OPPO 105; how to beat it and at what price?

How about $800. That is what I charge for my basic mod plus the zero feedback fully balanced fet output stage for the 105 or 105D. Just had a customer get one and he loves it. Another $1000 in other advanced mods (linear power supply, low jitter clock, Audio Magic Pulse Gen ZX and more WA Quantum dots, etc.) brings even more to the table. Serious high end sound.

I appreciate Ivan's enthusiasm but there are a couple of errors in his post. First, the all out 2 channel unbalanced/balanced mod it $1730. Secondly, I would never tell anyone that I have the best digital playback out there.....just not my style or belief. The 105 is certainly seriously high end modded but is not as good as the best DACs out there. However, you would have to spend several thousand on a DAC to do better. What sets the modded 105 apart is the fact that it is a great CD/SACD player, a great DVD/Blue Ray player, a great DAC (double DSD and 352K), a great multichannel player, has a great headphone amp, 32 bit digital volume control so you can run it directly to amps...etc. It is so versatile and reliable that you would want to keep it for years....even in a second system or as a back up....years from now.

I think Dsper had the $5000 Esoteric.....but I nor anyone I know have had a $13,000 or $20,000 Esoteric to A/B with. If my modded 105 beats a $5000 Esoteric it does not mean its as good as the way more expensive ones.....I kind of doubt it. The Esoterics are super well made. If you have unlimited money then fine but seems to me you could get a super DAC (for way less money) and run it from a modded Mac/PC or server and get even better sound. There is the DSD only Lampizator that could be used with software to upsample all PCM to DSD, for instance. I bet I would like that better than a super expensive Esoteric.....but who knows? Digital is changing fast. I personally would not want to spend a lot of money on a player. What is so nice about the modded Oppo is that it is a great player (CD, SACD, DVD-A, HDCD, whatever), a great DAC (including double speed DSD and 352K input), a great headphone amp (with all the mods), a great multichannel player, can stream various things and has great HDMI inputs, and a great DVD and Blue Ray player (with fantastic picture and Darbee enhancement capabilities). It is the kind of thing you would keep for years and years and it will always sound good and can be used in any number of ways in any number of systems.