My Oppo is a bit too bright


'sup?
In a comparison to an impartial audience between my analog rig and my Oppo 105D > LFD LE IV rig, the consensus was the the digital end was too bright and brittle.
Some more details:

Digital:
Oppo 105 > Belden 840 cables > LFD LE IV > Decware Styx speaker cables

Analog:
VPI HW19 MK 4/Hana ML > Morrow PH4 > LFD LE phono > AZ ICs > LFD LE IV
All feeding into Spatial M3 Turbo S's
I agree with the consensus. Any suggestions for a warmer digital sound?
s
128x128simao

Showing 11 responses by simao

Thank you all for your comments. To recap:
1. The Oppo’s DAC is its weakness and I should look for an external DAC
2. The Oppo’s DAC is quite good and can’t be bested unless I want to spend more money then it’s worth.
3. The Oppo itself is a gem of a component.

4. The Oppo itself is overrated and can easily be overshadowed by more contemporary components.

5. Replacing the power supply is the way to go.

6. Replacing the power supply is not the way to go.


Luckily no one so far has suggested room treatments.
I got a good deal on a Silnote reference coaxial, which arrived yesterday and which I subsequently hooked up between the 2170 and the Oppo. It definitely improves the balance, but only when I ran the 2170 in bypass mode; that is, bypassing the room correction. 
@ivanj  That's one thing I've been done yet, has plugged my Oppo into my upstairs system / TV / and play with the filters there.
So I'll be honest, I rarely use the Oppo for CDs anymore. Since I have lostless Tidal, I mainly use it to stream tracks from that service, tho I still play a CD every now and then. If I were to maybe sell my Oppo and invest in just something to stream Tidal (or another streaming service), what might you recommend?
@jayctoy Good call. I have a pair of Audioquest IC laying around. I'll try those.

@millercarbon  Yeah, yeah; I know. But still.
@jafant That's a good description of the Oppo's sound. Just a bit too bright and smooth. As @soix points out, I've invested much, much more in my analog rig than in my digital end.
Question: Checked out the Cocktail line and read up on some of the reviews. But question: What if I have no interest in ripping my cd's?

Like, what if I wanted to spend under 2000 on a streamer I could just run Tidal or Quboz through?

Update:
I replaced the Belden 804 cables with Acoustic Zen Silvers and rested the Oppo on four Nobsound Silver/Aluminum spring pods.


Result: the sound is more focused, more resonant, more in-depth. Definitely not as bright as before. Streaming Dominique Fils-Aime’s "Nameless" album via Tidal lossless and it’s flawless.


Unfortunately, I can't use the balanced outputs anymore now that I'm using the LFD. That was a trade-of for its superior presence over my previous Pathos Classic Mk3
So here's another question: I'm in negotiations for a Lyngdorf 2170. How does that deck inside compare with the Oppo? Should I run a coaxial cable from the Oppo to the link dwarf and essentially use the Oppo as a transport?
@eziggy   Thanks for the recommendations. I just bought a Line Magnetic 518ia. That might help ameliorate the brightness a bit. I'm running Acoustic Zen Tsunamis with the Oppo and my amp - they made a heck of a difference.

Will look into replacing the IEC connector. That seems an easy project.

s