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?
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128x128simao

Showing 3 responses by soix

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.
Fortunately this can be tested.  You can demo DACs like the Audio Mirror Tubadour Mklll SE or MHDT Orchid, etc. at home as they offer trial periods.  I’d think it’d be well worth your while to take advantage of this, and I’d be very surprised if you didn’t hear significant improvements.  FWIW.


What was the cost of your digital versus your vinyl setup?  Not really a fair comparison now, is it?  Sheesh.  If you’re at all serious about getting better digital sound, invest in a better separate streamer and DAC.  If it was me, and since you do more streaming than disk spinning these days anyway, I’d ditch the transport altogether and get an Innuos Zen Mk.3 streamer/server and just load all my CDs into it.  Then I’d get something like an MHDT Orchid or Audio Mirror Tubadour SE DAC and another set of AZ interconnects to link it to your LFD and then do another comparison.  Just upgrading to a better DAC should help quite a bit. 
I am just at opposite ends from @tweak1 — while beating the DAC in the Oppo may have been more challenging a few years back, with the explosion of excellent DACs in the $700 - $1500 range I think you could now find a relatively inexpensive DAC that bests the Oppo handily for your tastes fairly easily.  And since you don’t spin discs much these days (like me) and Oppo is out of business and your 105 could fail (mine did), why would you buy a power supply for it and add further to the potential loss?  Again, I’d start by just trying a new DAC and see what you think — many offer in-home trials these days that makes it very easy to do.  Then upgrade your streamer as funds allow as that matters a great deal too, and if you get one with an onboard disc drive and storage like the Innuos I mentioned above you’ll never have to get off your arse to spin another disc ever again and have all your music at your fingertips.  And without a doubt I’d replace those Belden interconnects with a used pair of AZ Silver Refs (I have and love them) or the like — relatively cheap and significant upgrade.  FWIW, and best of luck in upgrading your digital front end — you’ll really appreciate and enjoy the music so much more.