up!). AVR600 = 3500 DacMagic = 225 Proac Studion 140s = 1440 Proac Centre = 630 Oppo 83 = 514 Grand Total = A whopping £6309 I'm really really sorry, I just couldn't help myself

Now look what you've done! If she reads this I've had it! I better correct it quick...

AVR600 + Proac Studio Centre = £3500 (good deal from Amit at Unilet Sound & Vision)

DacMagic + mods + DNM Reson (Bullets) = £454

Proac Studio 140's = £800 (secondhand)

Oppo 83 = £599 (multiregion)

Total = £5,353 (minus £1100 for selling my MA BR5's, Onk 905 & DVD2500BT) = £4253 (that's a bit better!)

Oops! I forgot the 4 x 3m runs of QED Revelation!

 

[pete321]

I've been experimenting over the weekend and I've found I prefer the picture with the Oppo set to source direct, the SD picture upscaled via my AVR600 was superb. The Oppo also has a choice of Auto which selectes the best resolution your telly can handle, as mentioned earlier in this thread, that's the equivalent to what the 2500BT offers, unless you select each source resolution manually. However, the Source Direct setting allows the Oppo to act as a true automatic transport only player.

I'm finding it hard to find any niggles so far, one is that the Oppo screen saver is very bright and takes a about 3 minutes to go off. It's leaving some pretty nasty screen burn on my plasma. I've been turning the player onto Pure Audio mode when it's on the screen to turn off the video signal.

 

[Sliced Bread]

pete321:Total = £5,353 (minus £1100 for selling my MA BR5's, Onk 905 & DVD2500BT) = £4253 (that's a bit better!)

Good save!

 

[Anonymous]

How's the Oppo performing in stereo guys ?

What level of dedicated CD player would you rate it against ?

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

Depends how you connect it.

Analogue it's good, but I'd have put it at the £500 mark myself. Via HDMI it's faultless, so the quality of sound then depends on the DACs you use up the chain.

Personally I use mine as a multiregion, upscaling, universal transport. All audio decoding is done by my Arcam AVR600.

 

[pete321]

I've only tried the stereo analogues out (DNM Reson Bullet plugs) with stereo SACD DSD to analogue conversion, which sounded OK (a bit too safe sounding for my liking, not enough detail), but strangely not as good as DSD to PCM to Analogue via my AVR600. Haven't tried ordinary CD's I'm afraid.

I would guess Will's being a bit over generous to compare it to a £500 CD player, with everything it does at the price you wouldn't expect the internal components (DAC's, opamps, capacitors, etc.) to match those in a pure CD player costing £500.

 

[Anonymous]

Good point and probably right about the Oppo's analogue output. Though a US reviewer put it's multichannel analogues in the league of a $6,000 SACD player. I didn't find it's analogues as good as that.

But while we're on the subject of CD player values, you never get £500 worth of electronics in a £500 CD player. This is what annoys me about hi-fi. (Obviously you have to accomodate profits for manufacturer, distributor and dealer so assume they're a given). Rather than building it "cost-plus", they instead work out what you will accept for £500 retail and then build it to that level in terms of sonic expectation. There's very little component cost in the machines. It's all a bit of a con if you ask me. CD is hardly new technology. Most of the parts should now be very cheap to source. The money saved ought to be going into power supplies, capacitors, DACs. By now a £500 CD player should sound way better than it does. That's what I think about hi-fi. Hence why I bought the Oppo. Because via HDMI, there is nothing it can't currently do and my Arcam amp is great at decoding. Good info on this website about component costs and items used by manufacturers. http://www.upgradecompany.com/

 

[pete321]

But they do sound a lot different. I guess the most expensive CD player I owned was a Linn Genki which I bought secondhand, and yes I did notice a big difference over anything I'd owned before, whether it was worth the price new which I think was about a grand, I don't know.

Having recently experienced the massive leap in quality by taking the internal upgrade path with my DacMagic, I'd certainly think about the component upgrade route with a well built, but modestly priced product in future. That probably gives you more for less. I keep swapping the Chord Optichord from my DacMagic to the AVR600 thinking for £3.5K it's going to sound better doing the stereo decoding, but it doesn't!

I guess the other option to get value for money is buying secondhand as you did with your Dali's and I did with my speakers. I don't suppose my Proac's are in the same league as your Dali's, but for £800 I got a lot of speaker!

 

[TKratz]

Will Harris:Depends how you connect it. Analogue it's good, but I'd have put it at the £500 mark myself. Via HDMI it's faultless, so the quality of sound then depends on the DACs you use up the chain. Personally I use mine as a multiregion, upscaling, universal transport. All audio decoding is done by my Arcam AVR600.

This is very interesting Will!

If the DAC is on par with my old Denon DVD-1600 it would be the perfect Blu Ray player for me. I was surprised to find that the DAC in this player is superior to the DAC's implemented in Sony DA5400ES, Denon AVR 4308A and Yamaha DSP-Z7.

I unfortunately do not have the luxury of Arcam AVR600 and therefore need a good DAC in the Blu Ray player.

 

[Anonymous]

My first SACDs have arrived and I've just played the whole of Dire Straights - Brother in Arms in multichannel. Oh my word. Wow. What a sonic experience. This beats CD hands down. If you all don't have crack at SACD you'll never know what you're missing. Wow!! I'm in love with this player. Why oh why don't we have more multichannel music? Now we have BluRay, we have the perfect opportunity music industry! Let's hope they're listening.

 

[Sorreltiger]

I don't know if it's your thing, Will, but the remastered Genesis albums (SACD and DV-A in the package) are stunning. 'Trick of the Tail' is the best IMO, but it's now the hardest to obtain. This seems to be about the only place it's still available at the original price:

http://www.dvd4music.com/onlineshop/details/gensacd1015-7.html