How good are "Oppo" players?

For the price, they're pretty impressive. With a few choice mods, though . . . look out. I have a modded 970, and it ain't goin' anywhere anytime soon!

i just got mine and it is pretty darn good! slightly inferior in bass mangmnt on its own compared to my NAD with DAC. but the NAD only has one laser so cannot do full justice to dual layer and true dsd sacd's. may mod it as many say it can be killer then. they are NOT as tanklike as good cdp but the sound with sacd and dsd is great for $. have had minor glitch with tray opening but not a big deal... keep in mind tho dac's apparently are limiting factors in allowing full benfit os certain types of sacd's.

It's a nice smooth sound for low dollars. Sometimes the pushbuttons even work if you push them hard a couple of times. I mostly use the remote because it's less frustrating and it usually works...

See a review of an Oppo player in the latest edition (May '07) of Stereophile magazine, they seemed to be very impressed for the price. They recommended using an outboard DAC if you want to get closer to an "audiophile" quality level.

Almost 100% of Oppo's sales are online direct from their California address so you should be able to have it shipped to Australia, unless there would be a voltage issue. They could probably advise you on that. Link here:

http://www.oppodigital.com/

Cheerio.

Try this link for Merlin Audio in ACT

http://www.merlinaudiodesign.com.au/

I have the very cheapest one for use in my "tv room" and I like it fine. I mostly bought it to get the video upconversion and don't use it as a music player but I took it to a friends house and he liked it so much that he got the next model up from one of the mod houses. I think he spent about $800 total with mods and he is raving about it. I have to go out to his house soon and check it out myself.