Blu Ray player versus CD/SACD player.

I recommend you take a look at universal players like the Sony UBP 700 and 800, but more importantly, the Reavon UBR X-110. No internal DAC, which are never great anyway, so no analog outs. And then you want an external DAC, and for SACDs and Blu-ray Audio, the GeerFab Audio D.BOB is a must. It extracts DSD64 from SACDs (DoP over coax) and  PCM up to 24/192 from Blu-ray Audio discs (coax) and both to an external DAC that accepts DoP over coax. You'll never look back when you hear DSD64 through a good external DAC. PCM 24/192 is darn good as well, just not DSD. (Disclaimer - I'm the Geer in GeerFab.)

@ericgeer Very interesting and did some quick research on your product.

Couple of questions: 

a) Why do you recommend other universal players? Could I not just use my existing Oppo 103 for the process you describe in your post?

b) Have you found any particular DACs work well with your Audio D.BOB?

Thanks….E

Sorry about that. Forgot where this started. Of course, you have an Oppo 103, which is an ideal player for the D.BOB. I have a 105, which is where my journey started. Wasn't satisfied with the DSD conversion in the box. Growing list of partner DACs at www.geerfabaudio.com under System Requirements.

I own various Myteks, Benchmark, RME and have customers who swear by Chord. Pretty much any DAC on the list will sound better than the internal Oppo DAC.

@ianhorseman 

I have about 400 CDs and about 30 SACDs.

A Tidal or Qobuz membership will give you access to over 80 million CDs, many in 96 and 192 Khz which is what you're playing anyway when DSD gets converted to DOP.

There are also DSD streaming services that offer higher resolution than SACDs.

Rip you CDs and SACDs, they'll all fit on a small USB stick.

I’m wondering should I stick with it or start researching a CD/SACD stand-alone player for my digital discs?

Should I get a unit that specializes in music playback or stick with the Oppo as “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Will I notice a difference between the Oppo and a unit that is built for primary music purposes?

If you want to keep the silver discs and are able and willing to invest some money and want to 'live and play the hobby', why not purchase either a 'good' cd transport and a DAC or a SACD player and let your ears find the answer to your second question?

If your SACD's are hybrid layer discs, the SACD player/amp should be able to reproduce the multi channel sound which are on the SACD discs (e.g. via HDMI).

Considering the relatively low number of around 30 SACD discs, the question you might want to ask yourself: Is it worth the money to go for an SACD player with above mentioned capability or could you be happy with a cd transport/dac combo which will play the SACD's in stereo?

I do have 2 cd players and a SACD player (unable to reproduce mulit channel sound). Sometimes I use the internal DAC's of the players, sometimes one of the two external DAC's to play the discs. It's a decent, but not overly expensive system. I cannot hear a big difference between the diffent output modes. What I perceive is that one of the players exceeds slightly in sound quality. In my opinion and based on my experience, it is the recording itself which makes the biggest difference. The SACD's do sound very nice to me on all players (2.0 or 2.1), as well do the very good cd recordings (I am listening mainly to jazz and classical music).

What does not sound good to my ears is playing silver discs from my blue ray player (which was not a cheap one at the date of purchase). Using the blue ray player as a direct source, it is inferior to the oder players. As a transport, I still have to do some more testing/comparing trying toslink.

I have less SACD's than you and about 500 cd's. If I would have to decide today, I would not buy a SACD player anymore. However, it has digital and USB 2.0 inputs so I can use the SACD player as well as a dac for the cd players and as 'receiver' of the streaming sound from Quobuz. To me, this is added value and so far, I do not regret having purchased the SACD player.

I hope my input is a general sense of thoughts you are expecting.

Cheers

Eagledriver