Before I jump on the Oppo bandwagon

[shawn_a]

Really, how good is the audio performance? I hear the raves but c'mon, how good are we talking?

shawn

[Jim Holtz]

> Really, how good is the audio performance? I
> hear the raves but c'mon, how good are we
> talking?

> shawn

Hi Shawn,

It depends on what you're using for comparison. What do you want to be as good or better than?

Jim

[shawn_a]

> Hi Shawn,

> It depends on what you're using for
> comparison. What do you want to be as good
> or better than?

> Jim

Better than most DVD players' audio playback perhaps. As good as a CD only player given the price or even more expensive?

shawn

[nick29498141]

> Better than most DVD players' audio playback
> perhaps. As good as a CD only player given
> the price or even more expensive?

> shawn

then it's got that, easy. But with the price of lightly-used universals on Audiogon recently, I'd be hard pressed to buy an Oppo...

NK

[philiparcario]

> then it's got that, easy. But with the price
> of lightly-used universals on Audiogon
> recently, I'd be hard pressed to buy an
> Oppo...

> NK
or is it
time to think blu ray?

[shawn_a]

> then it's got that, easy. But with the price
> of lightly-used universals on Audiogon
> recently, I'd be hard pressed to buy an
> Oppo...

> NK

I have perused through there but nothing really jumped out at me. I'm curious about the upconverting so I was already looking at the Oppo but I figure if it can do nice CD playback then that would seal the deal. I'm just wanting to upgrade the little Pioneer unit I've been using to something a bit nicer.

shawn

[philiparcario]

> I have perused through there but nothing
> really jumped out at me. I'm curious about
> the upconverting so I was already looking at
> the Oppo but I figure if it can do nice CD
> playback then that would seal the deal. I'm
> just wanting to upgrade the little Pioneer
> unit I've been using to something a bit
> nicer.

> shawn
what pioneer do you have?

[biff]

> And I'll let you know. I have need to handle SACD and DVD-A, wanted upconverting and bass management as well. Where it caught my eye originally was the audio performence reviews by some who think money grows on bushes(easier to pick than trees) and normally wouldn't touch, ahem, affordable stuff. And I need a CD player for the office so the old Sony gets a new home and the Oppo can have fun with the projector too>

[shawn_a]

> what pioneer do you have?

Without the thing in front of me, I'm thinking it's something like a DV-563A. At least that's what is pictured below and it looks like what I have. I bought it on a wing to try out SACD and it eventually became my bedroom DVD player. It does that well enough but I'm feeling the upgrade bug and still be able to play the SACD stuff I have when I feel the urge.

shawn

[philiparcario]

> Without the thing in front of me, I'm
> thinking it's something like a DV-563A. At
> least that's what is pictured below and it
> looks like what I have. I bought it on a
> wing to try out SACD and it eventually
> became my bedroom DVD player. It does that
> well enough but I'm feeling the upgrade bug
> and still be able to play the SACD stuff I
> have when I feel the urge.

> shawn
I have a modded unit. pioneer 563
very nice sound with the mods. picked it up on ebay for 400 at that time the modded version went for 650 or so. great sound very durable thousands of hours on it dvd sacd and cd. The picture is only good. I picked up a denon 1930 with much better picture not modded so sound is okay not great. i don't know how long it will last so far 100 hours plus. I am thinking blu-ray for the lossless sound. i'll wait a while.

[Paul W]

> Really, how good is the audio performance? I
> hear the raves but c'mon, how good are we
> talking?

> shawn

DACs are only so-so. Used as a digital transport, performance is great.

[Jim Holtz]

> Better than most DVD players' audio playback
> perhaps. As good as a CD only player given
> the price or even more expensive?

> shawn

Hi Shawn,

Now I have a reference to compare to. I have a 980 and love it but really only use it for Video unless some one brings a CD during a listening session. My main rig is a Squeezebox as a transport to a Zapfiltered Zhaolu 2.5C DAC.

The Oppo 980 is equal to a CD player in the $500+ range in my opinion. It's darn good for the price but it's not the best there is. Video upscaling is superb and I wouldn't touch a Blueray player for a couple more generations. They play Blueray disks really well but none upscale worth a darn and they're slow to load/use/layer changes etc. which drives me nuts.

That is my $.02 worth...

Jim

[donparsons]

I don't recall which model I have. I got one for Christmas this year. The video was a shocking step up. It is very good. The audio I thought was very good also, but I use the sonos multi zone for audio with uncompressed files on a network server. No DACs for me.

DP

[marvin]

I have the 980H, and like the video & audio quality very well. One warning though, when playing a CD and advancing manually to another track, the player starts playing audio half a note after the music actually starts.

I have contacted OPPO about it, they are aware of the problem, but have not yet produced a fix. Continuous playing through track to track is just fine.

DVD tracking seems excellent--no skips on anything , so far, including a school produced DVD from my son which he said gave most other players fits.

Marvin

> Really, how good is the audio performance? I
> hear the raves but c'mon, how good are we
> talking?

> shawn

[jim85iroc]

> Without the thing in front of me, I'm
> thinking it's something like a DV-563A. At
> least that's what is pictured below and it
> looks like what I have. I bought it on a
> wing to try out SACD and it eventually
> became my bedroom DVD player. It does that
> well enough but I'm feeling the upgrade bug
> and still be able to play the SACD stuff I
> have when I feel the urge.

> shawn
I have the exact same DVD player and I too have been thinking about Oppo... especially their new 983. However, I'm not at all convinced that I can hear differences in cd players, so I'm trying to use the video quality as an excuse to talk myself into buying it.