Best universal disc player that has great audio reproduction?

kp
I am sorry but sounds like u really did not read my posts too deeply.
Mind is NOT made up on a modded OPPO but from my requirements there does not appear to be too many alternatives atm.
Again I am sorry if you think I have a closed mind on cables but if you knew my history you would understand why cables are bottom of the list...lol.
Never say never but not right now at this present juncture.
I can say the room I have my rig in is absolutely god awful but we don't always get what we want due to other constraints.
I know I can hear the difference between a $500 player and a $5000 one quite clearly.
I am not convinced that I would hear the same level of difference in cables.
And that is why it is the bottom of my upgrade list.
If I really want to be thorough I would need to clean up the initial power feed first before anything else.
So please do not take offense at my thought process.

Ok so I really do not want this to degenerate into just another cabling debate but this is my 3 cents worth.

In my many years of messing with audio I have found that the cabling always gave me the least bang for the buck. This not mean it has no effect as that would be stupid but to my ears in the rigs I have owned changing ic or pc or speaker cables have had little audible effect to my music,so traditionaly they have always been on the bottom of my upgrade lists.


Always made sure half way decent cables but never ones costing anywhere near the equipment itself.


Might I hear the difference with some SR cables? Quite possible but I am not even prepared to go there yet.



One other important point whether anybody agrees or not, my requirement is for a true universal player meaning bluray as well for video and bluray audio so while there are much better audio machines out there I need bluray as well. Which maybe makes a modded Oppo about the only choice....lol

Dave
At this stage I would agree on pricey pc and ic being off limits yet.
I have cardas pc and ic and van den huul speaker cables and I think they are good enough for now. However cables are ALWAYS a very touchy and subjective area...just look at all the angst in the cable discussion forums....lol.
I do think I would see the best bang for my buck in a modded OPPO although its a near even toss between upgrade or buying an already modded unit.

Dave
Seems like I may have to save my cents to go with the modwright mod, as I already own the 105 it probably makes the most sense right now.
And yes I could feed the Vault into the oppo as it has dig inputs.
May have to wait for the xmas bonus...lol

Dave
I really do not know if tubes would benefit my system....guess there would only be one way to find out.....lol.
Present system consists of..
McIntosh c48 pre
Blusound vault music server
BAT vk600se power amp
Clearaudio emotion 4 table with clearaudio artist cart.
Wilson witt series 1 speakers
Mix of cardas and van den huul cables
Raided the oppo 105 from the ht rig for now playing back through its xlr into the c48 and it sounds pretty darn good T bh.

I would rather not add a dac into the system, means another box, more cables etc.
Worked hard to reduce my pre amp, phono stage, headphone amp down into just one pre that handles all of that.
As far as the ayre, is it a universal player?
I know I will be losing out on some ultimate quality but an all in one box solution is exactly what I am looking for.

Well for now I dragged the oppo 105 out of the ht rig and placed into the stereo rig and hooked up via xlr.
Pretty impressed just as it stands T bh!
Now looks like I have to buy a 103 just for the ht room.....lol.

Not quite sure I would be anywhere near the price of a modwright 105, the only ones I have seen are in the 2500 range. I paid just 650 for my 105 in lightly used shape. 
Might be a better bet to just have my existing 105 "modded", will have to research this some more

Does the modwright make that much difference?
I ask as I have an oppo 105 and while a superb movie machine, its CD playback feels, well sterile for want of a better description.

Yea, I was looking at the 881 and 891, they were on the list.
However my last mc was a 851 and the audio portion seemed very bright and forward in my system at least.
But it is possible they made some improvement....