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A DAC for the Oppo 105

I haven't played discs a lot lately. I am and have always been a vinyl-dominate listener, and really got a CD player for the vinyl desert that began in the late 80's and really only abated in the 2010's. I found plenty of vinyl in those years, but these days, it pretty much automatic that there will be a vinyl release of almost all of the albums in which I am interested. 

So, because I am a music lover, and format is less important than the music, I did manage to get a pretty big CD collection - counting box sets, I am probably around 1500. I have burned maybe 400-500 of them onto a server, and that works great (I stream Qobuz, too and that is a great place to try out new things. Wonderful!) The idea that i would ever rip all of my CD collection into this server is a fantasy - I really doubt I will do this. So...

When I play a disc directly from the Oppo, I find myself distracted by elements of the sound that I don't care for - it can be a bit thin, unsaturated, a little fatiguing. When I play that same recording through the ripped file that goes from my Small Green Computer server, to the Sonore Optical Rendu, to my Ayre QB-9 Twenty DAC, it is much more as I like it. I assume most of this is because I prefer the Ayre DAC to the DAC built into the Oppo. Sadly, the Ayre DAC is USB only, and I can't take the Oppo digits and send them to the Ayre.

But since I am a realist, and will not rip my full CD collection, I am wondering if there is a relatively inexpensive DAC that I could use to improve the Oppo. That machine is getting old and DAC technology seems to be the end of the digital chain that improves the most, the most often. 

Any suggestions for an affordable upgrade to the DAC built into the Oppo?

Thanks,

David

dtorc

Showing 2 responses by aldnorab

aldnorab
174 posts
 

I have the Oppo BDP 105 hooked to an Ayre Codex DAC. This should have a similar sound to your Ayre DAC. The toslink input plays 24/192 from the Oppo with ease. I use a very good toslink glass cable. The DH Labs Glass Master. This is a very detailed cable - not the normal toslink dreck. 

Codex has both toslink and USB inputs and single ended and balanced outputs. I use balanced out. The Codex reproduces greater detail, larger soundstage, and has more body. It eliminates the synthetic sound of the Oppo DAC. Codex runs little over $2k new and about $1,200 used. 

I have the Oppo 105 and Aurender N200 hooked to the Ayre. It is easy to switch between the two inputs. I also plan to use the headphone amp with my grell OAE1 headphones. Even though they are 32 ohms the efficiency is low and, in single ended mode, the Ayre designed Pono player struggles a little.

Thanks,

aldnorab 

 

aldnorab
174 posts
 

@dtorc like usual it depends. For one it depends on the quality of the tos transmitter and receiver. Oppo and Ayre both have great ones. Many won't pass 24/192 reliably. They don't have enough bandwidth. Oppo/Ayre does it well.

A top toslink cable is required. The best use real glass fibers - not plastic. Top rated optical cables tend to be DH Labs, Wire World, and Lifatec. Optical cables have a big advantage over spdif. They break the ground connection between components and can't transmit electrical noise. 

I asked Charley Hansen (R.I.P.) why Ayre didn't make a DAC with RCA spdif. He wasn't a fan. At all. Felt if USB source was noisy that well done optical gave the isolation advantage. Like everything Ayre does there are reasons they offered optical instead of spdif.

I also like the Ayre sound. No one else has the tweaked Ayre filter. 

Good luck,

aldnorab 

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