Analogue Productions SACDs

I guess our oppo’s are missing a zero

I didn’t realize my $2,000 Oppo 105D was entry level. 

Very much so. The 105D retailed for $1200 and its main purpose was to play blu-ray discs. Jack of all trades, master of none. Not sure why someone would pay $2,000 for one, unless it was FOMO when they were being discontinued.

CD and SACD playback is lackluster using the internal DAC. And no, you don't have to add a zero to get significantly better sound quality, you just need to connect it to a better DAC and use it as a transport. 

I don' know? My Oppo 205 sounds great on my system playing most SACDs.

I'm using balanced cables from the Oppo to my Amp which has true balanced inputs as well as single ended.

@big_greg 

if I play the SACD in my Oppo player and the sound from the internal DAC in the Oppo is clearly worse than if I play the red book version from the same SACD disc in the CD player in my Rockna server through my Rockna DAC

I don't know what Oppo you have but I guess you spent 10 times as much on your Rockna DAC alone.  You may not have compatible cable connections, but I would be very interested in how 2-channel DSD played from your Oppo (acting as a transport) sounds through your Rockna DAC?

From my reading, the Rockna DAC does not appear to process DSD natively.  Instead it converts to PCM which negates the inherent linearity advantage of DSD.

My Reavon, which is basically a repackaging of the Oppo system-on-a-chip, has TI Burr-Brown DACs which also do not process DSD natively.  It is hard to tell from the blurb because you have to read the DAC spec sheets carefully, looking for what they don't say!

But when listening, I could tell almost immediately there was something wrong, which was confirmed when I wrote to Reavon.  It is fine when used as a transport feeding native-DSD capable DACs.