just wanted to update you all on my purchase of the Marantz 5005, not bad, has a full detailed sound with real good head room ext. a little light in the bass regions but that's ok, due to my alons IV's are real bass heavy. some one had told my about this cd player some time ago, glad I got it. will revisit the oppo or something else down the road. maybe I can find an old rotel 955 or 965. love that Phillips chip... |
Mattmiller, I agree that on their own I would own a 105. I dont agree that the 105 is optimized for video over the 103. They are the same in that department.
I am using a NAD m51 with a 35 bit volume control and use its hdmi in to enjoy all the high res with a great dac.
I pondered long and hard if I would go with a solo 105 or a 103 with the nad m51 dac. I spent a little more with the combo but was worth it in my mind.
I just need to find a modded 103 on here now for another system! |
I bought an oppo 103 and use it to very good results via my Benchmark HDR. The flexibility and feature are out standing. I love that I can now take my laptop completely out of the picture and plug my hard drives directly into the 103.
The 105 would be a waste of money in my case. |
IIRC, I was told by Oppo that only the 105D asymmetrical USB can take DSD downloads should computer audio become an interest. Caveat: I have a 95, 105, and bought a new 105D in case I choose to download music from a Mac Mini I bought for that purpose but haven't used. |
The trouble with using an external DAC with the 103 is DSD, very few DACs can accept it via HDMI without unwanted conversions of some kind or other |
Hello Freemand, The OP wanted to know about a single player NOT a transport with external DAC setup. ALSO, the Oppo 105's internal Sabre Dac chipset IS what sets it apart from other players in this price range, YOU DONT NEED A EXTERNAL DAC its that good! is my point. |
Completely agree with Freemand. For me, I'll take a 103D with a good DAC. The 105D is pretty decent on its own, but it won't hold up to a 103D with a good DAC. |
thanks freemand for the additional info..... |
Mattmiller, in part you are wrong or not telling the whole story.
If using analog then the 105 is the no brainer, but if you have a higher quality external dac then what is inside the 105 sabre dacs then the 103 will outperform assuming the 103 is feeding through the high end dac.
The dacs in the 105 are nice but are nothing to write home about and can be easily beat with a great external dac.
Heres whats written by Rick at EVS who mods the oppos....
"If you only are using the Oppo for its digital/HDMI outs then the modded 103D is the only way to go. The 105D has the same digital out/HDMI out capability.....you get the 105D cuz you want the super duper analog out capability, direct DAC inputs, headphone amp and better digital volume control.." |
thanks for you all response, decided on the Marantz 6005, heard it was ok machine... |
Also, the 103 does not have the awesome Saber DAC chipset that the 105 has. The 105D is far better for audio than the 103. |
No...They are very different. The Oppo 105D is optimized for excellent AUDIO as well as video. Its circuitry is optimized for stereo analogue output using the XLR or RCA jacks. The 105D is worth the extra money and then some. This is a universal player that sounds like a high end super audio player. The 103 does not have the optimized stereo audio outputs. |
Are you using the analog or digital outputs?
If you are using the digital outputs, the 103 will do fine.
If you are using the analog outputs, get a 105 (or consider a used 95 if the streaming functions are not important to you). |
On the video side they are equal. On the music side the 105 has a better chip set for better music playback . the 105 has a long break in before it sounds its best, little thin right out of the box's I feel the xlr outputs give you the best sound from the 105 for music play back.
enjoy |
