Analogue Productions SACDs

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.

@richardbrand I send the DSD 64 data to the Rockna DAC through a HDMI to i2s converter.  They are readily available and inexpensive. 

I'm not saying that the Oppo's internal DAC is "bad", but when you hear the difference with the same DSD file from the SACD being played through the Oppo compared to the Rockna, you can't unhear it.  The Rockna is much more detailed and dynamic, leaving the Oppo a little "flat" sounding. 

On the other hand, a well mastered CD or the Redbook layer from a SACD will sound very close to a SACD and much better than a SACD played through the Oppo.  

You don't have to have a Rockna to be able to discern the difference.  Any decent DAC that can accept i2s input and DSD 64 should provide better sound quality than the Oppo. 

I'm not trying to pick on Oppo, my point is that any universal player like that is built to a price point and by definition is built to do multiple things, so you're not going to get the full enjoyment your digital files can bring.  I thought the Oppo sounded good until I visited a friend who has a Jay's Audio CD transport and DAC (Redbook only) and realized that I was wrong about the possibilities that CDs present.  That led to my experiment of using the Oppo as a transport and taking advantage of the Rockna DAC. 

I can buy used CDs for 3 or 4 bucks at the local record store instead of paying 10 times that for SACDs that don't really sound much (if any) better when played back that way.